The train ride there was forty fairly uneventful minutes. Natalie loved watching the buildings fly by and Audrey loved smiling at strangers. But when we finally got to the festival, the booths were closing. Yes, I had neglected to read the schedule online and the exhibits closed at dusk. We arrived at dusk. We saw as much as we could and then ate a nice Irish pub dinner. We decided to leave when Audrey showed clear signs of being "done for the day."
Note to self: When using public transportation to get home (which takes roughly twice the time it takes in our own personal vehicle), leave for home BEFORE the children start showing signs of being "done for the day."
We waited on the train platform for what felt like forever (really only 10 minutes) while a sweet but forgetful woman asked Natalie how old she was and what grade she was in at least a dozen times. Then we witnessed a man accost a woman, the train security guards run to protect the woman and the woman inform the security guards that she was totally fine with the man's advances and that they should mind their own business. Then there were lots of swear words exchanged between the accoster, the accostee and the security guards. Natalie's eyes were the size of saucers.
When the train finally showed up, it was too full for us with our stroller. So we waited for the next train for what felt like forever (really only 10 minutes) and, when it finally came, it was announced over the loud speaker that that particular train was being put to bed for the night. I was jealous of that train. I wanted nothing more than to be put to bed for the night.
When the third train finally showed up, we forced ourselves on and figured it would be smooth sailing from here. Wrong. Audrey was now fit to be tied, tired of being held or in a stroller and clearly at the end of her rope. She screamed, flailed about and proceeded to throw up all over Corey. Then a woman sat next to Corey and proudly demonstrated her taser. Yes, she was carrying a taser. She waved it in the air as it crackled and screeched and she told anyone who would listen about all the bar fights she's used it in and how helpful it is to carry a taser. She actually referenced the previous train platform scuffle between the security guards, the groper and the willing gropee, insisting that her taser would have been quite useful if only she could have intervened. Corey is now covered in baby puke and freaking out that the train might lurch forward and his hiney will be tasered.
I so wanted a picture of this experience but Corey wasn't crazy about drawing additional attention to us. We had the stroller sporting a pink balloon, after all...not many of those on the downtown train at 8pm on a Friday night. And then we had the screaming, flailing, puking baby. And we also had the four year old with a giant pink bow in her hair trying to get the man next to her to return her "hellos" even though he was successfully ignoring the entire train car of craziness. But I wasn't too concerned about drawing additional attention to us by snapping a picture because the woman with the taser really had the people's undivided attention.
He managed to snap this shot from under the stroller.
Audrey had recovered by then and was now climbing the stroller and squealing. Loudly. Natalie was still trying to get the man next to her to acknowledge her as much as I insisted she stop. All this time it felt like the train was moving at a snail's pace. That's because it was. They were doing construction on the westbound line and we were creeping through it.
So, our train ride home took about twice as long as the train ride there which was already twice as long as it would have taken in a car. We finally made it to the train station where we'd parked the car. Then we had a twenty minute drive home. We wanted an experience. And an experience we got.
