Ten hours train to Milan

We say goodbye to Paris for a while.

May 29, 2014
Our train from Gare du Nord leaves at 7:50 pm. We checked out of Hotel Mercure at 5:45 pm.

There’s a new tour guide who accompanied us on our bus ride to the train station. I didn’t know her name but she has a very good sense of humor. She’s half Italian and half Albanian living in Paris.

Again, she warned us to stay away from the thieves in Paris, the pretty girls roaming around asking for money and picking pockets.

We arrived at Gare du Nord at 7 pm because the bus went around the city for some more sightseeing.
There’s a Mercure Hotel near the station.

Looking tired and sleepy Anaks

Gare du Nord is a busy station but the lay-out is fairly simple kaya it’s not overwhelming. I’ve been here twice or thrice before.

We all waited at the tracks.

This was one of the pastries I baked earlier, I brought it home but when I went back to the hotel, my kids weren’t there yet. Binaon ko na lang. Since we haven’t had dinner, I took it out from the supot.

Whala, another one, pain de chocolat. I made some of my tour companions taste it, sarap daw. Syempre, gutom kami. They couldn’t believe that I baked this.

Okay, train is here, ready.

it’s our first time to take an overnight train. We don’t like traveling at night for security, but Federal Phoenix arranged for this. I paid extra US$160 so that it’s just the three of us in the cabin. Supposed to be daw apat. Actually hindi, pang anim daw talaga ang cabins, ano ba yun, grabe naman, yung dalawa nga masikip na, anim pa.

When traveling by overnight train, dapat kasi maximum lang of two people per cabin. It should be treated like a hotel room, twin sharing lang.
How can you make 4 people sleep in one tiny cabin smaller than my son’s bathroom, with several big luggages? And hindi sila pamilya ha, paano sila magbibihis at sasalampak na lang?

My kids and I made ourselves comfortable. It’s fun actually, Pero if they were not with me, ma de depress ako.

My son was adjusting, he was feeling dizzy. Last time he took a train was from Paris to Lourdes and back, he was 13.

I didn’t join them for dinner in compartment #19 kasi our cabin couldn’t be locked from the outside. I didn’t want to take any chances of losing our stuff. My kids brought me food.

My son brought me appetizers. The salami was so delicious. Ayaw ko lang yung tinapay na pahaba, matulis, at ang tigas pa. Hindi ko gusto ang hitsura. At kalahati lang, asan yung karuktong, mahaba pala ito.

Naubos ko yung seafood rissotto.
Abah kailangan busog ako at malayu-layo ang byahe, 10 hours.

I left this un-touched.

I was trying to enjoy the scenery. At 10 pm maliwanag pa. Wow, there’s a rainbow. I think it’s God greeting me.

Naku, I couldn’t control my sleepiness. Ang usapan hindi ako matutulog so I could keep an eye on our belongings. I was dozing off. Hindi ko na namalayan when my children came back. I slept straight for 6 hours!!!!

There were clean white cotton sheets. they looked and smelled clean. Okay na ito.

I opened my eyes and saw my son nakabaluktot sa sofa, yun pala nahihilo sya pag humiga. Naawa naman ako. My daughter stayed on the deck, sa penthouse sya.

Yen— “Shotiiii push meee”.

oops

oops

I woke up at 4 am, wala pang tao.

Ang bantot ng toilet, Dyos ko.

Refugees?

If my husband sees this photo I am sure he’s going to react. Baka maawa sa amin, ipasyal kami pag-uwi namin.

yehey, we’re here, we survived it, on the contrary, I had a very good night sleep. Among all of us, I was the only one pala who slept thru the night.

Very hard to travel by train with heavy baggage.

My kids’ first time in Milan. My second. First time was with Aileen 20 years ago when we attended the Milan International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair.

Eto oh tulog na tulog

Siksikan kasi sila. And they said the policemen came and checked their passports. kami hindi. My children said maybe the policemen heard me snoring and got scared to wake me up.

At 6:30 am, we’re in Milan city center, Italy.

The bus driver was looking so dapper. Bihis na bihis.