Three Amazing Trains, Three Amazing Destinations ...

Three more two-night breaks in quick succession

or How Many "Trips of a Lifetime" Can You Have?

Great Rail Journeys do like to try new offers to tempt people to book. Their latest venture is to offer "Luxury" independent tours and so a growing list of possibilities is available. Last autumn's short break in Venice, returning on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express was one of these. Among the offers we received early in the new year 2025 was a brochure advertising more of them. There was a small discount, but so small it would not really be a decision-maker, unlike the two hotel offers in England that I have already described, and the "Rail Sale" that was available at the same time, making those two holidays irresistible. One of the offered tours, however, stood out as worth considering, so we considered it. It involved three destinations which we had visited before, but two of them, Zermatt and St Moritz we last saw in winter eleven years ago, our first Great Rail Journeys escorted tour, and the third, Venice, we had visited recently and wished we had stayed longer - and had had better weather. The trains to be used included the Glacier Express between the two Swiss towns, the Bernina Express as part of the transfer to Venice, and the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (again) as part of the journey home. It was expensive, there is no getting away from that, and we should have to pay the whole amount up front because of our desire to go in winter, which meant quite soon, but we were able to shuffle our money about and make enough available just in time.

Our adventure started on a Monday afternoon, taking the 16:54 from Stamford to Peterborough. It was on time and although busy we managed to get seats ... and then it was held up by congestion in Peterborough (there had been earlier disruption which resulted in too many trains in the wrong places, and a freight train with problems) so we arrived in Peterborough with just four minutes to go until our connection to London ... which, with some planning and effort we achieved. It's not that we were in any hurry, but our reserved seats were on that train and our Advance tickets would have to have been validated for a later one so altogether it was better to catch it if we could, and we did. The included light meal aboard, served by a fantastic Geordie crew, meant we'd need no dinner in London before sleep. We stayed in our usual Premier Inn opposite St Pancras station. This time our Eurostar train was not due out until 09:31, so we did not have to hurry as much as we sometimes do, especially as this was an independent tour and there was no tour manager to go and meet: we just went straight to the International Departures gates when we got to the station.

There was no queue for the ticket gates, which came as a bit of a surprise and we didn't have our tickets ready because we'd planned to sort them out in the queue! But it was easy to get them from my pocket and through we went, luggage scan, passport check, both UK and EU, all in record time. Next time we may not allow quite as much time for check in.

After coffee it was time to ascend the travellator to the platform to board our train; this time we were in Coach 1, which we knew would mean a long walk in Paris to leave the platform, but it also meant it would be a peaceful journey with no passengers walking through. This was the first time we had experienced Eurostar service since they changed their travel classes. We were in Eurostar Plus, the equivalent of the old Standard Premier, and there was an included breakfast but now there was a sweet option (pain au chocolate) and a savoury option (a Danish pastry whirl with spinach and leek), and the juice and water no longer came in disposable containers but were poured out by the staff - a big improvement environmentally. We had been used to having bread as well, but this seems to have been dropped. It was a light breakfast, but that was fine: there would be plenty of eating to come later in the tour.

We spent most of the rest of the journey to Paris trying to establish an account with IDF (Île de France) Mobilités to allow us to buy Metro tickets in Paris - the carnets we used to buy from the Eurostar buffet bar having been withdrawn. Fortunately this worked and we used our smartphones to get through Paris when we arrived. Rather than the RER to Gare de Lyon, we took Metro Line 5 to Quai de la Rapée which was nearby and far more pleasant a journey. By the time we had had our lunch at Gare de Lyon our TGV Lyria to Basel was announced and we made our way to the platform, boarded and took our reserved seats.

The journey to Basel was comfortable and pleasant, and uneventful apart from a couple of visits to the buffet counter for wine and for coffee, and by the time we arrived in Basel it was early evening. Our hotel, the Gaia, was right opposite the station and when we checked in the clerk asked, "Are you here for the carnival?". we replied that we were just en route to Zermatt, but we decided to investigate what this carnival entailed, and we needed some supper anyway, so we set off into the streets. we found a stall outside a church selling crêpes and decided to have these with the gluhwein they were also selling (with dried fruit and sliced apple in it as well as the usual spices!) and then went for a stroll and stumbled upon an amazing series of informal processions. Apparently the Basel Carnival, for some reason in the first week of Lent rather than in the days before as you would expect, is such an historic institution that it is registered as a UNESCO non-physical world heritage institution.

