A day in the Eternal City

On Monday we had said goodbye to H & P  and had to amuse ourselves for the day. Mondays can be tricky as most of the museums are closed. I had a scout around and we opted to visit the Baths of Caracalla. I had no real idea what to expect, but boy are they amazing. These are public baths built by Septimus Severus and Emperor Caracalla  212  A D. It took 9000 men 5 years to build and had 6000 people use them every day. It had an olympic sized pool as well as another outside. There were two gymnasiums, saunas, massage suites and two libraries. It must have been a stunning place full of light and colour.  All there is now are a few mosaics which would be national treasures in the UK, and parts of the superstructure which give a vague idea of the scale of the place.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Caracalla

After lunch we headed out to the Appian Way to visit some Catacombes. For an ancient road, you take your life in your hands dodging cars and busses. Beyond the Catacombes, the road was much quieter, somewhere to explore in future I think. Rome is such a wonderful city. We spent the rest of the day just wandering around and going into places that took our fancy.

The next day we were back on a train heading for Turin. We left Rome at 10 am and got to Turin at 3 pm. One thing about traveling by train is that it gives you a real perspective to the actual size of a country. Turin was a very pleasant surprise. The old town is laid out on a grid pattern with lots of large public squares. We headed straight to the Egyptian Museum. I had planned a couple of hours here then a visit to the Royal Palace. As it was we were practically thrown out of the museum at closing time and had to dash around towards the end. It is a fascinating museum which shows in an understandable way the development of funeral practices in Egypt from the pre dynastic up to The end of the pharonic. 

We could have done with longer to explore the city. It has a real elegant feel to it. It is on the list to go back to again. 

Our last day was a very long one. The train from Turin to Paris was through more stunning scenery. I did get the timings wrong in Paris, and it became a dash to get to Gare du Nord, but as it was I had read the date as the train time, so we were in plenty of time! 

So our great train advent is over. Would we do it again? Probably , with a few changes. The sleeper was not a great success . I would, however, have another go if it was the Orient Express! Certainly travelling around Europe is not a problem, and with more time, yes, we would do it again.