Back to Reality

Well here I am again and feeling a bit trimmer which is good and just about to get back onto my diet and back to exercise routine.  After a week and a half of walking quite long distances I'm feeling a lot better.  My back was twinging and all over the place on the first few days in Venice but after a few days of working on it and also realising that I was carrying my back pack on one shoulder, I moved away from that and so far have managed to get better each day.  The distances we walked must be in the 5 to 10 miles a day region I think and up and down steps and hills, over hard surfaces etc.  All of the cities are best seen by foot in reality.


We were extremely lucky with the weather - on two days it was dodgy - one day in Florence was misty and damp but we changed schedule, went indoors and when we came out went on a long walk out of the city up into the hills and were rewarded with the sun coming out and burning off the mists and a wonderful series of views of the city.  A long walk though but worth it.  When we went to the Vatican it started drizzling (it had rained the night before and we had got in just before the heavens opened) and as we got inside from the obligatory queuing the heavens once again opened up.  So all in all we got away with great weather.  Some of the train journeys were amazing - Lucerne to Milan and Turin to Paris being the stand out ones.  We would have liked to have seen a bit more of Basel to Lucerne but the light failed but of what we could see, this would have been spectacular too.


Nothing quite prepares you for Venice, Florence or Rome really.  They are each different in character and each was enjoyable in its own right.  We fitted as much in as we could in each of the cities and did most of the "tourist" stuff however, the best bits were getting out early, getting past the queues and finding those little hidden gems that only the intrepid explorer can hope to see.  In Venice we stayed about as far from the tourist area as it is possible to stay.  The upside was a few quiet canals and local life, hidden squares and churches.  The downside?  Few restaurants and few evening activities unless going back into the city.  We felt sorry for the day tourists on the Cruise liners - quite how they could do Venice in a day was beyond us - we did 2 and a half days - we could have done a bit more on departure day but didn't!  


The train journeys were good in general, the people were not so.  First class travel made things a bit better but I do find aircraft and train travel to be a bit of a strain especially when the web site booking systems stick all the passengers together in one carriage of the train leaving the carriages either side virtually empty (late booking may help here).  No sooner had one person struggled off with their case than someone else struggled on with theirs and tried to put an oversized suitcase into an undersized luggage rack, then try and back it out to the main luggage racks where the doors are.  If they had been booked either side there would have been easier access and egress.  Anyway, there's me being a pragmatist.  We often let them all scramble on and off the trains and get on when all is settled - that was we can find seats, locate space etc.


I'm sure I could write a travel book based on the experiences of the journey.  Would I travel by train again?  Pretty sure I would but I'd probably go first class all the way despite the issue I had with the idiots on the Turin to Paris train, I know how to avoid that in future.