1. How does one sleep at the Brenner?

In short: I cannot recommend it. To start from the beginning: Bus from Traxl to Grafing Bahnhof - on time, regional train to Kufstein - on time. 

And then the event that shook my worldview: the train that was supposed to take me to my sleeper car to Linz - delayed, 30 minutes. The reason for the delay - I hear several times over the speaker - is the Swiss railway. 

THE SWISS RAILWAY! What on earth has happened with this precise machinery, but what does the Swiss railway have to do with Kufstein and the ÖBB? So I do not board the train to Linz, because what should I do there if my sleeper car is no longer there at midnight? 

So I decide to go over the Brenner. The ÖBB app tells me I have 4 hours and 50 minutes to change trains at the Brenner. That should be enough time, I think, even if the Swiss railway fails again. What I didn't consider: the Brenner is a desolate place, its infrastructure only serves the transfer of cars and freight trains. 

I, as the only person in the train and no soul at the station. Just dreary and endlessly long platforms with abandoned and blocked train stations. In my naivety, I had actually imagined a heated waiting room at the Brenner.

Then the saving place

The only place that comforted me during the waiting time was the ladies' restroom, where I huddled under a plastic sheet (thankfully still taken along) and under the rain poncho while my beloved sleeper car was on its way south, two mountain passes away. Without me.

I survived the night and can now picture what it feels like for homeless people searching for a protected space.

The Italian railway then reliably (and on time) took me to my destination: to Assisi.

And then it turned out to be a good start after all.

During the train journey, I touched upon various places I walked through last year. How I wished to have gone on foot instead of by train. 

My arrival in Assisi compensated me for the night. The charm of the town, the beautiful accommodation, and the great food prepared for the guests. Among the guests: four French families (with a total of 29 people in three generations) who took a trip here with their grandparents for their 50th wedding anniversary. They told me not to sit alone but to join them. To please me, they later sang German folk songs with great enthusiasm (with flawless lyrics, memorized up to the third verse).  

So it’s starting off well again.