Great Western Coffee Shop

The lights are dimmed, the curtain rises, and where do I find myself tonight?

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I, of course, have no idea, so I'm going to have a wild guess but deduced from clues. The signs look like Italian and you've made a theatrical reference. So: Venice (The Merchant of) suggests itself, but it somehow looks too clean. I'm going for Verona (though you make an unlikely Romeo – could you be Mercutio?)

Failing that, it has to "Tauntonio".

The theatric reference was, alas, to Ireland being Act 2 recently, and Act 1 being Faro.  A third journey starts. You are correct in Italy.  NOT all that clean - in fact I found myself half an hour later in what I suspect was the red light district and it was so dishevelled and litter strewn it was untrue.  With a car, the will, and some money I'm totally sure I could have ... never mind, the first two were lacking and the third stayed in my pocket.   Now in a B&B which was pre-booked, harder find than any accommodation I have ever stayed in before and overlooks a typical Italian Courtyard.  Big tall shuttered windows just like we used to have at home at "404" for anyone who visited us there (1999 to around 2018).

Nah. It's Melkshamo

So it must the shiny new fermata Catania Aeroporto-Fontanarossa.

Yes, it is - so new that no-one is using it yet!   Like Cardiff Airport Station (Rhoose) it's not at the airport, and indeed it's not even signposted at the airport as to how to get to it.  Airport information desk closed, staff at a cafe concorse tell me "go out this door" without adding at "wait beside the building works at the temporary bus stop sign for the long term parking shuttle which will take you there". 

Anyway - I go out the door, walk around and find no station.  I ask people who are local and they direct me to a bus at the far end of the terminal building which I had already concluded was probably the city centre bus.  Anyway - walked up there to ask. "No - other end of building" say driver, and as I walk back I see a bus at the stop I am headed back for, which pulls away as I get there - fortunately sees me and stops, lets me on, and confirms he's going to Fontatarossa Station.  The couple who had sent me up to the other end of the terminal were there too - very apologetic and embarrassed!

After driving out of the airport with the other passengers still on board, the bus turns into an obscure side road and there is this magnificent station - just people and signs of life missing, and I am the only one dropped off.   In fact, I thought I was the only one at the station until I spotted a lady up the other platform.  Very modern, very new - but no staff and, err, almost no trains.  Fortunately I had checked my timetable ahead of the journey, knew there was a 19:53.   Also this was confirmed by a next trains display showing the one or two services calling per hour ... and after a 20 minute wait both my 19:53 and a 19:53 headed out of town for the other lady pulled up.  I was still the only one waiting; there was a handful of passengers already on for the 10 minute run into Catania Central.

Should we expect "shehe'll be cominggoing round the mountainvolcano when she comes because it's there"?

Yes, that will be the answer to tomorrow evening's "guess where I have been".  Services in Sicily are dire-ly infrequent on a Sunday and non-existent on some lines.  Which means that was running was stuffed to the gunwales with people.  Station departure posters list all seven days on one list, and little footnotes in Italian are there for things like "does not run on a Sunday".  I took a day trip on the only practical train to Syracuse and watched the huddle of people who arrived there and who were doing the same trip separately trying to work out their return.   16:01 (an unusual routing and you had to see "Catania" in the small print) or 18:20, of course ;-) ...

I was relieved to see today when we called at the airport station on our way back from Siracuse that about a dozen people got off ... I suspect it may not be much used for the 10 minute hop into Catania, but is starting to build users from and to other cities.

Earlier this morning:

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On the Circumetnal as we Brizzleonians sez...

At least there's a reassuring lack of emanations!

And a taste of today ...

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Have you ever had one of those weeks where the experiences of each day are so many that you don't have time to digest them before the next experience starts?

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Too many experiences this week to share them all ... seeing how things are done elsewhere in Europe.  Modern trains have sealed double glazing and it's wonderful to travel in comfort and see so much - less easy (you will be thankful) to capture it in a shareable form without reflections from inside the train.