Basel's Carnival - well worth seeing, the week after Ash Wednesday each year

Two Nights in Zermatt

After a good night's sleep and breakfast at the hotel we left for the Alps. The hotel gave us each a bottle of water for the journey and a chocolate bar, all very civilised, and for a one-night transit stop we actually had a really good time in Basel and it made a real contribution to the holiday. We were so glad we opted for the rail option: if we had flown in and gone straight to Zermatt we'd have missed all that.

It was raining as we left the hotel Gaia and crossed the road to the station. Although we had never stayed in Basel before we had changed trains there several times and even had lunch and a walk a couple of times on our way through, so we knew our way around the station and made our way to the platform for our next train which was a Swiss Federal Railways train heading for Brig, which we were to leave at Visp, two hours away. We were now travelling on a Swiss First Class Travel Pass which gave us all the travel we needed while in Switzerland: the train fares for the trains included in our itinerary, but also any further journeys we wanted to take by train or bus during our stay. I am sure it is possible to travel direct to Venice from Basel and Brig via the Simplon Tunnel but this was to be a tour, not just a way of getting to Venice! We left the main-line train at Visp and made our way across to the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn platforms just as the metre-gauge train arrived to take us on to Zermatt for our first two-night stay of this trip. First Class travel on the MGB is very comfortable and the views of the Alpine scenery were superb as we climbed up to Zermatt. This is a rack railway and now and again the train slowed for the cogwheel to engage the rack for the steepest climbs. Gradually we saw more and more snow, but there was far less of it then when we first came to Zermatt eleven years earlier in February when the train at times was travelling between walls of snow on each side, higher than the coaches.

We walked slowly through the streets of Zermatt because of the altitude and arrived at our next hotel, the Daniela, named after an influential member of the Julen family who founded and still own and run a small chain of hotels and other hospitality venues in Zermatt. We checked in and for some reason which I never grasped we were given a room upgrade, which was lovely. We had a great room from which there was, so we were assured, a view of the Matterhorn, but it was so misty and cloudy we had to take the receptionist's word for it. We had a traditional Swiss balcony and, unusual for Switzerland, a coffee maker. The hotel provided an afternoon snack (but not tea, just water) which we enjoyed and then later we walked into the centre of Zermatt, wrapped up against the sub-zero evening air, and visited the Matterhorn Museum, free admission with our Swiss Travel Pass, and then enjoyed a traditional Swiss fondue in a restaurant attached to another hotel. Zermatt is a small town, not much more than a village, but its main industry is winter sports and tourism, so it is packed with hotels, bars, cafés and restaurants, but this one was recommended to us by the receptionist at ours and lived up that recommendation so much that as we left we booked a table for the following evening to try their rösti.

After a good night's sleep we took our one full day in Zermatt easy. We had travelled a lot already and had more journeys to come and thought a lazy day might be good; the altitude was high and the air thin, so rushing about would have been unwise anyway. I say lazy, but we did take a bus (they are all electric, no internal combustion engines are normally permitted in Zermatt) to a place we had visited once before for a cool, refreshing beer: this time we had a warming hot chocolate! And this time there was no view of the Matterhorn, although it was beginning to clear a bit ... and kept teasing us like a dance of several veils but never quite revealing itself in full! We walked and we rode the buses again, but we did not this time take the GornergratBahn rack railway up the mountain as we had done on two previous visits, thinking that for my health's sake Zermatt was quite high enough. We had the use of the swimming pool at a sister hotel along the road, and spent a very pleasant half-hour there in the afternoon. After our rösti we packed and had a reasonably early night because we had to leave early in the morning to take the first of the three special trains on this tour, the Glacier Express. The hotel gave us an early breakfast, and some to take away, and their electric shuttle took us to the station where the beautiful Glacier Express train was waiting.

Two Nights in St Moritz

A trip on the Glacier Express is one of those experiences that I would recommend to anyone. If you want to see the world, this is one way to see some amazing scenery, taking you across the Alps. There was snow in Zermatt when we left, and snow in St Moritz when we arrived, but although there was no snow in Brig or Chur, there was A LOT OF SNOW in between them, high up on the Oberalp Pass. The train is operated jointly by Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn and Rhätische Bahn, with a locomotive change en route when it is handed over from one to the other.

The sun shone most of the way, and there were times in the snowiest stretches when one just could not see for the dazzling light off the snow. We could not tell land from sky and there were no visible landmarks except the railway itself and the occasional lines of poles showing where a road was.

