jacob

we will be travelling via first class (hopefully a non smoking car) train three different days at lunchtime while in italy.when we travelled from london to paris via train, we had a fantastic lunch served to us.<BR><BR>i am told that we can bring our own lunch on the train as well as wine and other beverages.<BR><BR>is this appropriate? would the other passengers be ok with this? <BR><BR>if the cuisine on the first class train is good, should we simply order lunch and bring our own wines. we love riding the trains and looking out at the countryside. a nice lunch would make the trip more pleasant.<BR><BR>thanks,<BR><BR>jacob<BR><BR><BR>< BR>

Red

I have had good meals (one began with pringles and champagne) and bad meals on trains and have also brought my own food on board. You can get great panini at the train stations! Don't hesitate to bring your own food on board. Of course, it wouldn't be appropriate to eat it in the dining car, if there is one, but at your seat is fine.

clairobscur

Bringing food onboard trains is very usual...

beth

we brought a picnic lunch of salami and great cheese and bread on the train, then bought a bottle of wine on board. I don't know what the food was like in the dining car, but the folks coming back from lunch looked at our picnic and said "that looks better than what we had". So bringing your own food is normal. I know my husband would have been nervous about leaving our luggage and such unattended while we went to the dining car too, so we found this way to be preferable.

Ben Haines

I agree with all that has been said, but add that if you are eating your own food in the normal car you bring your own wine, but if you are in the dining car you drink the wines they offer there. Much as in a restaurant, really.<BR><BR>I do take my own wine onto sleepers, however, and the conductor raises no eyebrow.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

Shannon

The lunches seem to be a hit or miss, depending on the train and the day of the week (weekends, I guess it's more difficult for the dining car to get fresh items). We pick up fresh bread, meats and cheese from the local market (or in a pinch, at the train station), as well as condiments in tubes, a bottle of wine and bottled water, and eat it on the train in our seats or compartment. You can usually get napkins, paper plates and plastic cups from one of the kiosks in the train station (otherwise, the market). Just remember to bring cutting and corking tools.

xxx

I would suggest you take food on the train with you. The formal dining area gets full very quickly, they also have a snack bar on some trains but the wait is very long. Most of the time someone comes around with a cart selling sandwiches,small snacks and drinks. I even purchased Chinese food at Cornavin Station in Switzerland on my trip from Geneva to Paris, it was one of the best meals I had on my trip. Don't leave anything to chance and don't expect the same types of meals on the 1st class European trains as you received on the Eurostar. <BR><BR>Good Luck and pack food.

Chara

<BR> In Italy is it customary to offer others some of your food === while you are eating on the train?<BR><BR>I know the (very few) times I traveled on a train in the USA ---when we (husband and children) took out our "picnic lunch" we offered some to whoever was sitting near us. Sometimes<BR>people accepted ---- sometimes they refused.<BR>But, I didn't know if there were any customs about this in Italy.

xx

It is very nice to do this, but if a strange person offered me some food I would refuse. It is still a very kind thing to do, I don't believe that is a custom in America. I think if you wait for someone to offer you something to eat you'll probably go hungry.<BR><BR>Keep being nice.

food on trains

I had one of my best meals in a short trip to Italy on the day train returning from Venice to Geneva in their dining car. Delicious, and/but priced like a restaurant meal.<BR><BR>Another trip we bought fantastic food in the Milan train station (hadn't had time to organize it earlier) between train transfers... fresh sandwiches, calzones, wine, beer, water. And ate this is our sleeper car before turning down the bunks.<BR><BR>Ditto one above comment concerning manners, don't bring your own food or wine into the dining car. You should purchase what is served there OR eat what you brought in your seat or cabin.

Frank

Just had lunch in the dining car a month ago on the Naples to Rome Eurostar. It was mediocre food, the worst we had in Italy. Actually had turkey and gravy of all things and it wound up being nearly 100 bucks for a family of four. Kind of fun but not worth the money.