Riding Trains in Four Countries (10/25-27/1981)

Sunday, October 25, 1981

At 7:00 I went to the restroom for my morning ablutions. It had been 23 hours since I was last in a bathroom! When I returned, one of the men opened the door for me. As it was, I never had to struggle with that door!

Now we were traveling through orange orchards. Stopped at Valencia. Valencia oranges? We had glimpses of the sea, more orchards with green oranges on the trees, and whitewashed towns. We stopped right across a grade crossing and the conductor said we would be stopped for half an hour. Drivers in the waiting cars were talked to, and they backed away and drove off. I heard complaints about the “máquina/engine.” An hour later we took off again. We were due in Barcelona at 14:30, but arrived at 16:00 We came in to the Barcelona Sants station, and I needed to get to the Termino station. Saw a flashing sign that the 15:53 train to Termino was coming in on track 6. No train on track 6 so it must be late. Finally there was a train that attempted to leave at 16:25, except that it shuddered and shook a few times and jolted to a stop.  After a few tries, they backed the good half of the train out of the station, shunted over to another track and continued the 15 minutes to Termino, arriving at 17:30! Passed through industrial backyards and maybe saw a gypsy camp; clothes were hanging to dry next to a fire with black smoke!

At Termino, I ran to get my boarding pass for the 19:00 train to Cerbère. My stomach was feeling queasy so I bought a can of Pepsi. Used the restroom that had sawdust on the floor. Despite the stall door not having a lock and no toilet paper, I left a 5 ESP/5 cent tip for the cleaning lady. Used up my other peseta coins to buy a chocolate ice cream bar.

Barcelona to Cerbère boarding pass

Able to board the train at 18:00. My boarding pass said 2nd Class, so that’s where I went. It was a smoking car, but I don’t think Spain has non-smoking cars! Our train seems to be one of the newest of the Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE)/Spanish National Railway Network fleet. A Co-rail type coach with reversible seats, curtains in the windows, and automatic sliding doors between the cars.

Someone had a tape of rock concert music, and everyone seemed to be sitting in that half of the car. More like a rock opera, and in English. The latest thing in the U.S.? We left on time at 19:00. The conductor seemed puzzled by my boarding pass and Eurail Pass (difference in classes?), and asked to see my passport as well.

The ventilation seemed to work really well, drawing the smoke straight up so that I wasn’t bothered at all. After a couple stops, a big man sat next to me. He tried conversing in Spanish. “¡No comprendo!” He tried French, then sat back and clucked his tongue and groaned and sighed the rest of the trip to Port Bou, where he finally got off. The ventilator doesn’t work for someone sitting right next to you!

Lots of people were being assessed a supplementary fee by the conductor, whom I finally figured out looked like the doctor on “Love Boat.”

Arrived in Cerbère, France a half hour late at 22:10. Was waved through Spanish and French customs, and headed straight for the 22:40 train to Geneva. I haven’t yet decided my destination for tomorrow.

I was joined in my compartment by a quiet Australian who was going to visit friends in Montpellier where he had taught English a couple years ago. He was afraid of falling asleep and missing his 1:30 stop. The other fellow in the compartment had an alarm clock and set it for 1:00. This guy was from Chile, but his father was Swiss and he had a Swiss passport. His name was Wilfred Diener! Yet he had never been to Switzerland. He was a medical doctor doing research in London under the auspice of the World Health Organization.

The train left on time, making its way out of the station. Suddenly we heard an anguished cry from a few compartments away, and then the train came to an immediate halt. All the conductors converged on our car! We heard that a passenger, an American girl, was holding something out of the train window and it dropped. When she lunged after it, she fell out of the window! A French fellow a couple compartments further saw what happened and ran to pull the emergency brake. Apparently the girl suffered only a sore neck. What an unbelievable incident, and a miracle the girl didn’t have any more of a serious injury. Traveled along the rocky coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Monday, October 26, 1981

The Chilean’s alarm went of at 1:00 and the Australian still had to be poked several times to waken. The two guys had an interesting conversation about Chile’s politics and I learned the U.S. was guilty of some kind of intervention.