We had pre-ordered lunch on this train from the menu published online and once on board we arranged with the crew when the lunch would be served, to suit our convenience and theirs. Dining, or lunching, on a train is always a great pleasure, and on the Glacier Express lunch is served at ones seat, so there was no need to move along to a restaurant car, although there is also a buffet car for those who wish to use it. The meal was a really good beef pasta dish and for a meal on a train, in Switzerland, was a reasonable price. 

One of the most dramatic parts of the route is the Albula Line between Chur and Samedan, which we explored thoroughly a few years ago while researching for my Swiss-themed model railway. There was not as much snow as on the Oberalp pass, but the railway itself had some marvellous sights, notably spiral tunnels, and the famous Landwasser Viaduct.

We arrived mid-afternoon in Sankt Moritz and caught a bus from the railway station to our hotel, as we knew it was a steep uphill climb and we had our luggage. The bus, of course, was included in our travel pass. After checking-in at the Crystal Hotel we went for a walk down to the lake shore. When we had stayed in St Moritz in summer we had walked right round the lake, and when we had visited briefly in winter the lake was frozen and horse-racing had been taking place on it. This time it was frozen; the race track had gone but a path across the lake was marked out with stakes and there were public seats, like park benches, in several places along the path. We thought that perhaps the following day we might have a go at walking along part of the path: I have never walked on water before!

But for now we had some hot chocolate at the station, took the pedestrian route into the town centre that we had learnt while staying here on a Great Rail Journeys group tour, had a snack in our room and retired to bed.

Exploring the Lower Engadin Valley

On our complete day staying at St Moritz we had decided to travel to Scuol, at the other end of the Engadin Valley railway line, this being one of the two short branches of the Rhätischebahn that we had never travelled and a town we had never visited. We took a train there after breakfast, needing to change trains at Samedan, just a slick cross-platform change as we have come to expect from Swiss timetabling. All this travel was included in our Swiss Travel Pass, and all was First Class. We explored Scuol and had coffee there, not a lot to get excited about but we did enjoy the walk. 

From Scuol we took a train just a few stops along the line to Guarda, a tiny village high in the hills. The station was some distance from the village but, of course, this being Switzerland, there was a frequent PostBus service between the village and the station. The little bus was almost full as it zig-zagged its way up to the village, in low gear nearly all the way, and took us to the village square. We knew nothing about the place, but the bus timetable at the stop did reveal that this otherwise half-hourly service would be taking a break for 90 minutes, presumably to allow the driver and the vehicle to take a well-earned rest ... so we either left immediately or determined to spend an hour an a half in this little place. 

We opted to stay and were well-rewarded. This was supposed to be an adventure, and so it was; in fact, we left without seeing everything and may have to return, for the restaurant looked excellent but all we had time for was a beer and a snack. We discovered a museum dedicated to Ursli, the boy hero of a children's book, "A Bell For Ursli," which has been translated into many languages and which we have seen on sale in bookshops all over Switzerland. You need to read it in your chosen language to understand the appeal, but it centres around the tradition of bringing the cows down into the villages for winter and then celebrating the return of the warmth when they are returned to the Alpine pastures for the spring and summer when their improved diet of Alpine meadow grass produces the wonderful Swiss cheeses.

We decided, given that we had travel passes and could go anywhere, that we should not return to St Moritz the way we had come, the short way, but take the even more scenic route via Klosters, Davos and Filisur, just because we could! The first bit is not quite so scenic, involving the Vereina Tunnel almost all the way to Kosters Platz where we changed trains, again, a quick, simple change, to take the winding mountain route to Davos. There are trains that run right through to Filisur from Klosters, but the first one went only as far as Davos and we decided to take that and change there, so we would have half an hour there rather than at Klosters, and then the exciting bit, another ride from Filisur to St Moritz over the Albula Line.

Our extended journey back meant that it was becoming dark before we arrived in St Moritz, so our planned walk on the frozen lake was in jeopardy and we power-walked as fast as we could go to the end of the way-marked path (it was too late in the season to dare to go on the ice anywhere else) and although we could not see well enough to go far we did walk on water and stand on the lake. By this time we definitely needed dinner, and walked  back to the town centre and settled for a simple one-course meal in the restaurant of the Schweizerhof hotel, the place we had used last time we stayed in in St Moritz. Then once more we packed our cases because we were moving on again in the morning for our third two-night stay ...

