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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2011 13:53:51 GMT
The longest train trip I ever took in Europe was Paris to Lisbon, which lasted 27 hours. You'd think it would be a very memorable trip, but it wasn't. Absolutely the only thing that I remember about all of the time I spent on that train was that the plain in Spain is a pain -- endless, just like crossing Texas.
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Post by bjd on Apr 1, 2011 16:56:11 GMT
I just found this thread, even though it's old.
I did Paris-Warsaw-Paris twice in the 1970s. The first time, it was so long (24 hours) and felt longer because I was sitting in a compartment, not a sleeping car, that the first thing I did on arrival was check flight prices for the return. But it cost a bundle and there were no cheap flights at the time, so I returned by train.
I also hadn't taken much to eat and spent several hours watching a woman sitting across from me pulling out sandwiches from what seemed to be a bottomless bag and munching. She didn't share a crumb with me or the Yugoslav guest workers who were going home from Germany for a visit.
The second time, we stopped a long time in then East Berlin, had the Vopos (police) walk over the train, look underneath for stowaways (you know, all those people from the West trying to sneak into East Germany), bought transit visas. Then shortly afterwards got to the border with Poland. Several women in the compartment were smuggling stuff, since there was a lot more available in East Germany than in Poland. One was hauled off the train to have all her bundles and bags checked. There was a little old lady sitting in one corner of the compartment. Once we set off again, she pulled out a bottle of holy water from Lourdes (a plastic flask of the Virgin with a blue crown for the cap) and claimed that it had prevented the border police from checking her.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2011 20:31:49 GMT
Not really a train but the longest tramway line in the world (68km), the Kusttram has gone from the Dutch border to the French border of Belgium since 1885 (even if the rails have changed location since then).
Summer along the Belgian coast would not be summer without the Kusstram, even though it runs all year.
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