While waiting on the F train platform on a Sunday in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you might think you’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone when eight vintage subway cars barrel up to your station. This is the holiday train, a once-a-year treat courtesy of the MTA’s New York Transit Museum, which whisks MTA patrons back in time.

The “Shoppers Special,” comprised of cars from the 1930s to the 1970s, is bedecked with wreaths and bows for the season. People are charmed by both the similarities and differences between modern subway cars and those of yesteryear. Seats were upholstered with rattan, stops were announced by analog rolling signs, and the heavy doors would squish you if you didn’t get out of the way. There was no air conditioning, of course, so ventilation was provided by ceiling fans and open slats above the windows (which would have made the ride much noisier). Even the ads are vintage—in one a flapper encourages you to chew Wrigley’s spearmint after every meal, and another advertises a Central Park “Citizenship Day” celebration hosted by Mayor Robert F. Wagner.

The arrival of the holiday train is quite an event; so much so that some people dress up in period fashion just for the occasion. The immersive atmosphere is enough to make you believe the train could be shuttling you back to 1940, at least for the few minutes you have no cell service underground.

Outside the holiday season the vintage cars are on view at the Transit Museum. Visitors can walk through the museum’s “nostalgia fleet” and appreciate all the historic transportation features–minus the rattle and rumble of the tracks.

In the early hours of Nov. 9, as stock markets began to rally on the news of Donald Trump’s upset win, there was another dramatic spike afoot. Interest in the bone density and cholesterol levels of an 83-year-old woman from Flatbush, New York, was also soaring.

Many people wanted to know whether two-time cancer survivor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oldest and perhaps the most liberal justice on the Supreme Court, had enough gas in the tank to outlast the Trump presidency, or whether Trump would get a chance to fundamentally alter the balance of the court by replacing her, a possibility he dangled successfully to entice wary Republicans to vote him.

As it turns out, the answer to that question lies largely in the hands of a staffer in the clerk’s office of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Asked earlier this month about the most important person in her life, Ginsburg, who was widowed in 2010 and lost a close friend with the 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, responded, “My personal trainer.”

A new name may have been added to the list of plucky but noncompetitive winter sportsmen — a ledger that includes Eddie the Eagle (Michael Edwards) and the 1988 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team — after Adrian Solano wobbled his way onto and then around the course this week at the Nordic world ski championships in Lahti, Finland. Commentators who witnessed his every fall there quickly called him the “world’s worst skier ever.”

To anyone aware of his back story, however, the reason behind his shakiness was understandable: Until arriving at the competition this week, Solano, a Venezuelan, had never set foot on, nor even seen, snow. Until his debut, Solano, 22, carried out all his training for the championships on wheels under the blazing South American sun.



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“We have a success culture that sports is only great if you succeed,” Valavuori said. “I want to get rid of that. You get some wins, you get some losses. But there are so many other things in sports. It’s all about the story.”

On Friday, Solano announced his intention to raise money for Finnish junior skiing as a thank you to those who helped finance his trip to Lahti. He also said he planned to continue skiing in Venezuela and hoped to practice more frequently on snow. His long-term goal is to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“The part I actually enjoyed the most was falling down,” Solano said of his experience this week, “because now I am more motivated to get up and keep achieving my goal.”

Michigan Magazine@michiganmagazine

Ready for another fine Michigan weekend! Shorts, sun tan lotion, jeans, sweater,windbreaker,snow suit,umbrella,rain coat,sun glasses..CHECK!

8:15 AM - 25 Feb 2017 from Michigan, USA