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Zoom lets you attend meetings even from the prettiest of Places - TravelWatch SouthWest today:

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Ah, looking across the Rhine at Stein am Rhein! The buildings in the town square in particular are almost impossibly pretty aren't they.

In your previous posting at 11:29 the second photo down is the Holzbrücke between Rapperswil and Hurden across the Obersee.  I'll guess that therefore that the trolleybus wire crossing is possibly Zürich and the bottom picture looks as though it could be somewhere on the Gotthard?

Dave

Stein am Rhein was a real surprise. I got off the train there only because I needed to find a quiet spot to do the Zoom thing, and chose it because there was going to be something there. It was a compulsory not a request stop, and shown on my "rail map of Europe" which of necessity does not show every station. Didn't realise what a lovely place I was walking into!   The other picture, Rapperswil indeed, and the Gotthard.  The Trolleybus wires happen to be Luzern but could have been Zurich; I have taken out a mortgage on a stay in the Ibis Budget - back there now as I write this up and prepare for my next day.

Even people who have heard about the Stein am Rhein beforehand are usually amazed when they actually see the town for the first time! 

I did wonder after I'd posted previously whether the trolleybus wires might be Luzern, judging by the trees.  Presumably this was in front of the station, while dodging the long and very efficient multi-section trolleybuses! 

I'm puzzled by the top picture from your 11:29 posting though.  It seems very familiar but I still can't place it.

It looks as though you're getting your money's worth from your travel pass and I hope that you're enjoying the superb Swiss transport system!

Dave

Rapperswil, as we arrived and a few minutes before that picture of the footbridge.  Stopped there for an hour to have a Zoom meeting with the Town Clerk to brief me on the meeting I'm chairing when I get back on Monday evening.

12 hours around Switzerland - from 05:45 to 17:45 ... in picture 'cos I'm tired and it's Saturday. These are the Railway ones - the scenery was quite nice too, and I met some interesting people along the way.

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I did wonder about Rapperswil with the pollarded trees but couldn't place it exactly.  I guess you were on one of the brand new copper-coloured Stadler Traverso units.

Looking at your most recent pictures from top to bottom:
- Luzern Hbf; looking remarkably quiet, even for that time of the morning!
- Bern Hbf;  Switzerland's architectural answer to Birmingham New Street!
- Kandersteg;  spare BLS "Brownie" and DVT for the car transporter shuttles through the original Lötschberg tunnel
- Brig standard gauge platforms after travelling over the "classic" Lötschberg route
- Brig MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn) platforms in the main station forecourt with a local train the Andermatt and an ominous warning on the departure board!
- On the MGB rack somewhere above Grengiols
- A postbus connecting with a train - could be almost any station in Switzerland :-).  This Fiesch though, and the bus is rather larger than usual for the location.  As shown in the notice at Brig, this is a bustitution around some engineering works (not unusual at this time of year in the lull between the summer and winter seasons).
- Oberwald, (as it says on the station signs) with the loading bays for the car transporter through the Furka base tunnel on the left.
- Blitzingen; a bit out of sequence but seen from the Ersatzbus between Oberwald and Fiesch
- Andermatt; seen a few minutes after leaving the station!  Climbing on the rack section up towards from Nätschen.
- Start of the top rack section (looking out of the back of the train) when climbing up to the summit of the Oberalp pass towards.  Note the distinctive double timber overhead masts due to the harsh weather conditions on the exposed length.
- Tschamut-Selva (looking back) on the descent of the Vorder-Rhein valley towards Disentis & Chur.
- Disentis/Mustér;  change of train from the MGB to the RhB (Rhätische Bahn)
- Chur; vintage railcar arriving from Arosa down the street running section!
- Chur; Platform 2 (in the station forecourt) with an Allegra unit waiting to depart for Arosa
- Upstairs on a Dosto unit between Chur and Zürich
- Zürich Hbf; changing trains.
- Luzern Hbf; busy as usual!  Arriving from Zürich.
- Luzern Hbf; station concourse on the escalator to the balcony level.
- Tasty looking snack!

