By Rachel Chaikof
An adventure taking trains throughout Europe
I am currently busy touring around Europe before I head off to SCAD-Lacoste to study abroad for the
fall quarter.
I was recently on a 24-hour train journey from Bayonne, a city at the very tail end of the southwest region of France to a little town in the heart of Tuscany called Grosseto. I traveled across France throughout most of the night and since it was dark out, I didn’t really bother to look out the window. However, the minute the sun rose above the horizon as the train passed Marseille, the journey seemed to become a full-day adventure much like Disney World’s ride, “It’s a Small World.”
There were bright, yellow sunflowers! There were beautiful, violet lilacs! There were mountains too! Looking at the architecture of the buildings was exciting, as they were so different. They were made
of concrete and stones and it was in light brown or light orange. The roofs were in the color of red clay. They were definitely in the true Provence-style. I was finally seeing the real Provence. “Man, this is
exciting!” I thought.
The next thing I noticed was the sparkling ocean! The ocean was seriously glittery. The train was riding on the edge of the land. Then I saw these massive mountains that were as rocky as they could be, and they were filled with lavishing green trees. “Wow! Am I in Greece or something?” I thought. Every time I watch movies that take place in Greece, such as “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” or “Mamma Mia,” I crave to visit those places where the film was made, and I was finally in a similar spot! The train continued to travel on the edge of the land and pass by the mountains. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
As the train was approaching closer to Nice, many of the architectural buildings looked slightly different, but they looked familiar. The style was very southern Californian, which reminded me from my last trip to Los Angeles a few years ago. The next thing I notice was there were tons of palm trees. There were even palm trees on the mountains! How cool is that?
After a 14-hour train ride across the country, I transferred trains in Nice to head off to Italy. The train continued to travel along the edge of the land and right by the mountains throughout most of the
journey to Grosseto. Good times, great vibrations!
A 24-hour train ride may seem to be a drag and too time consuming, but it was absolutely not. Taking a long train ride was like being on an amusement park ride forever. It’s a great way to see the country. I’ve saw so much within 24 hours. I saw beaches, mountains, flowers, all kinds of buildings, and two well-known regions, Provence and Tuscany.
In fact, I found that taking trains was much easier than taking airplanes simply because I didn’t have to deal with security. I love the fact that I didn’t have to worry about taking my shoes and my belt off. I also liked the fact that I could keep my computer in my backpack and not worry about it getting dropped onto the floor by accident, which actually happened as I was heading through the security at the Atlanta airport when I was heading to Europe.
Transferring trains is also a piece of a cake. All I had to do was go down the stairs and walk a few steps down the hall and go up another stairs to the other track.
