I had a fascinating visit to Rome. I shall do some posts on the visit shortly. I travelled by train. I enjoyed the trip, despite the fact that the train from Paris to Milan broke down. The journey was smooth and on time until we pulled into Modane in the French Alps. (The picture is of the station.) After a wait of more than an hour, we were told there were technical problems. We had to transfer trains and by the time it pulled into Milan, I had missed my connection to Rome. I had to catch a train two hours after the one I should have caught.
Despite that, it was a great journey. The scenery was wonderful. The train travelled through deep tree-lined valleys. After we left Modane, we travelled through a tunnel and came out on the Italian side, only to find it was white over: there had been a heavy snowfall and the tracks and trees were deep in snow. We went through another tunnel and came out to find no snow but the area enveloped in mist.
I did not see the scenery on the return journey. I took the sleeper service from Milan to Paris. Did I mention that was late? I spent a couple of hours late at night at Milan station. Good job I had some draft PhD chapters with me to read! Fortunately, the train pulled into Paris just in time for me to get my Eurostar connection…
What a story of a wonderful journey, you encourage me to travel by train to one of the European countries soon.
It is well worth it. You see so much by train in a way that is not possible when you fly.