I'll be over there again myself covering much so the same ground over Christmas and the New Year!

Dave

Yes - on the Luzern to Saint Gallen cross country route.  I did try to put one in my pocket to bring back for the Weymouth - Swindon - Oxdord - Bedford - Nottingham - Skegness run but found it wouldn't fit


You are incredibly knowledgable!    Thank you for doing my labelling for me  ;D

You are correct in that being a rail replacement bus over one of the rack sections. All VERY smoothly done ...

I have already - this Sunday morning - visited four stations and I'm now on my fourth trains.  Two of the pictures are from Luzern last night, the others are Sunday-fresh.

I would LOVE to see some of these features at Bristol - Birmingham - Newport ...

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Interesting to compare the construction of a great arch flanked by twin towers to the typical double-tower construction of a central European cathedral. Thus we might have "Protestant" and "Catholic" railway architecture traditions.

There is a whole study of great station architecture across Europe.  We have some beauties such as Wemyss Bay, but in generality I like much of what I saw.  In some countries though there remains swathes of unused and crumbling railway infrastructure too, and I find myself wondering if it's a bad thing it's still there and rotting or a good thing that it has not been swept away like the bridge over the Taw, built over by the likes of West Devon Council offices or become a road like the A66.

Thank you. It's the result of many holidays and other visits to Switzerland exploring the country using Swiss Travel Passes https://swisstravelpass.com/
Whereas Interrail just covers trains, the Swiss Travel pass covers trains, boats, buses, trams & trolleybuses, cable cars & funiculars to almost anywhere there is habitation.  There are a few exceptions but they are few and far between. The pass also gives substantial discounts on cable cars,  funiculars and to many "tourist sites" such as mountains tops (although even then the prices can be eye-watering!).  If you want a break from travelling and viewing the magnificent scenery, the pass gives free access to many of the national museum sites and monuments. (p.s. I'm not on commission for the Swiss travel centre!)

As you probably already knew, or discovered in your travels, the Swiss Transport system is superbly well integrated with trains, buses, boats and other transport all timetabled to connect.  Even at small stations in the mountains it is quite usual to find a Postbus waiting to connect to nearby villages.  Our planners and politicians could learn a lot!


OK, from top to bottom then I'll guess:
- Strasbourg
- Basel SBB station frontage
- Luzern concourse area
- Olten - the "Crewe" of the Swiss railway network!
- Basel SBB concourse with the former booking office windows and those distinctive murals above
- Strasbourg
- Strasbourg again?
- Luzern
- Basel SBB in the very recently refurbished section adjacent to "French" wing of the station

Completely agreed!

I don't suppose religion itself was ever a cause of taking sides in arguments over station architecture - though architectural movements/fashions/styles have. Even Limoges-Benedictins, which sounds religiously motivated, and despite being a spectacular example of something, is more of a one-off than part of any one movement.

Taking sides there certainly has been, in the way it always is for big buildings. In this country we've had modern vs. something else - not always very clear what; "familiar" perhaps? Before that we had Gothic versus anything else. But across Europe, I imagine that nationalism has been the major factor, though often expressed as a national(istic) style.

The most obvious example of that must be Alsace-Lorraine, where the Germans post-1870 built and rebuilt a lot of stations (and other bits of city) as a kind of concrete propaganda. (They also swapped the railways from left to right side running.) And the biggest (in all senses) example of that is the station at Metz.

Going back to cathedrals, aren't their differences in style more national than denominational?

I didn't mean station architecture was a conscious denominational rivalry – perhaps I overstated that. What I was thinking was that large stations, sometimes called the cathedrals of the nineteenth century, were influenced in their design, to some extent, by the overall silhouette of cathedrals. Hence the twin towers with a 'dome' between.

As for national tradition being more important than religious tradition in ecclesiastical architecture, quite possibly. After all, they were almost all (in Europe) built as Catholic cathedrals. But then many of them were also built before the nations in which they stand had their current existence.