Europe Trip - Day 3, Paris to Venice

Day 3: 19 April 2005

This day was spent mostly on travel. We had a train to catch from the Paris gare du Lyon terminal to Milan, en route to Venice. We had taken our Eurail passes from India itself, the pass that we had taken was a 2 country (France – Italy) one valid for 2 months. But you could use the pass on 4 calendar days only. This being the first day of the pass we had to get it validated from the ticket counter, by showing our passports.

Our train was at 8 am and we got our passes endorsed half an hour before. Luckily there was no crowd at the counters; otherwise we would have been in trouble since this was another huge station. Our train was one of those high speed TGV trains. I was always a train enthusiast and was really looking forward to traveling in one of them. We got into our coach, settled into our seats and were looking at a long train journey ahead of us. We were scheduled to reach Milan at around 2 in the afternoon. The second class coach was done up ordinarily, all the basics and nothing special. Sid, who has traveled before on a first class cabin said that there was a huge difference between a first and second class cabin and that the first class ones were pure luxury.

The train pulled out Gare du Lyon and soon the French countryside was flying past us. Gone was the city and the graffiti and all its hustle and bustle, the countryside was beautiful with unending stretches of fields and little villages here and there. These TGVs are known to travel at speeds of more than 300 mph, but sitting inside we had no idea of the speed we were going at. There were a lot of small villages and their railway stations that we were rushing past and I felt kind of strange looking at them, for my mental picture of Europe had always been the big cities and their landmarks and also images of the rich and famous. This was new and I was wondering how it would be to be able to spend some time in these villages.

As we were nearing the Italian border, we could see some mountain ranges (Alps maybe?) most of which were snow capped. For me it was the first sighting of snow in my life and I was getting excited about it. Most of us wanted to jump out and play in the snow. I’ve read and also have been told by many that any Europe trip is incomplete without a train journey. Now I realized why, I was getting to see miles and miles of beautiful scenery that was heavenly and topping that with mountain ranges filled with snow... Wow! And to think that this was not one of those picture perfect routes, like the Swiss or the Swedish routes.

We reached the Italian border, where the immigration officials made a quick check of our passports and we soon were on our way. The train stopped for a few minutes in the city of Turin, famous for the automobile company FIAT, the Juventus football club and also as the host of the next winter Olympics in 2006. We reached Milan by 3.30pm, a good hour and a half behind schedule. Never imagined that trains would run late in Europe, but guess maybe it was because we were in Italy.

Milan was just a stopover for us, we had not planned to see the city. It was a bit disappointing having to miss the San Siro but we did not have the time. We got down at Milano Centrale and had all of 10 minutes to catch the Inter city train to Venice. With baggage on our back and a huge crowd to dodge, we were on our foot running across platforms to reach the train on time. We got into the first coach and made our way through the compartments. This was an intercity train and by Eurail rules reservation was not compulsory. One may choose to reserve by paying a few euros more to be assured of a seat. We of course didn’t reserve (few euros more was the clincher) and for some time thought that it was a mistake. There was not a single seat vacant in the first few compartments that we passed by. The prospect of spending 3 hours on the corridors perched on our bags/suitcases did not enthuse us much. Luckily the later coaches were empty and we settled into a coupe.

The 3 and half hour journey to Venice was full of fun. We played that age old game of Antakshari which I believe has always been played whenever a group of youngsters are traveling/touring. Even with my little knowledge of Hindi songs I managed to pitch in here and there.

We reached Venice at half past 7. Known as the city of canals Venice is also hailed as one of the most beautiful cities in the world .But even the knowledge about the canals had not prepared me for the sight that I was to see as I stepped out of the railway station. Come down the steps and about 25 meters ahead, there was, not a road with taxis and buses, but a waterway with water taxis and passenger boats. That, for me was one of the most awesome moments of the tour. This canal, we learnt was the Canal Grande, the arterial canal which winds its way across the island city. There are only 3 bridges across this canal and one of them is the one we took as we crossed over to the other side.

We had booked ourselves into a campsite located outside the city limits. Camps came at a cheaper price and also were comfortable since they offered shuttle services to the city. We walked to the bus stand and got into our shuttle bus. And yes Venice does have roads. I had once imagined that the city would not have any roads, but there are highways which connect it to the Italian Mainland.

We checked into the campsite, and helped ourselves to a satisfying dinner, thanks to the discounted food coupon the camp provided us. We had Pizzas – but of course, we were in Italy.