As I said before, the overnight train to Paris from Milan supposedly wasn’t running. So, I had to take a day and night trip.

Starting at 1:30 PM from Florence to Milan. The train was nice and again like an airplane there was service and free drinks and snacks. Only a couple of stops before Milan, then I had about 30 minutes before the next train to Paris.

Train from Florence to Milan

I was not very impressed with the second train. It was not real clean and for whatever reason, even in 1st class, you didn’t get free snacks or drinks.

There were very few people in my car leaving Milan. I was in a seat with one next to me and two across. All empty. Then we stopped, I think it was Turin, and a guy came on and was across from me by the window. Quite a few other people got on too.

The next stop, I heard someone behind me talking loudly, but I, of course, couldn’t understand a word of it. Several people around me turned around to look in surprise, amazement, not sure.

Well, next thing I know a large man came to the seat by me, still talking loudly, with another man. He motioned for the other man to sit by me and he sat across from me. The guy next to me looked nervous and unsure. The guy across from me kept talking and it was directed at me. I finally said, English. He kept on going. I then put my finger to my lips and shook my head and said, Shhhh! He did shut up briefly.

People all around were looking on in amazement and some in dismay. I had no clue what was going on but all I could think of was they both stank of cigarette smoke and I was going to have to smell that all the way.

In a little while, the ticket guy came by and said something to the loudmouth. He saluted him, and then started jabbering again. The ticket guy left.

Next thing the more ‘official’ looking ticket guy came by, and then the two guys got up to go with him. I motioned upwards to indicate they needed to take their packs with them.

Everyone around me kind of looked at each other and rolled their eyes, and/or sighed in relief. One guy that was seated further back came over to make sure they had taken their stuff with them. I was still like, WTF?

Then a young woman who had been sitting across the aisle from me came back as I was going to the bathroom. She said something like that was weird and they were why she left. I tried to see if she knew more about what happened but she didn’t say.

So, I got a glass of wine and went back to my seat to continue listening to my book and minding my own business. Pretty soon some sort of police came through looking around, then a while later some other sort of ‘official’ people came through.

There was some pretty scenery through parts of the trip before it got dark. But for the most part, especially through the towns, it is graffiti, industrial areas, and the back side of buildings. Outside of towns there are lots of tunnels and bridges with walls so you can’t see. After a while, and especially when it was dark, it got pretty darn boring. 10 hours on a train is about 8 too many.

The Alps

A couple of hours later, the same loudmouthed guy came back into the car and sat down in another seat. He didn’t say a word. Again, my fellow travelers all kind of looked at each other nervously. At the next stop a couple got on and he was in their seat so he left. I saw him twice more walk through the car but never saw the other man who had sat next to me. Probably will never know what happened.

I arrived in Paris at 11:30 PM. I walked into the station, which was pretty much deserted, and wasn’t sure where to go. I finally found a Taxi sign and followed it. There was a rather long line for taxis (I had seen something online about there always being one) but it probably only took 15 minutes to get one.

Driving along to the hotel I saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, and then the Eiffel Tower. Got to the hotel and had a very nice reception. All I wanted was some ice for a drink, and Jacques, was nice enough to get me a bowl of ice. He then took my bag and the bowl up to my room for me.

I am sure Jacques was thinking, another crazy American and their need for ice!

The room was very warm so I opened the window and turned down the heat in the bathroom. There was no heat in the room itself. I go from a freezing apartment to an overly warm hotel room! Oh well, the pleasures of traveling.

I did some email and online stuff and finally went to bed about 1:00 AM. The room has two windows that open onto the street so that kept the street noise down pretty well. However, there was some sort of noise I could hear that almost sounded like heavy furniture across tile floors, but the floors are carpeted?! I got about 5 hours of sleep then decided that was going to be all I could get.