trains and bikes...

.....are never a good combination. Especially in France.

My week back in Paris was spent trying to get me and my bike back to Italy at the same time.

The first step was finding out if it was possible.....and no one seemed to know. I was given countless different pieces of information, most contradictory, none accurate: I could send it freight, but not to Italy; I could take it onboard with me but only in a box; I could book a space on the train, but not the international trains.......it went on and on and on......and on.

Eventually, I opted for the box. After disassembling the bike outside the station and ending up covered in dirt and grease, I was ready to get it and all my bags on the train. This was the next problem.

When I got to my carriage, the attendant told me I could not take my bike on - the box was too big! After a week of frustration with SNCF I finally lost my patience. Thinking he was French, I started to abuse the attendant in all the bad Italian I knew before adamantly insisting that both the bike and I were getting on the train. The box fitted perfectly on my bed, which luckily was the top berth, and all my bags piled on top of it neatly. I would figure out where to sleep later.

After the train took off, I discovered 2 things; the man I had abused was our carriage attendant and....he was Italian! Luckily he had a sense of humour and found it all very amusing. He even moved some of the people from our compartment so I would have somewhere to sleep....pity he couldn't do anything about the snoring by the remaining occupants.

12 hours later....I was putting my bike back together on the station at Vicenza. We had made it back to Italy relatively unscathed.