The romance of the railways
Feb. 3rd, 2011 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustAs I said, the journey home from Pusiano was in every respect easier than the outbound trip.
To begin with, our trip across Milan from the Central station to the commuter line had been quite unnecessary: we could have caught a train direct from Centrale to Lecco, and from there caught the bus we had taken, but in the opposite direction. Homeward bound, we didn't even have to do that, as our hostess Anna kindly drove us to Lecco.
Lecco station is tiny, but we didn't have a long wait there: I barely had time to snatch a photograph of the panel outside the snack bar: 'I Panini del viaggiatore'. Sandwiches for travellers, that's obvious enough, but this was a menu of sandwiches designed for famous travellers: Marco Polo (prosciutto crudo), Ulysses (prosciutto crudo with cheese and salad), Attila (salame and cheese), Captain Nemo (ham and cheese). I don't entirely believe that last one.
Milan CEntrale was as magnificent as I remembered it, and I had enough time to entertain myself by taking some photographs, of which I like this one best. It's taken looking towards the trains, so it doesn't give any sense of the height and magnificence of the hall of the station, but I like the sheer disconnect between the mosaic eagle and the preoccupied travellers.
The rail journey to Paris seemed much longer than the southbound journey; and may really have been longer, since the train stopped in Lyon. And we set off in the dusk, it was dark and I was increasingly weary. But nothing worse than that, for which we were grateful.
I'd like to post about the next day in Paris, but later. The following day we caught the Eurostar to London, and from there the train back to Durham, and while it would have been more comfortable if the trains had been less crowded, still, when it works, rail travel covers the ground at quite a speed.
Which makes this as good a place as any to file a link to a Guardian Travel article about El Espreso de la Robla, a train-hotel tour of the Basque country: you visit a beret museum! you eat railway stew (putxera, or in Spanish, olla ferroviaria)! Who could resist?
To begin with, our trip across Milan from the Central station to the commuter line had been quite unnecessary: we could have caught a train direct from Centrale to Lecco, and from there caught the bus we had taken, but in the opposite direction. Homeward bound, we didn't even have to do that, as our hostess Anna kindly drove us to Lecco.
Lecco station is tiny, but we didn't have a long wait there: I barely had time to snatch a photograph of the panel outside the snack bar: 'I Panini del viaggiatore'. Sandwiches for travellers, that's obvious enough, but this was a menu of sandwiches designed for famous travellers: Marco Polo (prosciutto crudo), Ulysses (prosciutto crudo with cheese and salad), Attila (salame and cheese), Captain Nemo (ham and cheese). I don't entirely believe that last one.
Milan CEntrale was as magnificent as I remembered it, and I had enough time to entertain myself by taking some photographs, of which I like this one best. It's taken looking towards the trains, so it doesn't give any sense of the height and magnificence of the hall of the station, but I like the sheer disconnect between the mosaic eagle and the preoccupied travellers.The rail journey to Paris seemed much longer than the southbound journey; and may really have been longer, since the train stopped in Lyon. And we set off in the dusk, it was dark and I was increasingly weary. But nothing worse than that, for which we were grateful.
I'd like to post about the next day in Paris, but later. The following day we caught the Eurostar to London, and from there the train back to Durham, and while it would have been more comfortable if the trains had been less crowded, still, when it works, rail travel covers the ground at quite a speed.
Which makes this as good a place as any to file a link to a Guardian Travel article about El Espreso de la Robla, a train-hotel tour of the Basque country: you visit a beret museum! you eat railway stew (putxera, or in Spanish, olla ferroviaria)! Who could resist?
