I love capitals. I love palaces and parliament buildings. So it’s no surprise we did  day-trip to Sacramento, the capital of the US state of California.

When in San Francisco, many organise an excursion to Napa Valley for the wines. Not Danny and I. We choose the rail friendly option. Sacramento is about two hours on the Capitol Corridor from Emmeryville. It’s perfect.

Capital city

Sacramento is not big. But its capitol building is. We took a tour of this parliament building and it was mor interesting than you think. For instance, we learned that the Greek-style pillars represent democracy and the Roman-style dome the republic.

Admission for the California State Capitol Museum is free.

Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento brings you back to the Wild West. The historic district is quaint but was a bit desolate when we were there. Still, it’s photogenic. It’s near the Amtrak railway station and it’s the home of the California State Railroad Museum.

The Railroad Museum is not some little provincial museum. It’s huge and elaborate with a large collection of rolling stock. Even for non-rail enthousiasts it’s nicely presented. We spent several hours there gazing at the engines, cars and installations.

In conclusion

Yes, we only did the capitol and the museum We had lunch obviously. Sacramento is not a major tourist attraction, but it was a nice change of scene. Both the parliament and the rail museum are worth the visit.