Not really, it's a train, full of holes, and smoking...
Traveling in Italy is always an adventure, especially if you travel by train. For anyone who has enjoyed the thrill of the Italian railways knows that the Italian train system is famous for one and one thing only, it’s amazing ability to keep a consistent time schedule, they’re always late. You can even pay a little extra for the Eurostar, you’ll still be late, but at least you’ll be late with style!
My wife and I have taken trains all over Italy, and it seems that each time we have some special adventure set aside just for us. Last Monday was no different.
We were taking a night train to Rome, we had reserved two beds in a six person cuccette. The train arrived exactly on time - thirty minutes late (Remember on time means late in Italian!). We boarded and got situated in our beds and were ready for take off.
We waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. After about twenty minutes of sitting in the station we left for Rome. (We find out later from a friend that the reason we were stuck in the station for so long is that a man with a bloody arm and three dogs boarded the train and refused to get off, they eventually had to call the police to remove him and his fury four-legged friends.)
About ten minutes into the trip we start smelling a very interesting odor. At first I thought it might be somebody’s feet, it has happened before you know. Checked, all still wearing their shoes, hmm, maybe somebody had beans for lunch…well; it’s not quite that type of odor. Humph.
Soon I see smoke. That’s odd I thought. Smoking is illegal on the trains, and the odor was definitely getting stronger. It wasn’t long until the whole car was bustling about, trying to locate the origin of the smoke and smell. One quick glance out the train window and the mystery was solved; the smoke was coming from the train itself!
It turns out that one of the brakes had gotten stuck to the wheel of the train, and every rotation of the wheel was a new adventure in noxious fumes and blinding smoke.
They stopped the train, in the middle of nowhere mind you, and began to fix it. Within twenty minutes we were off and running again. Needless to say, we arrived safe and sound and on time to our destination, and just like always, a few minutes late!