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The train was an experience. A thronging crowd was waiting platform side. It became immediately apparent that there was method in the seething madness of the jostling crowd. People without luggage immediately scrambled onto the train as it pulled in to a stop. Soon windows were thrown open and luggage was lifted over people's heads and passed through the apertures, to the waiting arms of the compartment scouts. It was a madhouse. I am not sure what my luggage was or what it looked like. It may have been a not very large backpack and a sleeping bag.
"The train pulled in and I and Fidelity held the luggage and the girls scrambled onto the train and we passed the luggage through a window of a car down the way. We were all set when the conductor came through and said that we were in a reserved compartment. Back out the window went the luggage. One of the girls scrambled through the other cars looking for seats. She found the last four seats available in two separate compartments which may have consisted of two rows of five wooden seats facing each other. The compartment was full and Claudette, the girl that I have an affinity for, spent the night on the train sit-up on bottom and back wood seats a most uncomfortable ride. We rode the train all night to Rome - I don't remember doing any dreaming on this night. May not have slept for all I know.
Claudette's parents drove us to our hotel, a dollar a day affair, and I and Fidelity shared a room. We found a new room on Sunday and
this new room was very nice, but more expensive near the Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna.
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