Two Nights in Venice

In some ways Sunday was a challenging day. It was the day we were to travel to Venice using the Bernina Express to cross the Alps to Tirano in Italy via the Bernina Pass, and I was aware in advance that the railway line onward from Tirano to our change-of-train in Milan was partially closed due to building work and that we would have use a replacement bus (those dreaded words for rail travellers!) and then later connections onward meaning a late arrival in Venice ... but these things cannot be helped. In the event these things turned out very well and we were in Venice on the original schedule ... but let me describe the day ...

After the usual hotel breakfast we checked out and the hotel shuttle took us in very good time to the station in St Moritz from where we took a local train to the junction station at Pontresina to await the Bernina Express which was coming in from Chur. It all went smoothly, as we have come to expect, and we took our allocated seats in First Class, our tickets were checked and we were assured that the refreshment trolley would come along after the stop at Alp Grum.

The stop at Alp Grum - not much to see through the freezing fog, and no pedestrian traffic on this foot crossing, either!

We had a few moments at Alp Grum to look around, and it was fascinating to stand in metre-deep snow (the platforms had been cleared!) and freezing fog where everything was white. We reboarded the train and I spent the rest of the trip vainly looking along the train for the refreshment trolley to arrive. On-board catering on the Bernina Express is not the full meal service of the Glacier Express (it is a shorter route) but we had planned to have a snack on this train to see us through until we could join the Frecciarossa for Venice in Milan and then supper either in Venice or, if we had to wait an hour in Milan, at Milano Centrale station. We never did see the trolley and left the train at its terminus in Tirano rather hungry. Water had been distributed free of charge, and there had been a gift of a rather cute little carriage-shaped tin of Lindt chocolates, but no meal at all. We had seen the menu online, we had seen it in the "Infot(r)ainment" app, but we never had a chance to buy anything. That did not spoil the journey, for the scenery and the experience of travelling "from glaciers to palms" through the deep snow and freezing fog was fantastic, but the local cheese and meat snack tray which was supposedly on offer would have made the trip even more special.

So, in Tirano, the station where I had been advised that my tickets for the next stage, clearly marked, "Not valid for travel" would have to be exchanged, was all under scaffolding, but an enquiry office was open where I was advised that I could use those tickets ... so we crossed via the subway to the bus terminal where we awaited the replacement bus and indeed the ticket inspectors standing at the bus doors accepted the tickets and on we climbed, luggage stowed in the luggage compartment. It was a decent, comfortable coach and we set off to a place called Morbegno where, an hour later, we joined a Trenord local train for Milano Centrale. 

Nothing very exciting about a Frecciarossa interior

Now, when the disruption on the line had become known to Great Rail Journeys we had been given new train times and I had ensured that we had tickets for the new trains so that we had seat reservations on them, but I had been advised that the original Milan-Venice Frecciarossa tickets remained valid and could be used in the event that we were able to catch the originally-planned train at Milano Centrale. So ... I found the Italian state railway's live departures list for Milano Centrale to find out which platform we needed and I read The Man In Seat 61's advice on changing trains there and I hoped that the Trenord local train driver was able to make up the five minutes by which we were late leaving Morbegno - probably owing to awaiting passengers from the substitute buses with all their luggage. The First Class section was right at the front of the local train and as the train approached Milan we stood by the door with our luggage, ready to exit quickly and as it pulled in I noticed that the train standing in the very next platform was the one we needed. We caught it with time to spare, even having the time to walk along the platform to join the correct coach. All had gone well and we were back on course to arrive in Venice for dinner. A complimentary snack was served in due course on the way to Venice, very welcome in view of the lack of one on the Bernina Express, and meanwhile I bought coffee from the buffet car and rediscovered how cheap coffee is in Italy.

We arrived on time in Venice and made our way to the waterbus stop where we bought 24-hour passes: no need for longer provided we dined locally on the second evening. We took the waterbus to Accademia stop which was a five-minute walk to the hotel, although in Venice "crossing the road" usually involves a flight of steps up and then down to get over the canal, so with wheeled luggage it takes a little longer. We checked into the Hotel American Dinesen (I never did find our how to say that) and then went to a little trattoria, Ai Cugnai that we had passed between the bus stop and the hotel and had a good meal for about fifty Euros, including wine: it is not only the coffee that is cheap in Italy!

