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| Image Source: Judith Anne Finetti |
From Desenzano to St Malo - Judith Anne Finetti
Over the viaduct soon after dawn
Leaving the sparkling blue lake below
No security checks
No luggage restrictions
No weight limit and no queues
Bliss!
At the next stop Milano Centrale
We enter a cathedral of a station
We find our train to Paris and
Everyone takes their allocated seats
No pushing and shoving here
How civilised
We all wait in anticipation for our train`s departure
Italian trains are always on time
One quite elegant Milanese lady misjudges her ascent
Onto the train despite arriving in plenty of time
The doors glide shut and she is left open mouthed on the platform
As the train slips away
One can`t help wondering what she did next
All the world is on this train
The Irish missionary priest returning from darkest Africa
The students
The attractive young couple, the girl with a sleek dark bob
Who sit in silent togetherness
Until her head suddenly drops onto his lap face down and stays there
The guard entering to check our tickets might well think he has stumbled upon something else
But no one looks surprised
The asian family with a baby where the mother sleeps for the entire journey wrapped in a shawl and a big towel
And the father feeds the baby Pepsi in a baby`s bottle
Clickity Clack We`ll be back
Clickity Clack We`ll be back
As our train gathers speed we leave the totally flat pianura behind
The scenery changes as we go higher and higher as the Alps approach
The long dark tunnel under the Alps and then
At Chambery some more interesting passengers join us
How lucky we are to speak English, French, Italian, a bit of Spanish
Short friendships develop but friendships nevertheless
Details are exchanged, the internet opening up new friendships easily
Even in the knowledge that our paths may never pass again
It doesn`t matter in the scheme of things
We are all here to share the ride
After Chambery we shadow Lac du Bourget
And see all number of beautiful vistas and birdlife on this very unspoilt lake
Once clear of the mountains the train gathers speed
The countryside at times becomes a blur
Armies of wind turbines appear to march past our window
Suddenly we are on the outskirts of Paris
A dash across Paris and a change of station to Rennes
Hence another change at Rennes and we are at St Malo
We feel the wind from the sea and are near to home
A whole day has passed but what a pleasant way to spend it
Judith Anne Finetti
