B 2nd Day Pilgrimage to Rome

2.5.50.
The train left Calais at 1 pm. We sped on through France by night
stopping a few minutes at several
large towns. I was unable to sleep until about half past five in the
morning when I had a short doze.
By early morning we had reached Laon, where we stopped for several
minutes.

During the day, breakfast, lunch and dinner were served on the train.
Breakfast at about 6.30 am.
In connection with the meals there was one embarrassing incident.
Bottles of wine were placed on the
table and coffee was served afterwards at lunch. We thought these were
included in the meal, but it
happened that they were extras and were presented with a bill for 329
francs. Luckily I had brought
500 francs with me in case of an emergency, this being enough to cover
it. In future we were careful
to avoid wine and coffee with our meals while in France.

At 11.20 am we arrived in Dijon where the train stopped for twenty
minutes. Many of us strolled upon
the platform.
The countryside had been quite flat and uninteresting up to this point.
As we approached the Alps, the
terrain became more hilly. The scenery was truly beautiful when we had
entered the Alps. Snow-
capped mountains towered above us on either side.
Occasionally little villages were huddled on the lower slopes. On the
peaks of many of the more
accessible mountains, a cross was erected, clearly seen against the
sky, dominating both the hills and
the villages below, expressing the faith of these simple people, many
of them living in the most primitive
conditions. They waved to us as the train passed, and we also waved to
them. Some of the more
palatial villas we had passed, earlier on, had had statues of the
Virgin and Child carved upon their
gateposts.
Just before we reached Aix-le-Bains, the train passed a magnificent
lake overshadowed by mountains.
It seemed as though the water was lapping right up to our train. We
entered several tunnels, emerged
gain by the lake, and shortly after leaving it behind, reached
Aix-le-Bains.
The train paused here for twenty minutes and Margaret and I had just
enough francs to buy a postcard
each, which we wrote and posted on the platform, to our respective
homes.

Sunset between the Alps was glorious. The mountains were now much
higher, and often rose sheerly
on both sides of our train. We passed through Chambery, Challes les
Eaux, Montmelia, Aigebelle,
Pontamafrey and St. Jean de Maurienne. These were the stations. At some
of the smaller places we
had passed, there were many tenements, blocks of flats with balconies
which were strung with washing.
These were the poorest places we saw during our whole journey.

At length we arrived at Modane, the frontier. It was about 7.15 pm. We
stopped here for about three-
quarters of an hour for a passport examination, our passports being
stamped by both French and Italian
officials. We were not allowed to leave the train. After leaving
Modane, we entered a long tunnel.
By the time we emerged from it, it was completely dark.
During the day our carriage had had several visitors. Of its six seats,
there were only four official
occupants.
Mrs. Mumford from the next carriage spent the night with us. She was
not feeling well and lay across
two seats. During the day, Eileen, a young girl of twelve, also from
the next carriage, sat with Mr. and
Mrs. Peate. The Bishop's chaplain was Eileen's uncle, and he also
visited us. The other people in the
carriage called him Father John. Usually he was the last on the train
when it departed from every
station, and once actually jumped on to it when it was moving.

That day, a French ticket collector came along to punch our tickets.
When Margaret and I proffered
ours, which were third class, we were met with a storm of indignant
French. We were unable to
understand him at first, but at length grasped that we were in a
second-class carriage. This mistake was
made by Cook's and we went to see the courier, Mr. Murphy. He told us
to stay in the same seats for
the outward journey and to send the ticket collector to him if we
troubled again by him. Luckily the
ticket collector had disappeared.

At half-past ten that evening we reached Turin, where we taken by coach
from the station to our hotels.
Ours was the hotel Sitea, which was very comfortable, with hot and cold
running water in the bedrooms.