Thursday, October 7, 2010

Trains

Anyone who has traveled in Europe knows how great the train system is - I don’t have to write much about it. Until now I actually have traveled very little in Europe and very little by train. My travels were more for work and in places in Asia and Africa. So seeing Europe and by train is a fairly new experience for me on the scenic byway.

We arrived in Paris without a hotel booking...yeah I know, I know, but it was really busy planning for the wedding...so we decided to just move on and save Paris for the end of our honeymoon (we still have to book our place in Paris by the way...). Sitting in the Paris airport we decided to jump a train to Bruges. I love how you can do that here in Europe. It is so easy and not that expensive. Then later we trained by Eurostar from Bruges to London, mainly because I wanted to travel through the chunnel. Paul has done it, but I had not. It was not as thrilling as I thought it would be…just weird to think you are riding under the water. The train to London was a nice, more relaxing change from flying. We then flew to Berlin to save time, but then took a train to Dusseldorf. And when we realized we would not be able to book a hotel room in like a 100+ mile radius of that area (several large “fairs” including the world’s largest book fair happening in Frankfurt), we were able to on the spot book an overnight train down to Basel which is where we are at the moment. 

We will probably end the trip by taking a train up to Paris, and then home. I love that you can get everywhere pretty much any time, and it is not really that expensive. Power at your seat to charge your laptop; comfortable seats; a dining car; mostly uncrowded cars; beautiful views. 

I am sold on the beauty of Europe’s train system.

Eurostar train Brussels to London - in the Chunnel.


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