Like #48 “Bake a Thanksgiving Turkey,”
this 100-list accomplishment is a bit loose. But my perspective has shifted a
little since making the list. In this case, cost and horror stories of bedbugs
kept me from pursuing an overnight/bunk train for our recent trip to Europe.
Plus, it just wasn’t practical for our schedule.
However, I think it DID fit the bill,
because we traveled a lot by train, and the longest stretch was during OUR
night, thanks to changing time zones. That’s the bit I’d like to report on, and
to compare the various trains in our travels.
We arrived in Paris mid-morning, after
a 10-hour overnight flight. Our bodies were telling us it was still midnight,
but we found ourselves speeding along the French countryside at 150+ mph! This
was perhaps one of the most comfortable trains of our trip. The headrests were
big and all the seats were facing the same way, like in a coach bus. It was
surprisingly cozy and notably quiet. Can’t imagine a sleeper car would be any
more comfortable!
Blame jet lag or the high comfort
level, but we both slept for a few hours on this leg. It was surreal dozing off
in the middle of French farmlands and waking to find ourselves zipping by
little German villages, each with a similar church tower at its center. This
rapid change in landscape, plus the feeling of refreshment from sleep, makes me
believe I can safely check overnight train off the list. And we still had
another country to enter!
After Strasbourg, the trains got a
little less plush. We entered cars full of businessmen and women and students returning
home. Trains were so full, we ended up standing sardine-packed close in a car
entryway. It felt more like being on a school bus than anything else.
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| Jungfraujoch: the train up the Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps |
Four countries in one day (if you count
our crossing into Canada for our flight), and we were finally in Switzerland!
Here we rode some of our favorite trains. The panorama car we took into the
heart of the Alps was quiet, clean, and had glorious views of the lakes and
foothills. The train from Interlaken into the Lauterbrunnen Valley reminded me
of the scenic trains in New Hampshire. Open windows and bench seating felt less
like public transit and more like a holiday attraction. We likened the sound of
the rails to music, as they had a melodic hum to them, more than the
screeching, squealing cacophony you’d associate with trains. Lovely!
As soon as we crossed into Italy, the
train atmosphere changed dramatically. We didn’t even switch locomotives, but
the conductor, security guards, and stations passing by were self-evidently
Italian. (I accidentally made eye contact with one of the border guards
striding through the cabin and a weak smile, a sign of friendliness,
automatically jumped to my face. I got a glare in return. Oops!) Enter the
terracotta roof tiles and climbing vines…and graffiti!
From here, the trains got progressively
more crowded, and less maintained, as we journeyed through the Cinque Terre to
Rome. There was nothing enchanting about these trains, except for the sweet,
tiniest Italian lady who sat across from us when we left La Spezia. We didn’t
speak each other’s language, so a smile and “Roma?” had to suffice. And even
though we spent the entire journey in silence, we still wished each other “buona
sera” as we got off.
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| Architectural detail: Strasbourg station, Germany |
So, I think I can honestly say my
illusions of train travel (including the overnight variety) has been both
affirmed and destroyed in various cases. Swiss trains were dreamy. French and
Italian trains were functional. The one compartment we sat in (albeit briefly)
met my expectations of what the Pevensie children in “Narnia” or the “Harry
Potter” gang on the Hogwarts Express would’ve experienced. All in all, I’m glad
I don’t have to ride one for awhile.
Trains are unique. They are fun. And
they are very much capable of becoming tedious. Check.
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