Bilious Blog…Around Europe in 80 days#23

Are you ready for a story of a train slog? It’s not even over yet as I’m sat on a sexy TGV at Marseille station at 5pm still to get to Lyon.Hopefully at some stage It’s gonna  be cruising at 300 kph and they remember to put the dammed air conditioning on…

Seems a long time ago but I was checking up on my ticket after showering at 4-30am in Genoa and suddenly realised the train I was going to get from Genoa to Ventimiglia went from a totally different station in Genoa.Oh shit.Not to worry I have time to work it out,hoping to find help at the station.Nobody about but saw there was a train to Ventimiglia in about 5 mins,That’s the baby,and it was…now I knew this part took a while and stopped at lots of places like the Wolves to Brum tram.There were loads of tired workers on there who I assumed worked at Genoa docks.I saw the sun come up and we skirted the coast and it was lovely…Never heard of Ventimiglia before but it looks a small rich place with a fair few tourists coming through hence what seemed an excessive amount of polizia & carabinieri knocking about keeping the cash flow safe…had my first coffee of the day nearly four hours after setting off.

Train to Nice was a good ride,an hour down the coast and a double decker yet people still chose to sit downstairs.I didn’t understand it,I know many have probably seen the view a hundred times but I still gawp out of the window going to Wolves…and this was some view! I can see why it’s some of the most expensive real estate in the world…

All was going well until Nice.Now I had given myself enough time in Nice,have some scran & more coffee,get the reservation I needed for the Marseille train and still get my original Nice-Marseille connection.Jeez that went out of the window sharpish.The queue was an hour long.I managed to get inside the office but there was a smaller queue of which I was 5th in line…no good,will have to get my train to Marseille and sort it out there.The barriers to get on to the platform weren’t working properly and by this time there were maybe seventy to a hundred jostling just to get on the platform never mind the train.See this is why I get things done early,avoiding all this unpleasantness.People are quick to panic…Nice station staff were obviously hiding…the train was packed with many standing in the aisles and corridors ( there were many six berthers and I was in one) it was old,none of the windows opened and there was no air conditioning and it was approaching 40c outside so god knows what it was inside… oh and it was late and I would have missed my original connection anyway…

Now I’d already made up my mind to get a later train so the lateness didn’t worry me but my clothes did.My top was sticking to me like Nadine Dorries’s newest PR…so went to the WC to change my top and have a spray of something that smells better than me…trouble  is the queue for reservations had grown but eventually I got seen and the only train available was the one I’m on now nearly three hours down the line. Oh and it was €20 of course…even our crappy train companies aren’t this obviously opportunistic.Yet…

So now I’m on the TGV speeding towards Lyon and tomorrow my first day in this supposedly great city will be an early laundry search…I did however do a good turn today.Whilst waiting at the departure board a young fella got something out of his pocket and a bit of money fell out.Not sure how much but there were some green €100 in there.I pointed it out to him cos’ i’m like that.Oh and he’s in my carriage as I write! 

I knew things would never run as smoothly as I wanted over nearly three months and apart from a little moment of petulance I was pretty sanguine about it all…

Oh well I need a drink and a good sleep…

See ya…

Pa Note to self .If I do this or similar again then make sure it’s out of the holiday season…

Did that thing that I never do and got a taxi to hotel.Usually like to suss things out on my own but in truth I was too pooped to do so and I probably would still be looking for the place tomorrow morning!