Paul Smith Europe InterRail 1976

Crossing uneventful. Went from Calais to Lille, found French time one hour ahead of British. Had lemonade at Lille then got a train to Brussels. Arrived about 11.00(pm) Slept in waiting room until station closed at quarter to one. Then slept on bench outside, until quarter to four when the station reopened. Waited till about 20 past six when got train to Amsterdam. Arrived at quarter to ten. Looked around town, found campsite cost ?11 for the three of us.Had soup for tea, then bought a bottle of wine and had chicken supreme for supper.. Nutriplan for breakfast, went to Amsterdam station had glass of bier each, then went through to Hamburg via Oanabruk. Had Bockwurst and Pepsi at Hamburg. Left for Copenhagen at 10.35. Arrived very early, about 06.30. at Copenhagen after a short ferry crossing. No left luggage lockers for rucksack so had to lug them about.. Went for a trip round the Carlsberg brewery, given free beer at the end. Then went back to station and caught bus to camp site, worst seen yet, shabby stony and 31.50 for three of us + One tent. Had good meal beef savoury rice and steak with mushrooms, I had a peach as well. Next day had bacon, bread, cheese, raisins and mustard for breakfast. Went to station by bus to get train to Oslo. This however was so overcrowded we could not get on, so waited for an hour or so+ got the 1:34 to Stockholm. This also involved ferry crossing of about 20 minutes.

Train to Trondheim uneventful, passed some great scenery, passed Hell on the way. Looked round Trondheim, had a couple of ice creams and cokes. Drunk bloke was escorted out of the station.Met up with a couple of blokes who had lived near Chelmsford and knew the areas well. Train Leaves for Bodo 22.35. Arrived at Bodo at 10.34 took quite a time to find campsite. Friendly English speakintgnabvy type bloke showed us the way. Cheap place really, but very nice only 17.50 for 3 plus one tent. Bought IL milk made instant whip. Got hot plate free at this campsite, and hot water for washing up. Left on 8.50train, walk to station poured with rain all the way, as it did most of the night. Had bacon for breakfast, good train to Trondheim, but from Trondheim to Copenhagen bloody uncomfortable due to general lack of room and badly designed headrest. Bought a badge at Copenhagen and had a Polser each. Got train out at 22.45, quite good train all the way through had bread and sausage on the train. Bought chocolate and a badge at Munich railway station. Had to wait about an hour for connection then two hours at Verona for train to Venice.
Arrived about 04.36 had an apple sat by canal for banks to open, got some change (14600) and set off on walk. Weather is lovely about 28c or above. Bought throughout the day 3 ice lolles at 1.00 each, a drink ach for the same price. Badges at 500 each. And I bought a Brussels badge as well. For lunch we had Bread, chees and a bottle of wine, only 330 a litre (pretty good stuff too). Had a look at St Marks square. Bought head scarf for Grandma. Got hopelessly lost but kept on walking and found our way back by following Riverside railway lines. Had a quick boat trip to St Marks square, only 50L, can’t be bad.

Went on train to Naples station, went to Pompeii train but the wagon we wer eon got shunted away and stuck on a different train. However, we sorted ourselves out and arrived at about 7.20 at Pompeii . After some difficulty we found the ruins and toured them, We had bread cheese and wine for our lunch and also bought some meat for use later on, Got very uncomfortable train from Popmpeii-Naples-Rome, hard wooden seats, very crowded.
Got to Rome round 8.30, sat down and had some bread and meat, got kicked out of that place, now sitting in station Foyer, but kicked out of there at midnight, so slept outside, watching drunkards roll by, and lots of people s packs and equipment get stolen . Got train down Piza. Saw leaning tower. Back to Milan, through Genova, then went to Zurich. Whilst in Rome saw St Peters Square, Sistine chapel etc. On the way from Piza met very friendly French chap, gace me bread cheese plums wate and 2-3 fags throughoutfairly short trip.

Arrived at Zurich and after a long while found a campsite. We also found out that it was Swiss National day, so we had free food and a little beer, and a nice firework display. Next day went on to Berne, arrived at about 8.00 just in time to see a clock do a feeble display. Then walked on past the bear pit to try and find somewhere to sleep rough. After a long way we were shown how to get to camp site by a very friendly couple. Had some soup when we arrived 5to 10. And went to bed. Woke to find the tent pretty wet with condensation. Left quite early after a bread and jam breakfast and went to Interlaken .
Had a look round the town, had bread and jam for lunch, and then found a campsite very near to the station. So we decided to camp there when we arrived we had chicken noodle soup. After the soup we had a rest, then went for a walk half way up a mountain. For the main meal we cooked up 500g pasta in a mushroom soup and had some wine with it. Gor breakfast we had Jam, bread, the packed up and left for the south of France. Got to Vintimille in Italy first so bought a cheap bottle of Vodka and some fruit and had a nice meal on the beach.

Got through to Monaco and had a look round. Then tried to get a train to Barcelona. However there was a rail strike and no trains at all. So we walked to Nice arriving about mid morning. Got a train to Paris which was absolutely jam packed. It emptied after Marseilles so we went and slept in couchette for about one and a half hours until we had our tickets checked and got chucked out. Slept for a long time until a very nastyTicket man started to kick our luggage about, denting up my billies. He then tried to chuck us off the train at a place half an hour away from Paris. No way. He passed again later with no comment. Arived at Paris early, had a coffee then walked to L’arc de Triomph then to the Eiffel tower which we went up for 10F Got the Metro back to the station queued for about 2urs for some change. Got talking to some friendly Americans, Had a look at a faulty camera for one of them, only flat batts, Then went out and bought bread and liver Pate. Went back to station and ate it, someone bought a hotdog and then waited for the train

Arrived at Barcelona tried out how to get to a campsite with little success. Gound our way to a big square which was nowhere so spent out on a taxi all the way to an excellent campsite.which cosy for 2 nights 398 pts for all of us and 2 tents. First of all we had a meal the a swim in the camp pool, Next day we went into town boughta knife and presents and a little food, Went back to site had a swim the tried an “Anis Dulce” eachan Aniseed drink, then had a meal at the café place110ots for half chicken and chops. The sat around and decided to head for Luxembourg via Paris. Had good sleep got up 6.30 on 10.08/76. Had vesta meal for breakfast then went shopping again. Tog bought a guitar then went to station and got 3.50 train to Paris via Cerbere. Changed easily and got train to Paris. Changes some money at Paris Ost after Metro trip from Austerlitz. Had bread and liver stuff for breakfast, the bought bread and Jam. Went straight to Luxembourg had another 25 hour day, the got a bus to a campsite. Had soup and pasta the bought a bottle of advocaat. Did not do much for the rest of the evening, t’others played guitar, we drank our booze and listened to radio Luxembourg. Got up had chow mein and spaghetti for breakfast and lazed around after packing up our kit till we left about 12.30. Walked about 750mtrs stopped ate our lunch walked on and caught the bust to the station. Went shopping, bought bread, jam, and chocolate, pate met a Scottish student, quite friendly. Caught 8.26 to Trier then the 9.51 to Munich. Found the baggage deposit place then caught tram No 21(without paying) to the Lowenbrau brewery, had a look round and had a little beer at the end we then went back to the station for the day. Met a hitchhiker on his way from Manchester to Afghanistan, However he changed his mind and decided to go to Scotland instead. So he spent most of his money on a ticket.

Then back to Calais and home