Arrived in Geneva at 7:23, went through customs, and boarded the 7:51 train to Zürich. There I changed to the 10:18 train to Chiasso. Nice to experience First Class in Switzerland. I was joined in my compartment by two Americans who wanted to close up the compartment so that it looked full. They had clothespins to hold the door’s window curtains together. Then they realized they were in First Class, but decided to stick it out. It had been raining in Zürich, but everywhere else in Switzerland was covered with snow.  As we traveled south, the rain turned to snow. The conductor came by and I flashed my Eurail Pass which I had ready. The guys reached for theirs and the conductor asked, “Eurail Passes, also?” They nodded yes, and the conductor said OK and went on! Greg and Tim were construction workers/carpenters from California.

The snowfall got heavier so that we could not see the church in Wassen in two of the three passes. Zipped through the Gotthard Tunnel with a couple interruptions of sirens and the sound of jackhammers as they worked on the track. The weather was exactly the same on both ends of the tunnel, thick falling snow! I saw snow-covered palm trees!

I was going to get off in Lugano to see the “Miami of Switzerland,” but it was densely foggy there, not a day for sightseeing. Decided to stay on the train.

Our car was going only as far as Chiasso, and if we wanted to go to Milano, we had to move to the back of the train. We even had to pass through the baggage car that had a corridor on one side. This part of the train was crowded and we found three seats in 2nd class smoking. Ugh!

In Chiasso, an Italian customs agent came through and Greg remarked he looked like a Nazi with slicked back black hair and a tan trench coat. Now it was raining again, in Italy. After arriving in Milano at 16:00, I checked the schedule for trains to the Riviera but nothing ran at a convenient hour. Decided to follow Greg and Tim to Firenze/Florence. I changed my 21,100 ESP/$220 bills into 231,100 Italian Lire (ITL). Wow, more money!

We boarded the 16:45 train to Florence, and walked to the very front of the train. A conductor came through and told us to change cars because this one was reserved. Other passengers were yelling that they weren’t going to move because nothing indicated  any of the seats were reserved. We noticed that two seats in our compartment were reserved, so we just moved next door. Tim clothes-pinned the curtains, and Greg smoked a cigarette. The conductor came through and thoroughly checked our Eurail Passes. He told Tim to remove the clothespins, me to remove my feet off the seat, and Greg to put out his cigarette. Tim later went to the lavatory and discovered we were the only ones in that car. When we stopped in Bologna, the guys said to feign sleep so that people would not disturb us to get seats. No one did. We arrived a half hour late at 21:30 in Florence. Greg and Tim wanted me to join them in their travels, but I decided to go on alone.

Still no convenient trains to the Riviera, so I decided to take the 00:58 back to Milano. Sat in the First Class waiting room. An Asian guy sat next to me studying a timetable. When he was done I asked if I could borrow the schedule for a minute. He asked if I was Japanese, and after I explained my situation, he said I really looked Japanese (which most Japanese do not say!). He was traveling between job situations where he taught natural Japanese cooking. He is based in France, but goes all over Europe. He said the Japanese have good eye-hand coordination, good fine motor-perceptual abilities which apparently the French lack. He said the French can’t cut up vegetables well and can’t even tie up a package. Hmm…

He wanted me to watch his things when he went to the restroom. The waiting room was filling up, and I couldn’t save his seat. When he returned, we thought it was time to look for our train, but we learned it was going to be 80 minutes late!

Tuesday, October 27, 1981

The train was “only” 45 minutes late, arriving on a different track. We boarded and found a first class compartment with only one person in it. But he had tied the door closed with his belt! The Asian guy persisted and we were finally allowed in. The 0:58 train left at 1:50. It was due in Milano at 5:25, and we assumed that not all of us would oversleep and miss the Milano stop.

Fell into a deep sleep, and woke up at 5:45! The train was rolling along and I hoped it was late! Fortunately for the later sleepers, it was. Arrived at 6:25 and had to walk the full length of the train to get to the station proper. Got the 6:45 Trans Europe Express (TEE) train to the Riviera. We were in compartments with glass corridor walls and doors, and blue crushed velvet seats. Back in no smoking again. The countryside was flat outside of Milano. Near Genova we went through several tunnels under the hills. Along the Italian Riviera it was overcast and people seemed surprised to see snow up on the hills. At Ventimiglia, I had to move ahead to the cars going into France.

