Well we made it. On the second day of travel we arrived in Sirmione, Lake Garda and this evening enjoyed dinner overlooking the lake in the excellent Hotel Continental. We got to travel on my favourite European Hi-Speed train, the fabulously bright red FrecciaRossa, or, as I like to call it, the Flying Tomato
Sty. Pancras was looking particularly fine in the morning sunshine as we set off on the 09:22 Eurostar to Paris. Checking in was a slightly odd experience. Eurostar have reinstated their Disneyland Paris train (Easter school holidays of course) which is a nice thing for them but the Disney train leaves just after ours. The departure lounge was chock full of tiny kids in Mickey Mouse ears and Cinderella dresses and harassed parents wondering whether this was such a good idea in the first place. If I’m on the 09:22 next time I’ll be dressed as Captain Hook which should make them keep their distance!
We did a transit stop overnight in a new (for GRJ) hotel in Lyon which was very good indeed and early the next morning were en-route to Sirmione via Milan. The journey through the Alps was as scenic as always on this route.
Milan Centrale station was completed in 1931 and intended by Mussolini to be a monument to Fascism. Remarkably, apart from being the largest station by volume in Europe, it is architecturally impressive. Somehow Benito got this one right – I suppose even a stopped clock is correct twice a day
Sirmione pictures will follow. Until then… Ciao!
TimOnTheTrain 