Sunday, October 16, 2011

On the Rails




This post finds us 3/4 of the way along our rail journey from Bari to Hamburg, Germany. This little adventure is 24 hours long and so far has featured an extended (read breakdown) trip from Bari to Rome, where we missed our connection for the next leg of the journey. We were a little freaked, but the clever Italian conductors put us onto a super-speed train to Bologna, where we arrived a half hour earlier than the train we had missed! So we caught up with our reserved sleeper car, had a few hours sleep in our nifty cabin/bathroom. And now we are having tea in Munich, waiting for our last connection up to Hamburg, where we will visit our dear friend Kerstin and her family. Here is a very poor photo of Daniella about to climb the ladder to her bunk in the sleeper car, and another of our train breakfast!









European train travel is so civilized and comfortable. We are traveling first-class on a Eurail pass. We have spacious reserved seats each time, and stewards bring free drinks and snacks ( even champagne or wine if you are so inclined). There are dining cars for more substantial fare. It is so relaxing to sit back and watch the beautiful countryside slide by, even though we are often going 150 mph. Some trains even are equipped with free wifi. I'm a convert. I wish we had good trains in the U.S.

We are especially taking note of what a Green country Germany is. Even the tiniest hamlets have solar panels everywhere. There are wind turbines all along the way. And there are miles of lush green forest throughout the country. Every thing is spic and span, clean as a whistle, not a dot of litter or trash or anything out of place.


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Location:Muenchen hauptbahnhof

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