The day started well enough. We were up, fed and ready to rock and roll well ahead of schedule. Just after 8:00am we wandered over to Milano Centro to catch the train to Paris. We even stopped on the way to snap a few pics...
It's a very impressive railway station...
Anyway, after scanning every departure board we could find in the place, and not being able to find our train number, we started to get a bit worried. Eventually, we found the information office and a guy told us we were at the wrong station. The train we had to catch was leaving from Milano Garibaldi, not Milano Centro. That's when panic started to set in, 'cause it was now about 8:20am and the train was due to leave at 8:50am. So, down two travelators...
across a vast expanse of station and out to the taxi rank. The taxi guy didn't really understand what all the fuss was about, but anyway, he got us to the right station after about ten minutes, and we made it onto the train.
About ten years ago, I was travelling in Europe on business and a couple of us had to get from Hamburg in Germany to Milan in Italy, and we decided to go by train. It turned out to be one of the most scenic and enjoyable trips I've ever been on. The train goes through Basel on the Swiss border and then on to Milan. The scenery is all picture postcard stuff and 'cause the train winds slowly through the Alps it's very beautiful and relaxing. So, when we were organising this trip, we planned to travel from Milan to Paris, through Switzeland, so my wife would get to see, "what I call" one of the best train trips in Europe.
Now, I do remember that the train terminated at Milano Centro, so after we settled down for an eight hour train ride, I began to wonder why this train was leaving from a different station - but it was ten years ago, so maybe things have changed. Sadly, no!! For whatever reason our Travel Agent booked us on the wrong train. There are three different trains you can get from Milan to Paris. Two of them leave from Milano Centro and go through Switzerland and one - the one we were on - leaves from Milano Garibaldi and goes around the Alps and across French farmland, so all we got to see was...
For eight hours I was a very unhappy traveller. But, all things come to an end, and eventually we arrived at Gare De Lyon. A short taxi ride later and we've started to settle in to our little home away from home. Everyone's been very friendly and helpful so far, so now all the disappointments are behind us and we're looking forward to a busy couple of weeks exploring the wonders of Paris.
Adieu for now.
If you follow this link you'll find some images of Milan.
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