Our travels through Europe
were done mainly by train and we were able to see some beautiful scenery. The windows on the trains are tinted and a
bit dirty and scratched but the photos I was able to take through the window
are still worth sharing. I have tried to
eliminate some of the reflections that did show up and hopefully these photos
will show you the countryside of France
on our travels from Paris to Milan
then onto Venice
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| Misty morning sunrise in France |
We left the Paris Lyon station early one morning and were on
our way by the time the sun came up over the misty countryside. We had a seven hour ride ahead of us to get
to Milan where we would make a very fast transfer to continue another 2.5 hours
onto Venice so we sat back to enjoy our ride. We had about 920 km (575 mi) total
to travel for our trip to Venice
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| Scenic farmland of France |
We travel southeast from Paris
to Milan for about 640 km (398 mi) then Venice is about 280 km (175 mi) east of Milan ,
which is a very busy connection for train travels between France and Italy
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| Country town in France
We had chosen day trips so we could enjoy the view rather
than the overnight train which offers a lower price. We didn’t choose the
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| Quiet river in French countryside |
The train made stops along the way and at each one the passengers
would come and go so our passports were checked after each stop, but we
remained in the comforts of our seats.
No lineups to deal with like there are in the airport and our passports
were given only a brief glance with no questions asked.
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| Vineyards in rural France |
The train did offer a lunch counter but only premade
sandwiches and a small choice of those plus a few other snacks. They don’t have
a dining car to sit down and enjoy a meal so I would recommend packing a nice
picnic lunch for long day trips.
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| The Swiss Alps |
I thought the biggest treat to see on this day of travel
were the Swiss Alps. Our train ride took
us past them on this September day so we weren’t seeing snowcaps but the rugged
mountains were great to see.
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| A raised highway follows the train route
We were not sure but this looks like an elevated highway
that followed the same route that we were travelling for quite awhile.
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| A town nestled at the bottom of the Alps
These trains move very quickly while travelling through the
countryside then slow down as they pass through town sites, even if they’re not
stopping. We understand that the fastest
speed we were moving at was 200 km per hour (125 mph) but there are some that
travel faster.
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| Farmland prairies near Milan, Italy |
We would recommend this travel mode for those that have the
luxury of choice. The train stations were located quite central in the big
cities we visited rather than the airport which wasn’t as they’re usually several
miles outside the main city. Our total
time for travelling this longest day went by quickly and I don’t think it
actually took anymore time of our day than it would have had we travelled by plane. We sure enjoyed our day watching the beauty of the French countryside pass by on our day of travel..