In France, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. The way people were dressed, you could tell it was cold. I decided to forget about the Riviera and go on to Lyon. Past Toulon the sun was out and the sky was clear. Hooray! But it was cold outside. I got off at Marseilles because I saw a train was leaving in 10 minutes for Lyon at the next track at 13:55. I was usually alone in First Class and slept most of the way.

Arrived in the Lyon-Perrache station at 18:30 where the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV)/France’s high speed train would depart. They left once an hour, but I saw that more departed from Lyon-Brotteaux. Caught the 18:36 to Lyon-Brotteaux arriving 10 minutes later. I had hoped for a TGV to Geneva, but the next one left in the morning. Went to get a reservation for the 19:00 to Paris, for 8 French francs (FRF)/$1.50.

Lyon to Paris TGV reservation

I had to walk the full length of the train to the first car, and had a window seat in the smoking car. Oh, no! After we departed, a stewardess came to give me a dinner menu. Another stewardess handed out a questionnaire, but I didn’t get one (it was in French). The dining car was car #4, but before I had a chance to stand up, the stewardess came by with a cart and gave me a tray and served the beverage of my choice. I had a teeny bottle of Pepsi. The tray had a drinking glass, cloth napkin, 2 sets of fork and knife, salt and pepper, and mustard. There was a large roll and a plate with a green salad covered with slivers of almonds, hazelnuts and raisins. There was a tasty salad dressing.

The first TGV line opened to the public between Paris and Lyon on September 27, 1981. The train did seem to go fast and sounded at times like an airplane (probably the sound of air conditioning!). There was a minor but constant vibration, not enough to spill a drink but enough to keep me from writing. The silverware would clatter if touching each other.

The stewardess came with a cart again, and probably because I am a dumb American, I wasn’t given a choice of entrée. I received the recommended dinner of a filet mignon with green beans. It was what I would have chosen anyway. I must have eaten like a starved person; everything tasted so good!

The stations whizzed by and occasionally there was a train going the opposite direction that hummed by. Lights flashed by outside; very different scenery than on a plane!

I didn’t take the cheese or pastries, or coffee, but I had to take the bill. The meal was a definite splurge at 72 FRF/$13. But worth it.

TGV dinner bill

We arrived at Paris Gare de Lyon on time at 21:42, in only three hours! In the station, I bought a Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF)/French National Railway Company timetable (37 FRF/$6.60) and some postcards in order to get change to use the restroom. I wanted to ride the TGV again!

Boarded the 23:53 train to Switzerland and found an empty compartment. Was joined by a girl, and the two Arabs walking back and forth in the corridor decided to join us. A French businessman entered our crowded compartment. Oh, when they realized this was a first class car, the girl and two Arabs left. I was left alone with the French guy. He spoke English and said he sold alligator-skin goods! When the train left, I went to the restroom and noticed all the other compartments were empty. Why did everyone converge on my compartment?! As we settled in to sleep, I had the seat by the window and the French guy moved to be opposite of me. As we rode along his knees kept getting closer to mine. I moved mine closer to the window and soon could go no further. I tried sitting up straighter and tucking my knees back against the seat. But old magnetic knees managed to get one of his knees between mine! He started inching/centimetering forward. This would not do, so I put up an armrest and turned to lie across two seats, drawing my knees up. Sure enough, magnetic knees unerringly found mine. I tried straightening my legs to bring my knees away from the edge of the seat. He kept coming forward. So I put up the other armrest and stretched full length across three seats, facing the back of the seats, scrunched up against the back of the seats so that there was at least 6’ of clearance from the edge of the seat. Soon I noticed warmth along the back of my thigh. I couldn’t believe it; the magnetic property moved to the feet! I couldn’t flatten myself anymore against the seatback, so suddenly sat up to sit in the opposite corner of the compartment. If a magnetic anything stretched all that way across the compartment, I might have to do it harm! Fortunately the guy got off but had the gall to say “Au revoir!” I certainly hope not!