




We went on the train today from Vienna Sudbanhof station to the Venice Santa Lucia station. This route has one photogenic village after another. The mountains are a verdent, vibrant green as far as the eye can see. In Austria, many of the alpine cottages are painted a bright sunshine yellow and their flowerboxes are overflowing with pink and red geraniums. Along the way, each town has their own church, with the alpine steeple and clocktower. There was one town, north of Villach, where there is a gorgeous fortified castle, complete with a stone wall that wound around the hillside.
As you head into Italy, the homes change to stucco facades of more pastel colors. And when you cross the border to Italy, the train conductors turn off the air conditioning and cabin fans (no joke) just when it starts to warm up.
Unfortunately, I have no good photos. Cameras don’t work well taking pictures from moving trains through dirty glass.