The Ups and Downs of Travelling

As I foreshadowed yesterday, I spent much of today travelling to Lyon by train - the first train from Lucerne to Geneva and the second train from Geneva to Lyon. 

Again it was very hot and humid in the trains, and when I finally arrived in Lyon at 3.30 pm, it was 37 degrees Celsius and very humid!  

I am really sorry, but I just need to let off little steam today about a few things, maybe because I am hot and tired . . . Travel is not always rosy. 

I did say I would give advice about train travel in Europe at a future date, but I feel compelled to say that while the seats were quite comfortable, I was really disappointed that in both cases today the windows were too dirty to allow you to take a clear photo of the great landscapes you could kind of see through the window. In addition the toilets were quite primitive and unclean and you could not properly wash your hands. In the French train in particular, everything was again very worn and old (remember my post about my memorable night journey to Paris), and the very scratched and battered train exterior was very badly in need of sanding and resurfacing.

Then there is the large amount of graffiti despoiling buildings, bridges, fences, railway trucks, etc., along the railway line, especially in some of the big cities. Clearly some has been done by risk-taking vandals spraying their cans whilst they were hanging in precarious positions - to impress their mates? (Sadly that happens in Australia too.) 

It seems to me that the trains are being used until they ‘drop’, with the turn-around times being so fast cleaning and maintenance is just not done, or done all too rarely. And clearly nothing is being done to curb the graffiti vandals. (I refuse to call them ‘artists’!)  I am surprised that the tourism departments of Switzerland and other European countries do not seem to recognise the potential for establishing great European train journeys in these regions. A little competition for river cruises. Here you have magnificent mountains, lakes and forests, picturesque little villages and green fields!  What a feast for the eye! Mind you, just about every one of my fellow travellers were locals whose heads were buried in their smart phones and laptops. Time to ’smell the roses’ and celebrate what a beautiful country they have! 

Of course, were this idea to be taken up, something would have to be done about making it easier for passengers with luggage to climb up into the train and out of it again. A big thank you again goes to those kind souls who helped me today.  

Speaking of smart phones, here comes my next puff of steam. I finally got through to a more competent person working for Vodaphone who investigated my situation - not being able to phone or text since mid-March - and told me that my phone would not work all this time because they decided to block it to save me money! (The global roaming fee was adding up on the ship.) I jumped up and down about that unbelievable unilateral decision of theirs, so the service is now restored and they are refunding me the fees I paid. But of course Murphy's law prevailed. When I turned my phone off and on again as they instructed, my email on my phone stopped working altogether. And now my laptop has gone ‘out in sympathy’ and again I can receive but not send emails via my computer! Nothing I have tried is restoring it!  Looks like more Jacquie Lawson e-cards will have to be used to respond to urgent emails. 

And finally, if you don’t mind me huffing and puffing on this one, one of my pet hates is to find that the shower in my hotel room is in a bath!  It is so easy to slip and fall. Not only that, when you are vertically challenged and your knees have lost their flexibility, it is a nightmare. You should see me trying to climb into the bath in the first place! (Actually you should not - not a ‘pretty sight' at all! Do you remember my story about trying to get on and off a horse at the Lost City of Petra? That's it all over again!)

The worst case was an old-fashioned bath in Rome that was almost up to my shoulders! One of my friends on that tour laughed with me at the very thought of me trying to get into it, then very kindly let me have a shower in her room. There is just one thing that is just as bad, and that is a tiny shower in which you cannot bend or raise your foot or anything! You can only occupy a tight cylindrical position. I have encountered those too. 

The infamous Roman bath-shower. The basin was quite high up, to give you an idea of how tall it was. 

My shower on the second ship. The shower on the river ship and in one of the Italian hotels was even tinier.

But how was this shower? This was like a large glass cage in the middle of the hotel room. There was no separate bathroom. That is my bed in the foreground. I had to remember to close the curtains first! Four people could have stood in it, not that I would invite others to join me! Not on your nelly! 

Looking from the other direction at this giant shower. 

Oh the joys of travelling!

But I am still glad I am doing it!