The Night Train to Stockholm

The Night Train to Stockholm

At the station

 How many of you ever wished  you could ride on a luxury train? First class all the way. Picture the dining car with its four course dinner served on linen white tables with a server with a white napkin over his arm. A nice and cozy train berth with your own private area and bathroom and shower. Picture the Orient Express and all those movies you have seen of people taking a night train somewhere. Well we have to tell you that it was not like that at all!!!

Looking out the window of our berth

We anxiously arrived at the train station ready to board, settle in and get to the dining car. We handed the conductor our passes and tickets and he pointed us to the car and we headed over with all of our baggage. (And by this time I mean baggage). Between the two of us we had 2 large suitcases, 2 backpacks and 2 carry-on bags but hey we are staying in the first class coach so it is going to be great right???? As we opened our door after barely making it through the narrow hall, we opened the door to find the smallest little room you could ever imagine. How in the world are we going to fit all of our luggage in this room and when we do where will we sit or lie down or even walk? We finally arranged the bags only to find out that this train does not have a dining car, in fact this train does not serve any meals and we were expecting dinner and breakfast the next morning. (Thank you RailEurpe website for the wrong information), Thank goodness we had grabbed a late lunch in Malmo before boarding so we would make it.

It's a little smaller than
we thought.  Our luggage
is behind Ms. Edge

  Ok, we are settling in and have pulled down the top bunk and getting ready to sleep since it is already 10:30 and the train arrives at 6:30. First thing wash face and take a shower since we have our own little bathroom. After turning on the water, the switch is impossible to figure out so the water just keeps running and running. We finally found that if you twist the shower head it will stop. All the hot water is gone by now. Then there is a bump in the train and a suitcase falls down and I am trapped in the bathroom. Good thing we got the water off or I would have drowned in there. Is it easy to sleep on a train you may ask? Well we can both tell you that when 6:30 came we had hardly slept a wink. Of course at 4:00 in the morning the sun is shining through as it is coming up and every turn, bump, and stop have been felt.

We have bunk beds in here.
What fun!

  We crawled off the train not nearly as excited as we got on (with no breakfast that was promised) and head out to find our B and B in Stockholm. Well at least we got here in one piece. It was quite an experience and if it were a longer ride and had less luggage it might be worth another try. How many of you have ever had the opportunity to ride on a train? If so, where did you go?