Train food

While in Europe we took trains everywhere - far more relaxing and scenic (thanks to the man in seat 61 website for excellent train travel advice). The train from Paris to Barcelona was particularly enjoyable. We left Paris on a Sunday afternoon, so in the morning we went to the local market and bought a fabulous rotisserie free range chicken done with some magic herb mix, baguette (of course), tomatoes and lettuce.  A couple of bottles of wine and there's a perfect late lunch / early dinner while watching the scenery whiz by.

The next train trip long enough for a meal was from Madrid to Granada, a 4 hour trip arriving after 9.30pm so it made sense to pay the extra 20 euro to go first class and get a meal. Menu card and drinks card below. Dinner included an apperitif (cava for me) and a 250ml bottle of wine and three courses plus gazpacho. I wasn't hungry when I finished, and I've certainly had worse meals on airlines. The the little bottles of oil and vinegar for the salad that came around separately was a nice touch.

The most amazing thing about this train trip is that about half way to Granada the train goes from the main high speed line to a regional line - which has a different gauge. No mucking about changing trains though - the train goes through a shed where the undercarriage is adjusted, pop on a new engine and off you go, at an albeit more sedate pace!

I also travelled form Paris to Munich and back on theTGV to see friends - The smoked salmon blini was a bit much to stomach at 9am, but no complaints about the rest of brekkie (croissant, yoghurt and muesli, bread). Dinner on the way back was washed down with a light rose - menu below. This meal was particularly good, again consumed at 300+kph.

I really wish our trains were half...or even a quarter this good!