For our full day in Venice we had decided to return to Burano island which we visited last time but in poor weather and which we left hurriedly when heavy rain made it impossible to enjoy the visit. Before then my wife needed another new hat, so we returned to the hat shop we visited in November, then walked across to the waterbus terminal for route 12 to Burano - it is quite a long way across the lagoon to Burano and the service is only half-hourly. The weather this time was really good. We visited a lace shop, Martina Vidal, and came out with a new table runner to bring home as a souvenir: today we were really filling up our homeward bound luggage (we had already bought a bag of pasta in Switzerland!).

The café we visited last time was not open on Mondays but in any case we found a great place with outdoor seating by the waterfront on the far side of the island and enjoyed a light lunch there (and limoncello ...) before further exploration and the waterbus back to the city centre, route 14 the long way round via Lido, a quick walk around the Piazza San Marco and then to our hotel. Dinner was at the same little trattoria as the first night, for our waterbus passes had by then expired, and then we packed once more for the following day's exciting journey home.

Usually the journey home is a bit of an anti-climax, but not when it starts with the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

An Unexpected Delight on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Our Venice Simplon-Orient-Express representative was due to meet us at our hotel at 10:00 on Tuesday morning, so we had a little time to do one last thing before going home, and that was to go and buy some zabaglione from a shop we had visited on our last trip, only a 15-minute walk from our hotel. It was a lovely morning for a walk in Venice: sunshine and blue sky, although a little cold. Regrettably the shop had no zabaglione in stock so we bought a pistachio paste instead, not to have wasted the journey! Briefly back to our room we were soon in the little lobby awaiting the VSOE lady, along with another couple. She arrived early and gave us our boarding pass and told us that we had been upgraded to better compartment with en-suite facilities, and although I was pleased that we had done the historic "classic" compartment with bunk beds - much like a modern sleeper - on our first trip on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, I was pleased to have a chance to try the modern innovation of an en-suite compartment (and at the usual classic fare!).

The water-taxi arrived and we were taken through canals great and small to Santa Lucia railway station where this time the train was already waiting at the platform. Our hostess introduced us to the attendants for our coach and we boarded, our luggage having already been taken straight from the water-taxi to our compartment. The compartment had a name, "Les Montagnes" (they are all named after a landscape type!), rather than a number and waiting on the table was a wine cooler and a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne and some nibbles (with caviar). And the space was enormous because instead of the sofa being able to be converted into bunks overnight it was clearly going to become a double bed! In the corner where you might expect a wash hand-basin there was an small wardrobe and a curved door leading into the shower and toilet compartment. Although very much a twenty-first century train compartment with all modern conveniences including several power sockets and USB and USB-C charging ports, it was still in the classic art-deco style like the rest of the train. The marquetry and the glassware were all of the familiar style which I have always loved. Unlike the classic compartments, this one had a large window onto the corridor so we were able to watch the scenery go by on both sides without having to squint through the open door on the corridor side, and we had two windows on the other side. It was exquisite and I was amazed to have been granted the opportunity to travel this way, and grateful!

Our attendant came and poured our (first) glasses of Champagne and came back after departure to explain the lighting, heating and locks, and then a man from Belmond came and asked with a grin if we were "disappointed not to have our classic 'cabin'." He explained that these suites were a new idea and they would be asking for our feedback at the end of the trip. I was more than happy to perform this little service for them in exchange for this superb experience. To anyone thinking of taking the VSOE I would say that if you want the authentic Hercule Poirot experience* (hopefully without the murder) then you absolutely must take a classic compartment, which also has the advantage of being the least expensive, but the suites really are superb and still exude art-deco glamour but with all you could ask from a good, if compact, hotel room. There are also Grand Suites which are so large that they include their own living and dining space, but I cannot imagine that they are worth the fare being asked for a journey which is only about 25 hours, unless you are the sort of person, like a rock star, who needs the privacy.

* James Bond, of course, also took this train in From Russia With Love, but by then the train was less glamorous and there was little appreciation of the décor and style. And you would not want his experience with Red Grant and the red wine with fish ...

Our next visitor was the maître d who wanted to know our options for lunch and dinner timings, and we opted for the earlier sitting for both. We had boarded just before the 11:01 departure time for the train, so the early lunch sitting was quite soon, and by the time we'd finished the nibbles and a couple of glasses of Champagne it was time to lock our compartment and make our way to the Côte d'Azur restaurant car for the first exquisite meal of the trip, with more Champagne included. This restaurant car was decorated with mirrors and Lalique glass and the food was really good. I am not used to this Champagne and caviar lifestyle!

