We had been planning a proper honeymoon for months. As is typical of us as a couple, I dreamed it up and Bruno put it into planning, connecting the dots and making it all work. We wanted to go to Greece, but through a combination of wanting to see the world and our idealistic beliefs in avoiding short-haul flights (due to their insane pollution) we decided to travel via train to get there.
We left our flat in the late morning to catch the Eurostar out of Waterloo (they've since moved it to King's Cross). We'd packed as lightly as we could. I brought my journal, some clothes, a camera, a few books, and some snacks for the journey. Eurostar to Brussels took a few hours, and it was a pleasant journey. There's something very civilized about traveling via train. You relax and watch the scenery, get up and move around without being yelled at to sit down and fasten your seatbelt in case of turbulent air, and there's food served on board. Not to mention the fact that you don't undergo a damn cavity search in order to board.
When we arrived in Brussels, we had a short layover where we explored the station and said (about 500 times) "We're in Belgium!" The train station was bustling with all kinds of folks. It was so neat to see all the different destinations for the trains and imagine going there one day. When the time came, we got up and caught the same type of train pictured above. It was packed! But it was still civilized. We sat behind a group of Germans who were celebrating something or other. They had a bottle of wine and had a few toasts. Try doing that on an airplane.
The scenery in Belgium was really fun to watch. My family (on my dad's side) originated from around Liege and migrated down to Amsterdam back in the 14th century-ish, so it almost felt like I was rediscovering my roots. Durr, that sounds so pretentious. After a few hours, we arrived in Cologne, Germany, and waited for our sleeper train to pull in.
Here I am sitting in our sleeper car! I was so tired at that point that we pretty much went straight to bed after dinner. There wasn't much room to sit around, anyway, except in the dining car. By that time, it was really dark, so we couldn't see much outside. The trains were ace though. Everything was scrunched together, but it was done with the maximum efficiency. That table by my elbow doubled as a sink. There were light switches in convenient places. By my elbow was a cabinet for storing luggage. The top bunk was narrow but fairly comfortable. I didn't get the best night's sleep, but I slept.
Traveling via train brings back memories of my childhood. I had my first long train journey at 6 months old on Amtrak. My second major journey was cross country when I was 4. I remember sleeping on the floor with a yellow blanket and spending time playing games in the observation cars watching the world roll by. When I was 8 or so I went with my mom via train to visit relatives in Louisiana and Colorado. We got delayed for hours in El Paso, Texas, and I remember rolling through the desert in Arizona and stopping to let freight trains rumble by. I stuck my head out into the arid air and stared. There was nothing around us - literally nothing - but desert and train tracks. Giant red buttes jutted in the distance. I remember realizing quite suddenly how vulnerable humans really were. I could have stepped off the train and walked off, walked for days without being noticed by anything but the sky. At 15 I went with my mom up to Seattle, WA, to visit an old family friend. We got a sleeper car, and I loved every minute of it. I think that was our last trip together before my mom died. Someday I really want to to take my own kid(s) across the US on Amtrak... it's a dream I have.
Back to the story: We woke up to the attendant knocking on doors. Ours was a neat person. She spoke German, Dutch and English, and brought us breakfast in little boxes. By this time we were nearly in Austria, and the scenery outside was pastoral and serene, with early morning farmers out and about. As we neared Vienna, we passed commuter trains with their first loads of workers/businesspeople. When we pulled into the station, we found a baggage locker inside the station and headed into the center of the city for half a day since we had such a long layover.
I was feeling a little bit out of sorts so we found a cathedral to sit in. Bruno wandered around and took a few pictures until I felt well enough to get up and wander around. We walked to the Spanish Riding School, but nobody was performing that day, and sat in a cafe and had lunch while getting a feel of the city. I wasn't feeling well enough to do anything strenuous, but Bruno went to the top of the gothic cathedral we'd visited earlier and got a good glimpse over the rooftops of the city. After awhile, we headed back to the train station (via an underground tram) and caught our train to Budapest.
We rode in a communal chamber alongside a young backpacking couple who didn't speak much English and a really eccentric but merry old man who kept leaving the chamber for a smoke and to talk on his cell phone. The trip was pretty uneventful (apart from almost getting off at the wrong stop), but I thought it was interesting how the scenery changed. The green pastures of Austria slowly melted into long tan fields and blocky old stone structures that hailed from another era. By the time we got into Budapest though, both of us were well up for a shower and some R&R. We caught a cab to the hotel, but when we got there, we got pulled aside at reception and told to go up to the 2nd floor reception.
Sweaty, dirty, and a little bit concerned, we obliged. When we got to the desk we were told that we had been bumped up to "executive quarters" because we were the Xth visitors to check in that day. That meant we had access to the special lounge, bigger rooms, and free spa visits. It ended up being totally awesome, but it did mean we spent most of our time in Budapest in the hotel.
This is getting pretty long. I'm new at this blogging thing, so I'll cut here and update the story later. To be continued with pictures of Budapest, the hotel spa, and our utterly crazy 2 day train trip on the Trans-Balkan to Thessaloniki.
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