A train through the sea: Bologna to Bari

I arrive at Bologna at 6.30am Monday morning, feeling as though it had been the longest night with the littlest sleep. Yet a small smug part of me is entirely aware of my friends and family getting up to go to work soon and I would far rather be tired in Italy, than going into the office. I find a small cafe, one of the few places open, and manage to stumble over a few Italian words to buy a breakfast pastry. Then I find my platform and the only place I can to sit: a freezing stone slab. Not for the first time I am glad I took a huge oversized knitted jumper with me as it feels like I am wrapped up in a duvet. I try to get stuck into Phillip's Prague again, but the writing is quite stylised and there is some barrier which prevents me from really getting involved in the story. My train finally chugs in, a battered, graffiti strewn metal beast. Inside it is comfortable and clean, although the toilets are blocked. The seats are like airline seats and I am happy to discover my seat reservation holds true and I am by a window!

The journey to Bari is magical. The train leaves a bit late at 9.20am (scheduled departure was 8.55) and arrives in Bari early afternoon. It is a journey characterised by sun and sea as the train follows the coastal track all the way to the bottom of Italy. I can't fight the sleep on this journey (maybe Dad had a point after all...) and yet every so often I wake from a dream to see the sea sparkling next to my window and golden sand. Just like the journey in the anime film 'Spirited Away' when the girl takes a train through the sea - I always wanted to get on that train.