...we're now heading into the French Alps and the scenery is getting much more exciting, there's sheer cliffs and you can see some large mountains looming...this is great. We then stop at Modane which is the last French Station and so they make a small deal of it by stopping for 10 minutes...so we all get off and stretch our legs...you can see ahead that the Italian side of the Alps is even more impressive......

Wow this is really something else, there's snow covered peaks...with some very high mountains with their tops just visible above the clouds...it really is that good.....we hurtle through a tunnel and come out in a valley with a drop of about 200 foot below while the mountains tower above us..we head to the buffet car where you can stand and look at the mountains as they've got extra windows on the side...this goes on and on.......it's a bit like being on a Top Gear Challenge.......

This 7 hour trip has cost us GBP45.00 and has to be one of the best railway journeys there is...

After an hour or so we begin to hit the flat agricultural lands of Italy ...and the mountains taper off into the distance. Honestly I'd recommend this train ride.....

Only downside ...as I return to our seat......my glasscase has gone missing with my sunnies in it....a fellow passenger call me over and tells me the woman in front has taken them......she pleads ignorance.......but the other guy is adamant and tells me that she definitely has them...after a while, she says she has something but will only hand them over to the conductor...it's a race against time as we're about to get into Milan and everyone is blocking the aisle...but I manage to get the conductor...as we head back, the woman is walking away...my good samaritan fellow passenger...says she's thrown them under the seats...and yes...there they were. Bought from Aldi's for Godsake for 1.99 !!!.

We quickly get a cab and enter Milan traffic Madness......and it's a mad dash to the hotel......here at last........we half expect Jeremy Clarkson to be sitting in the foyer with a glass of lager, laughing at us.