There are two methods to travel by train in Europe, the way that is appropriate as well as the way of our family. It doesn’t seem to matter how much we intend, we never seem to avoid repeating our mistakes. You would believe by now we’d have learned the value of packing light after shameful minutes that are never-ending not to mention exhaustion and the hassle of Baggage Drop Service BDS a dozen or even more bags from city to city, on and off trains, up worse narrow staircases or tiny lifts. Apparently, we are slow learners. By agreeing to bring just what we need we start every excursion with good intentions. The following is an account of our one month trip to Europe during which we were touring several countries by train, boat, bus and private car. At the end of the glorious holiday we were dropping our son away in Italy to take his final year of high school (I was dreading the conclusion of the trip).
We began in London with 8 bags – 4 back packs and 4 big suitcases. Not bad for the four of us. We decided to try the Big Bus tours for the very first time in the European cities so on it absolutely was excellent except for the fact that everyone but me slept throughout most of the route and we caught the first day. No hopping off that day. The buses were great, we were able get a whole historical guided tour and to pick our language. My husband Jack insisted it was Jeremy Irons doing the narrating in London.
The next day we replicated what the sleepers had missed and we were eventually able enough to utilize the hop off attribute. First stop, Jubilee Gardens where my family convinced me to go around the London Eye, the entire world’s largest Ferris Wheel. I don’t even like the littlest Ferris Wheel in the world. I had been on the fence on whether to join them but I got into line at the very last minute and was rewarded by two enormous grins from my youngsters since I hate to disappoint my youngsters. I’d like to clarify, we are in a cage that could take 20 of us to our deaths that revolves slowly, very slowly to give you a way to see the breathtaking view of London! After several minutes of clinging to the center bench, I relaxed enough to guess to the side to respect the stunning views. Feeling just a little more confidant I requested the burley , biker type that was tattooed to shoot an image of us. He’d been sitting next to me about the bench (also clinging). As he was at that instant paralyzed with anxiety, he declined. In fact he never transferred the entire 30 minute excursion.
We thoroughly appreciated London but after 3 days we boarded the train to go through the Chunnel to Paris. This really is an excellent train with first class service and very civilized luggage service.
After arriving in Paris and ransacking our now 10 bags (I forgot to mention the two bags we picked up in London after our shopping spree), we found that we had left all of our electronic cords for the cell phones and computers in London. Again we saw Paris on the buses whole with Jeremy Irons narrating (at this stage we started to humor Jack).
Our package arrived at the exact same time we did. Sadly, when we got to Geneva we realized we’d left our son Russ’s diabetic supply kit in the hotel room in Paris. Having FedEx on speed dial made it more easy for us to arrange to arrive before we left. We also discovered we had left the Glucose Monitor on the train of Russ.
It rained so our opinion of the city wasn’t an excellent one, for the two days we were in Geneva. I did the laundry and that I do not think the kids left the room using the justification that they did not need to miss the FedEx delivery. Eventually we left for Venice.
Breathtaking, is the only method to describe our first glimpse of Venice as we left the train station. The excitement of being there was diminished by our practical problem of transferring an impractical amount of bags through the waterways, stairs, narrow streets and bridges of Venice. We were a freak show trying to get on a water taxi that just got us part way to our resort. The remaining way we needed to drag our now 12 instances up and down bridges and stairway. Yet, we were rewarded with one of the most delightful and quaint resorts I’ve ever stayed at in Europe. Our Facebook Page.
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