Traveling on the Orient Express - Alps Rail

On that 24th December in my village in the Alps, snow flakes were falling heavily from the sky, and looking out of the window I wanted to be on of them, brought around by the wind to some destination I wouldn't have known, and I wouldn't have wanted to know. And suddenly, the phone rang. "Hey, do you want to come to Budapest for New Year's..??" "Eh?! When do you leave?" "On the 27th" "... ok"

It was a friend of mine, who had already planned to go there with some mates, but one got sick, so one place became free and he needed someone to go with. Well.. why not! X-mas was quickly over, with its bells and opened presents.. it was time for movin East. The morning of the 27th December, with a green eskimo and beanie on ears, we left from the small mountain city of Sondrio. Two guys, two bags, one travel. We would have met his friends in Budapest, as they were flyin to Bratislava and takin a train to the capital of Hungary.

The train quietly left the valley, between white fields, small silent villages, smoky chimneys. It passed by the Lake of Como -George Clooney has a posh villa there, we had just our sleeping bag and a booked hostel.. what would you have preferred? The 1st option? Go reading Cosmopolitan. Once reached Milano, 4 hours of an InterCity train were waiting for us, to get into Venice. But Bad Luck decided to join our travel, as this train left 1 hour late.

But well.. wrapped in our jackets, watching at people of different age, nationality, destination running as ants around us, we didn't care that much of the delay. A chat with a travel mate who soon disappeared, a look at the screen, Hey the train finally got here!, hooray on the road again. After few hours, Venezia was around us. That was the departure station for THE train: Venezia 9 pm - Budapest 11 am, 14 hours. Phew! We had to kill one hour, so why not having a walk in the Venezia by night? Not a hot summer day with tourists everywhere, no, just a walk in the cold dark narrow streets, few people around, hidden behind their scarves while buying the last ingredients for a quiet dinner indoor. Walking quickly back to the station, we finally got our seat on THE train.

Few people in the wagon: two hippies with expired IDs and the big hope to pass the border anyway, a girl who was studying abroad in Hungary, 2 italian guys travelling to Romania with a bottle of Amaro Montenegro (a spirit) to keep them warm during the long journey. As the train was stopping in stations, people started to get on and fullfill the seats. Loud boys, bags everywhere, laughters, panini.. that's the way! The Night was travelling side by side to our train: in Trieste it stopped (the train, not the night -it never stops) 10 minutes, and for an istant I had the crazy idea to get off the train to go meetin that girl I was supposed to party with.

By accident, she sent me a text in that exact moment, but well.. my train ticket was for Budapest, not for Trieste. Villa Opicina is a small station, the last italian one before the border with Slovenia. The train stopped there, and oh! was such a magic atmosphere.. it was snowing heavily, everything around was covered in white and without movements or noises.. Just the train, resting a while on its tracks, some policeman with their dogs, a van with slipping wheels on the iced ground. A chat with some canadian guys travelling around Europe, some jokes with the young ticket-controller.. time passed quickly in Villa Opicina, and then the train woked up again: a sour hiss in the night, that was the only goodbye. Out of the window the Night was smiling at us, while the darkness and the snow were covering the sleeping villages we were passing by. Many hours of travel still in front of us, many hours still to be joined.