We left Munich at 7.51 in the first class carriage of a great train which took us imperceptibly over the border and on through the rain soaked Austrian Alps. Not a lot to see except the neat, steep roofed houses climbing the green hillsides, the odd vista of snow on the tops and a meadow of monochrome kids of the goat species.

We changed at Villach for a considerably older train which made its way through Slovenia and over the border into Croatia. Our carriage this time had separate compartments of six very soft seats with a corridor running the length of the side. The windows and doors opened manually which was a great joy and reminded us of the trains of our childhood. The red engine pulled us along rather slowly but with a pleasingly noisy dee dum dee dum sound.

Finally, three days after we left home and seven trains later, we arrived in Zagreb at 17.25 just 15 minutes late.