1800 GMT, 31st December, Onboard a Eurostar from Florence to Rome
Around 5:30 pm GMT on 30 December 2007, I said my goodbyes to Venice - hoping to return some other day - and began my journey to Florence onboard a Eurostar train. By now I had begun to expect a fairly quick service at the Eurostar. This, however, was an unusually slow ride. The train did not stop unusually in between but it stopped on too many stations, some quite small ones. Later, as I read Bill Bryson’s account of his journey to Florence, I found myself nodding at his description of how slow this all was - by Eurostar standards - although I thought some of the superlatives he used were somewhat exaggerated.
The perception of the length of my journey was, however, elongated by another distraction. I was sitting infront of a young Italian couple that tended to spoke perfect accent-free English and equally perfect accent-free Italian. Although there was nothing particularly striking to about the couple, their quite public expression of love for each other was proving to be quite a distraction for people in the carriage. Bryson seems to think that the Italians have devised a way to have have sex without taking their clothes off.
admin @ January 11, 2008
Venize, December 29, 2007 - 1900 GMT - on Board a EuroStar from Venice to Florence
I am on my way out of Venice, described sometimes as the most unusual and the most unique city in the whole world. This several thousand year old city is built, literally, on canals. Several times during the life of the city the canals have suffered flooding and the city buildings have received considerable damage. Yet, the persistance of Venetians to live this ambibious existence, come what may, has always survived the floodings. Venetians, as I’ll talk about later are a remarkably creative and artistic people and roaming around this city and admiring their colorful and artistic spirit one tends to wonder what would these people do if they weren’t subjected to such a precarious existence. Perhaps, it is these vulnerabilities of the Venetians that find expression in another realm. Doctors, I’ve always thought, were pretty good at performing arts - singing, playing an instrument - because they dealt with vulnerabilities, death, and disease all the time and if they don’t vent it out somewhere they will just drown in the depressing reality of our existence. So do Venentians, perhaps…
admin @ January 5, 2008
Milan (Italy), December 28, 2007 - 1900 GMT - on Board a EuroStar from Milano to Venice (Venize)
I am currently sitting in a Eurostar train - one of those trains that run all through Europe and provide fairly fast - although not the fastest service - between cities. I’ve just left Milan which was the third stop on my European journey and I wanted to write about it. The train journey from Lausanne to Milano was quite uneventful. The train was really pathetic and reminded me of our own trains in Pakistan. Because I was travelling at night, there was hardly any scenery to enjoy either. Even the train stations appeared quite dilapidated and deserted at night–much like Lala Musa, Cheechoon ki Malyaan, and Mian Channoo do if one passes through these on a journey through Pakistan. Perhaps the effect of the train itself was taking its toll on my aesthetics. For most of the travel, I shared the 6-seat compartment with a young woman from Switzerland who was going to Milano to see a friend. There was nothing even remotely remarkable about the woman and she didn’t speak much English to enable me to strike a conversation either…
I arrived in Milan quite late at night - around 11pm and anticipating that I had booked a room at a hotel right across the street from the Station.
admin @ January 2, 2008
