Overnight Train (Vienna To Zurich)

(This is entry 2 of 3 for today. Read below for part 1.)

Where to start about our experience riding the overnight train...

Our train was scheduled to leave at 9:25PM, and we arrived at the train station at least one hour early. We spent the time trying to dry out our shoes, socks, and umbrellas. Our train arrived early, and it didn't look like it was going to be a full train. We were hoping that we'd have our sleeping compartment to ourselves, but, just like with the previous train, luck was not with us.

The sleeping compartments were pretty much just six cots, stacked three high, squeezed into a little room. Our reserved cots were at the very top (of course), and in order to get up there you had to use a small rickety ladder. I thought I was going to fall off the ladder a few times. There's also little room for your luggage. All there was was under the bottom two cots, and some room for a couple of suitcases at the very top. If you couldn't find a place for it, it either got stacked on the floor or it had to be in the cot with you. Since Laura and I were first to the compartment, we managed to get our luggage out of our way.

Oh, and did I mention that the cots were not very long? If you're a tall person (even 6 feet tall like me), you have to sleep with legs bent because you could not stretch yourself completely out. Good luck getting through the night without a cramp.

We shared the room with two Korean girls who spoke little English. Apparently a fifth person, some guy who had a snoring problem, showed up at some point, but I don't remember him coming in.

After finally getting all the luggage situated, the crew came around and gave us sheets and pillows, took our breakfast order (coffee or tea, pretty much), and took our tickets and passports.

At some point just after we left Vienna, we noticed that the floor of our compartment was wet. Not flooded, but there were quite a few water puddles on the floor. Apparently this happened in all the compartments in our car, as the hallway had the same problem and a crewman was mopping it up. We have no idea what happened. I had one bag on the floor under the bottom cots, and thankfully it just had one little wet spot on it. But a couple of bags belonging to the Korean girls weren't so lucky.

It was also incredibly hot in the compartment, at least at the very top, even with the A/C turned all the way as cold as it would go. I was sweating like crazy. How the girls ended up falling right asleep with those heavy blankets over them, I have no idea. Anyway, add the heat to the fact that I couldn't get comfortable, and I knew it was going to be a long night.

Laura mentioned that she thought the train, at least the hallway, reeked of smelly body odor. Nice.

I read for a little while before I decided to attempt to sleep. I don't think I ever really slept, but at least I was able to keep my eyes closed for most of the night.

Overnight trains still make stops throughout the night, so people were coming and going (I think mostly going), so doors were slamming, the train kept stopping and starting... quite an experience.

Eventually breakfast comes around, and Laura told me to come look out the window in the hallway. That's how I got my first glimpse of Switzerland, and it was gorgeous. The mountains, the mountainside towns, the beautiful buildings, the fog, and, yes, even snow up at the higher elevations. I just stayed at the window for the rest of the morning just to see the country.

The train arrived about 2 hours late, but we did make it to Zurich just fine. Just extremely tired and cramped. Although it was good to experience something like this, I don't think it was worth it in the long run just to save a few bucks.

(This post was actually posted at 10:45PM Zurich time.)