As with our experience last time, a light afternoon tea was served after a couple of hours, during which time I wrote postcards to the family which would eventually be posted from Belmond's Italian office bearing a special postmark: this time I wrote one to myself, too, so that I could see what they'd be getting, and when.

The tea was great, and our Champagne had been removed to the attendant's refrigerator to keep it cool, to be returned to us on request, which was just before dinner, of course.

We walked the length of the train, partly to see what all the coaches were like, and partly for exercise, because really we had not walked much that day at all. The train stopped for a while in several places, and at Innsbruck the locomotives were run round it because the train had to change direction there, and we were invited to step on the platform for exercise and fresh air, so we walked briskly up and down until it was time to re-board for the next stage.

This train is not in a hurry! The whole point is the experience of the journey, not to get to the destination in the shortest possible time. It goes a fairly long way round and has many pauses in its progress.

We soon dressed for dinner, with much more space than we'd had last time in the classic compartment, and could even shower this time! Once ready we reopened the shutters over the corridor window and called our steward to bring our Champagne bottle back for pre-dinner drinks, obviating the "need" to visit the cocktail bar this time.

Dinner was in l'Oriental restaurant car - the schedule is so arranged that everyone gets to eat in all three restaurants during the journey - and was once more of the usual standard. We declined the offer of more Champagne this time, instead choosing a wine which went with the food we had chosen from the table d'hôte menu.

This restaurant car was decorated with lacquered illustrations, mostly from nature, another typical art deco treatment, and again the food was delicious. The portions look small, but are very filling, and, of course, there are so very many meals.

On this train the staff are very pleasant and attentive and nothing it too much trouble for them. And there are enough of them to cope with everything without being rushed, probably the main reason why a trip on this train is so expensive. But once the fare is paid, everything is included except extra bar drinks and very special wines and extra caviar (which we are quite able to live without!).

During dinner two or three other passengers in this restaurant clearly were celebrating birthdays, and a wandering guitarist and singer from among the crew came through entertaining the diners - apparently a new idea this season.

When we returned to our compartment we found the sofa had become a bed and the table had disappeared and all was ready for us to go to sleep, although I must admit that neither of us slept very well. I don't think it was just the movement of the train - and it did stop for extended periods at times - but also the amount of food and drink. The bed was extremely comfortable, one of the best I've known, but nothing can alter the fact that it moves, sometimes, unexpectedly ... and I did sleep: I was not awake all night by any means.

A continental breakfast was to be served in our compartment in the morning, followed by a brunch before arrival in Paris, so as soon as we were dressed and ready I rang for the attendant who came along to convert our compartment into daytime mode. It was fascinating to watch: under the bed was a box into which the pillows and mattress (which was remarkably thin considering how comfortable it had been) were placed and out or which came the cushions for the sofa. The box, which had formed the bed base, was then pushed under the rest of the bed et voilà, a sofa. The table top was in two parts in the wardrobe (we had been warned not to use that section of the wardrobe so as to allow the table to be stored), bed linen was taken away and a clean tablecloth placed on the table and everything was neat and tidy, ready for breakfast.

We had chosen fruit salad and bread for breakfast with fruit juice and coffee and this was efficiently brought to us, with a lovely selection of jam, honey and marmalade. 

After breakfast we made preparations for leaving the train, packing away our clothes from the evening before and dressing for the rest of the journey home, and soon it was time to make our way to the restaurant car Toile du Nord for brunch, our last meal aboard, before which we finished our Champagne and then were told that we were entitled to a second bottle, did we want to take it home rather than open it now? So, our luggage already bulked out with a few things bought in Switzerland and Italy now acquired the biggest and heaviest of all, a bottle of Veuve Cliquot! Never mind, we should not have to walk far.

To accommodate time for brunch, the train took a circuitous route into Gare d'Austerlitz and at one point had to reverse, requiring the locomotives to run round. This took some time while awaiting line clearance, delaying the train by about fifteen minutes. Belmond's way of dealing with the delay was ... a round of Champagne!

