France: Paris (3 nights), Albi (4 nights), Lyon (1 night). Switzerland: Brig (1 night), St Moritz (1 night), Lucerne (6 nights). Austria: Vienna (4 nights). Germany: Dresden (3 nights), Weimar (4 nights) = 27.
Yesterday coming home we caught four trains all up. We were travelling with three items each and it was easier than travelling with our mobile pantry bag. In one break we had time to get some lunch at station shops to eat on the train. There is always the option of buying food on the train with the long distance trains, and sometimes staff actually come to your seat to offer coffee.
We hadn’t been able to book 1st class for the Eurostar going home and noticed immediately how cramped the seats were. Stephen had to man spread – his knees were up against the seat in front. It was better for me, being short. Other passengers had the same problem, and when walking the corridors we had to step over legs and feet. You couldn’t blame people, it was worse than cattle class on an airplane.
Over the four weeks I have lost a lens cap in Brig (not too much of a problem as the camera travels tightly in a small bag) and a small makeup bag in Albi. On the last train of our last day, disaster struck. Stephen left his pouch with me when he went to get our tea on the Eurostar. When he came back we were focussed on eating the food and forgot about the pouch, which is normally housed in Stephen’s shoulder bag. It must have slipped onto the floor. The pouch contained our Eurail pass, with diary, and both his passports (British and Australian).
Stephen didn’t realise until we were at St Pancras Station in London. He maintained his cool and I felt guilty because I had a hand in it being lost. When we got back to the apartment in Croydon he contacted Eurostar Lost and Found and had an online chat. Today he has spent time getting in touch, they didn’t open until 10.00 a.m. Eventually, this afternoon, he had word that it was found. I was amazed as I was convinced that it must have been stolen. He was always optimistic, and hadn’t reported the loss. He said the fuss involved in having his passports cancelled and getting new ones wasn’t worth it unless he knew for sure that they would not be found.
We go tomorrow to St Pancras to pick up the pouch.
The top photo is of the Weimar Belvedere. There were quite a lot of buildings – it seemed almost like a small village. The Orangery (a sort of elaborate greenhouse) is beautiful. There was a New Holland section with some Australian plants.
Our visit was on Sunday and we realised that local people visit for the beautiful parklands and very nice cafe. Only tourists would go into the house itself. We spent most of the day there enjoying the gardens and parkland.
We thought we’d be too tired to do anything today, but after morning cups of tea in bed we have done quite a lot. Stephen has followed up on his pouch. He went down to our closest small shop to get food for our lunch. I did two big loads of washing, some of which is almost dry. I had a applied for a Waitrose card before we left and it arrived whilst we were away. This meant that I was able to place an order for groceries online. They are due to be delivered tomorrow morning. Because we don’t have a car it is difficult to do much shopping – we have to do it a little bit at a time, hauling the trolley home. It will be interesting to see if ordering online is a good option.
We both went down to the little local store again before dinner to get a few more items. It is busy in the late afternoon with people coming home from work by tram, car, bus and on foot. We have to be really careful crossing the roads.