After our stay in Rome, we left the Eternal City from the Termini railway station aboard one of Trenitalia’s high speed “bullet” trains headed for Florence, or Firenze, as the natives would say. I’ve loved rail travel all my life but this was my first experience traveling on the high speed variety. I was of two minds beforehand about doing this. Getting from Rome to Florence in ninety minutes sounded great, but I was afraid of missing something, that perhaps the speed would cause it all to be a big blur rushing by us. Topping out around 150 miles per hour, this seemed a distinct possibility. After all, part of what I love about trains, the romance if you will, is watching the countryside roll by at a pace where you can take it in and really see the land, with the added advantage of not having to pay attention to my driving like when auto touring.
As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. Irina and I both loved the bullet train. It’s smoother than glass, extremely comfortable and while I wished that some of the picturesque Tuscan countryside might have passed a bit more slowly, it definitely was not a blur. I actually wanted the ride to last a little longer, not something I say often when traveling.