And so into Paris and fond farewells to all those who had looked after us so well over the last day or so. The suite had been a really brilliant way to travel, but we had it at the price of a classic compartment. While it was great, can we afford to pay for it if we come this way again? Well, we'll have to see, but the question is really how often we can have "The Trip of a Lifetime." We have already had several! Shall we use the Orient Express again? Who knows? But we have great memories now of two journeys on it and it has been fabulous. There are other trains and other places to see: very little of this adventure has been new, but our next planned trip is almost all new! Watch this space, as they say, or, perhaps just subscribe to this blog to be made aware of the next posts. You may like to subscribe to my YouTube channel, too, @Marks_Trains where I sometimes post video reports of selected trips.

We crossed Paris by Metro line 5 straight to Gare du Nord and were in plenty of time for the next Eurostar to London St Pancras which left a few minutes late after coming late from its previous trip but arrived in London on time after a faultless run from Paris. The light meal was served, which we regarded as a late lunch after the VSOE brunch, and then we went across the road to Kings Cross station for our penultimate train, LNER's 18:30 to Edinburgh, which took us as far as Peterborough on time. Another light meal, this one we called dinner, although they didn't quite manage to get the sweet course in before we had to leave the train. Our local train to Stamford was also on time and who waiting for it at Peterborough station I downloaded and installed the app for the Premier Starline taxi company in Stamford and arranged for a taxi to take us home from the station, so as not to have to lug that spare bottle of Champagne all the way home!

Cheers! Santé! Cin-Cin!

The Best Laid Plans ...

Not quite the trip we planned - but still a great trip

We were to look after our grandchildren in London while their parents were off to Scotland for another relative's eightieth birthday celebration. Great, the first trip for a while and we would have the Friday while they were at school to do something in London. I booked to usual route there, local Cross Country train to Peterborough - cheaper than before now that Advance tickets are available on this short trip - and LNER to London; I also considered Thameslink but LNER's Advance First Class tickets were at a good price and as we would be travelling over lunchtime on the Thursday (in order to get things done before we left home), this would be a way of having lunch on the move in pleasant surroundings. We booked tickets to The Silk Road Exhibition at the British Museum for the Friday, which we both thought would be a god thing to see and had long had in mind to go next time we found ourselves in London. 

Booking the train ride home was not so straightforward: this would be on the Sunday and, as often happens at present, the main line between Kings Cross and Peterborough was to be closed for engineering work. Usually we take a train from St Pancras to Leicester when this happens, and change there for Stamford. But for some reason this option did not seem to be available either. LNER and Thameslink both offered various options involving a replacement bus between various stations on the Midland Main Line and the line to Peterborough but these did not look attractive for a cold, dark Sunday night with luggage, so I looked at travelling from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge and from there to Stamford. It was a long way round and slow, but straightforward with just one change. There would be no catering, either, so we'd have to cope, but having a good Sunday lunch before leaving should make that OK!

Although our train from Stamford to Peterborough was a few minutes late, it still easily made our connection to London without us having to rush, and we took our reserved "club duo" seats in the second coach and relaxed as the cold drinks trolley came along, followed by the food and hot drinks. As I have remarked before, we felt very much at home in the care of LNER's First Class hosts and enjoyed our cold buffet from their basic "Deli" menu which is always the option served on the Lincoln-London train. We like these five-coach trains because they are seldom crowded and with a small First Class section we never have to wait long to be served. I have also travelled Standard Class on them on my various trip to Lincoln and there is very little crowding there, too, and never a queue at the little buffet counter.

Arriving in London our first job was to pop over to St Pancras station to visit the Fortnum and Mason shop there and buy some St Pancras Blend tea, for we had run out of it and have never found a worthy substitute locally! Then we made our way to the Underground to go to our temporary home in Shepherds Bush. And this where a series of unfortunate events began (we seem to be having these recently!). Now the weather forecast was not good: a Red Warning was in place in the north of England, in all of Ireland and the south of Scotland. We were a long way from there but did not entirely escape the mischief of Storm Éowyn and when we left the Underground there was an enormously heavy shower well under way. We paused at the station to do up all our clothing and make ourselves ready to step out: the man on duty at the station even checked that we were OK as we were taking so long to leave! We had decided to take a bus two stops along the street to our destination rather than walk as usual, and we were fairly soaked just walking to the adjacent bus stop. People already in the shelter made room for us and we squeezed our way in - Londoners are so friendly, especially in this multi-cultural part of the city which we have grown to love since starting to visit. The bus dropped us a short walk from the house and by the time we let ourselves in we were pretty wet and although our storm-proof jackets had taken most of the rain we were wet from the knees down. The suitcases dripped onto the floor but certainly proved themselves as waterproof. No sooner had we arrived than the sun came out and it became a glorious afternoon, and even warm by recent standards. But too late for us.

