Merry Christmas! (and a gratuitous Fantasy Train Ride)

This will be the first Christmas Pater and I have ever spent on our own, just the two of us, as is likely the case for many of you as well. But a few years ago, we did spend Christmas far from home — albeit in the good company of our son-in-law and granddaughter. We were there — not far from Rome — to help with childcare while our daughter was away for an intensive three-week course and, if you’re interested you could read a bit about our Christmas week here and here and here . . . or see my brief video clip of the giant Christmas tree outside the Vatican. . . .

That Christmas, though, isn’t what I was going to tell you about this Christmas Eve. Instead, I’m following Rosie’s suggestion. A long-time lovely reader  here, Rosie recently told me she’d reread a post I wrote enroute to that Christmas in Italy. Missing her beloved Swiss mountains this year , she reminded me I’d once taken readers on an imaginary Moving Picnic  as Pater and I wended our way by train from Paris to Zurich, then rode the Bernina Express through the Alps before catching a connection to Rome. I was delighted to hear that Rosie had enjoyed the post very much again — and  that she thought other readers might like to see it again as well, especially these days when armchair travel is the only safe option.

You can read the original post here for more context about the invitation that prompted this imaginary Picnic. That invitation from another blogger had been to plan a Fantasy Cocktail Party or Dinner, and my first approaches to the theme just didn’t feel like me . . . But I finally decided on a Fantasy that I’d wield a magic wand for. . . . here’s the excerpt from that post. I know you’re not likely to have time to read it now, but perhaps over the quiet days after Christmas. . . .

So I returned to my initial impulse: a Moving Picnic on one of the trains Pater and I would be riding in the trip we were still planning when this invitation arrived. Rather than imagining a Fantastic Party — gorgeous table settings, fabulously dressed guests, a jazz quartet playing while uniformed catering staff moved discreetly through the room offering to top up champagne glasses — I thought I could use the word “Fantasy” to shift the party to a different track. Longtime or new girlfriends — and, since it’s a Fantasy anyway, why not invite blog readers to join as well, numbers aren’t a problem on our fantasy train — could join me on the train at any point from Paris to Zurich, or instead catch up with me as I rode the Bernina Express 

 

through the Swiss Alps, or you could have hopped on the day after as I rode from Torino/Turin to Roma/Rome. 

 

I’m not quite sure how I’d manage to book an entire Coach for this Moveable Feast, but since it’s a Fantasy, let’s leave those details to my assistant. What if he also ensures an ample supply of Prosecco, some decent glasses for the bubbly (it might be a picnic, but we don’t drink Prosecco from plastic, okay?), and some good-sized linen napkins. That’s as much elegance as this party will serve up, and we’ll provide a selection of regional cheeses, some very good bread. The rest we’ll leave up to you. Perhaps you’ll bring a basket of mixed fruit (the persimmons are looking very tempting, hanging on the bare limbs of trees we speed by, hint, hint), or you might want to order three each of the beautiful pastries that catch your eye as you hurry to the station. No pressure, though, absolutely no obligation to bring anything. It’s your company we want, and we want to feel the beneficence of serendipity.

 

What we would create together over several days (Paris to Zurich: Day One; Zurich through the Alps to Tirano, and then on to Torino, a very long Day Two; and then Torino to Roma, for the final day, Day Three) would be a brilliant experiment, a celebration of female friendship, an ever-changing social experience — A Fantasy Picnic Party at 250kmh. Some of you would board in Paris after spending a few days there first, admiring the Christmas windows of les grands magasins, and you’d be sure to tell us all about your favourites. You’d pass around pale-green, Ladurée-gold-scripted boxes of delectable, pastel macarons, and we’d swoon our gratitude, giggle as we snuck a second. Someone would unwrap a selection of charcuterie, and we’d pass it across the aisle, holding the butcher paper “platter” steady as we eschewed our normal table manners and picked up pieces with our fingers to lay them across the slice we’d cut from the basket of baguettes in the corner.

 

By Zurich, we’d be having such a good time making new acquaintances, forging new friendships, deepening old ones, that some of you would be calling your airline to change your flight, but most of us would hug reluctant good-byes and promise to meet again soon. As you hurried through the cavernous station, some would stop for a mug of hot spiced wine at the Christmas Market stalls, lingering together until they’d drained the last stops before crossing the bridge to your hotel. . .

The next morning, we’d yawn as we dragged our cases behind us to the station in the dark dawn, anticipation building as we boarded the regional train from Zurich to Chur where we transfer to the cheery red Bernina Express. I’ll leave it to you to imagine a continuation of the previous day’s fun — perhaps you might share your version in the comments below — would it involve mugs of thick hot chocolate you’d pour from a thermos you’d filled in Zurich? We’d all be ever so grateful!

Or might you skip the Bernina Express portion because you absolutely had to use some of your travel days shopping in Milan, filling bags with Christmas gifts you’d show us when you boarded, joining us for the ride down to Rome where you had one or two more items to pick up? Again, since it’s a collaborative feast here, I’d love to read your imaginings in the comments below.

If you hadn’t read the original post and this excerpt has stirred your imagination, I’d love to know how you might envision being part of this Moving Picnic through France, Switzerland, and Italy. And you might like to go back to the original post to read the comments there — they were every bit as rich as the conversation I’d hoped for in that imaginary train car. . . .

For now, though, I will be taking a week or two away from the blog.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, hoping that you stay safe and cosy and find peace and joy. . . .

And I look forward to chatting more in the Happy New Year!

xo,

f