Europe from my window

March 5, 2008

Photo: Flickr/Pichote

It came up slowly and smoking the pipe; was waiting ’til the passengers enter, take their places and it would continue the trip without steps which seems to be very irritating for this old but comfortable train.

I bought the ticket and holding my hat with one hand and a bag in the other, quickly jumped unto it and took my place near the window. I was looking forward to a new trip as “if I was Captain Cook, Sir Francis Drake and Christopher Columbus all rolled into one”. No matter that they travelled by ship, my feelings were like I wanted to discover something unusual and give my name to it.

I was gazing dreamily, realizing that the world is somehow smaller than it should be. As Marry Mors said: “While the journey is across the land, I begin my own inside my heart - a journey of memory and sensations. It’s really so, you start your trip with this page and it’s turned out to be the trip around the world. Travelling helps you to keep the fingers on the
pulls of time.

I always though that those cities which are on the way, the cities that we pass and absolutely unremarkable and forgotten by everyone. I looked at the map winch was hanging above my seat some strange cities were marked in the root with small red dots. Unremarkable? I though. How one can decide whether the city is remarkable or not. Rome – remarkable, Paris – remarkable, unlike this tiny dot on the map is not. I felt how unjust it was. People live even in those small cities marked by red dots and whenever you come to the small city like this, its inhabitants have always so many stories to tell and things to show. In general small towns are rather shy but they are good observers of people.

In the morning, I’ve discovered that we were still on the move and having a look at the window I saw that the foggy Saturday morning. The wheels of a chatty train were turning and while they are, so is life. I’ve found it absolutely reckless to let your life passing like this so I took a bar of chocolate and a book “Three Men in a Boat” in order to bring more content to my trip. I have read this book from cover to cover but my trip is usually accompanied by it. “I should seek out some retired and old-world spot, far from the maddening crowd and dream away on a sunny week”. Yes, it’s definitely about me. I do like travelling – my inspiration, my experience, my friends, my knowledge were found on the long boulevards, narrow streets
among people who speak different languages.

Moving on, the attention of my mind was caught by the bustling
atmosphere around me. People were going out and coming back. I felt like in the centre of the world’s attention for I became the participant of
the dynamic movement without my will. But it was just one of the big
stations… The train continued smoking the pipe and I felt very comfortable and pleased although I don’t like someone smoking in public places…

We stopped somewhere during the night while I was trying to recognize different objects in the dark fields; it was difficult to identify what is what under the cover of night you can see unknown creatures who probably existed a long time ago or who have never existed at all. You can see them in lovely trees, clouds… In fact, clouds give plenty of ideas for your imagination, you can see them changing into other objects, animals, faces and it turned out to be a game for the lonely traveller like me.

My mind was taken away with Europe, travel broadens the mind. I think that some people are so taken away with their trips that they never fully return form them and their minds, hearts and souls are still walking somewhere near statues, museums, churches, bridges… My conversation with my old friend was coming to an end, my destination was completely identified. Suddenly we stopped for some reason - some new carriages were linked to it and we continued the trip with this “enlargement”. May be there is still a lot to discover about Europe from my window but there is no doubt that it is near our door.