It's now just over two weeks since we returned from our inter-rail trip to Europe. In some ways it still feels very fresh in my mind, but in others it feels like another life. It was an amazing and fun experience, and we started looking at the stats:
So we visited 8 countries, stayed in 13 cities/towns, travelled approximately 5000 miles on 22 trains and we walked at least 200 miles.
The tired saying that it's the journey rather than the destination that matters definitely applies to this trip; travelling on the comfortable, clean and punctual European trains was a real pleasure, offering the opportunity to sit back and relax, read, write my blog posts and look out and watch the world go by, often passing through wonderful scenery.
On the plane home, we were discussing our individual highlights and although these did differ slightly, for the most part we were in agreement. So here is our top ten (as I'm writing the blog, I get the last word!) in chronological order, rather than ranked:
1. Lunch at le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon, Paris
2. Visit to Evian across Lake Geneva from Lausanne
3. Meeting my cousin in Frascati and being treated to a lovely lunch
4. Verona Wine Festival
5. The day trip to Hallstatt from Salzburg
6. The sights and bierkellers of Bamberg
7. The lovely and interesting day trip to Potsdam from Berlin
8. The whole experience of Berlin and its turbulent history, particularly lunch up the Radio Tower and the Reichstag dome visit
9. The bars and restaurants in Copenhagen, particularly War Pigs
10. Staying on board the yacht in Stockholm and visiting the old town.
This leaves out a number of other great memories, so we would give a mention to five outstanding train journeys:
1. From Lausanne to Milan, particularly through the Simplon tunnel from Brig to Italy, and along the shores of Lake Maggiore
2. From Verona to Salzburg, up through the Alps over the Brenner Pass, changing trains at Innsbruck
3. From Fredericia to Copenhagen, via the Odense railway crossing
4. From Copenhagen to Stockholm, passing over the Oresund Bridge to Sweden, travelling through restful pine forests and beautifully clear lakes
5. From Sundsvall to Trondheim, across from the East coast of Sweden to the West coast of Norway, climbing through high mountains, deep snow, glaciers and frozen rivers.
This trip was an opportunity to look back to my pre-working, student days, when a few people I knew went inter-railing. It really appealed to me then, but for various reasons I never made it. Having regained that freedom over my own time through retirement from paid work, and being free to travel for over a month, was an endorsement of the decision to retire. It felt very liberating to choose our routes and destinations, and to realise that there is nothing stopping us boarding a train and going wherever we fancied. I am also very lucky to have a supportive husband (and with understanding colleagues) who was up for this trip and entered fully into the spirit of it, despite a dodgy knee which has felt the effects of all our walking.
I have come home even more committed to travel while we are still fit and healthy enough to enjoy it, and already have a number of trips on my wish list for the future. We certainly learned a whole lot about the similarities and differences in lifestyles across the countries we visited, and it has helped me to feel that the European Union is about a lot more than simple economic gain/loss for individual countries. The visit to Berlin, in particular, reminded me of the original rationale for building greater European unity and understanding and has pushed me further towards voting to remain in Europe.
So, we are back now. However, I have spent a few days away since our return, visiting my Mother in hospital in the north of England. Tomorrow my sister and I are travelling to Majorca for some walking and hopefully some relaxation. I won't be blogging while I'm there, but will write a post about our experiences there when I return home.
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