We had more-or-less dried out when we went to meet the children from their out-of-school club and take them home to dinner. The following day was to be our "free" day in London, once we had taken them back to school after breakfast at home. It is an easy trip to the British Museum from Shepherds Bush, just a simple ride on the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road and a short walk. We were about half-way there when an email message arrived to say that they could not open and that we would not be able to visit the exhibition ... we went along anyway to see how much of the museum might be open and whether the problem might be fixed - we had all day, after all - but staff came along the substantial queue to explain that they could not open the museum yet and had no idea when they would be able to open but to "check the website in a couple of hours". So we immediately decided that a refund was the way forward for us, and indeed it later transpired that the temporary exhibitions have not opened yet as I type this on the following evening ... and may not even open before we're back in Stamford.

The actual Neal's Yard, where the remedies come from. It really is a yard!

I thought that maybe a visit to Seven Dials, just a short walk away, may be in order as I had not seen the place for about fifty years when I visited a run-down and largely derelict area on a field visit from my Town Planning degree course. First call was to a coffee shop, near to which we also discovered what looked like an excellent fish and chip restaurant, where we bagged a table for an hour or so later. Seven Dials is worth having a look for its interesting collection of shops, eating and drinking places (we fitted in half an hour in a pub between coffee and lunch!) and even a couple of theatres, all among historic streets including the original Neal's Yard. I wouldn't come to London just to see it, but a trip to London can include it if you like that kind of thing. The pub was surprisingly uncrowded: when we left we reduced the clientele by two thirds. So it was a peaceful pint, unusual in London, but I gather that Fridays have become quiet post-pandemic. 

The fish and chips were superb, and I think The Rock and Sole Plaice lived  up to its advertising as the best fish and chips in London - not that I have tried them all, but is hard to imagine anything better. 

After lunch we had a final walk around streets we had missed - there are seven radials plus a few streets linking them - and then made our way back to Tottenham Court Road Underground station to go home. That was when the wind struck, the only real trace of Storm Éowyn that we encountered that day, but we were soon sheltered inside the entrance to the Underground station and by the time we emerged at White City the wind had dropped and we could feel the warmth again, the warmest day for some time, and warmest we were expecting for some time to come.

That was our day out done, for we were on our way to collect the children from school and go home to dinner.

Saturday was spent doing family things with the children and then on Sunday they wanted to take us to their church, which is not their local one five minutes' walk away but St Mary Abbots in Kensington where their Dad is a churchwarden (an absent churchwarden that Sunday!), which involved another rail adventure by Underground. I usually walk when I do this on my own, but it's too far for children. We took the Central Line from White City station to Notting Hill Gate and walked from there, a pleasant enough walk along Kensington Church Street, and then on return we decided to do less walking and went a slightly longer way round from High Street Kensington to Edgware Road by Circle Line where we changed to the Hammersmith and City to return home from Shepherds Bush Market station - less walking at both ends!

Before the train filled up at Tottenham Hale

And so home - and this was the interesting bit. Such a shame it was during winter so that the view from the trains was just for the first few minutes. After lunch we took the Hammersmith and City Line through to Liverpool Street. Either route would have got us there, but this is a nicer ride than the Central Line, and either route would have allowed a change into the Elizabeth Line, but all the apps suggested that we did not change, so we didn't. We arrived at Liverpool Street just ten minutes before a Greater Anglia train to Cambridge. This was ten coaches, high density commuter stock with little luggage space and we easily found seats, although not as spacious as we're used to. The first stop was at Tottenham Hale where hundreds more people joined the train! This is the connection point with the Victoria Line Underground and my guess is that these were people en route from Kings Cross or St Pancras to Cambridge and beyond who could not ate their usual train for the same reason that we could not. I don't know if Great Anglia had added more coaches to this train to cope or not, but all the seats were soon taken and there were many standing in the aisles. It might have been prudent to increase the frequency of the service in the circumstances, but the fragmented railway simply does not work in this way - roll on Great British Railways and its "single guiding mind" ... I hope.

The crowds thinned out after Bishops Stortford and most people got off at Cambridge with us - the train was going on to Cambridge North. We walked along the platform to where our connecting train home would stop and were able to sit in a pair of seats near the luggage rack. There was a refreshment trolley from which we eagerly anticipated buying a cup of tea, but it did not start its rounds until just before we reached Stamford, which was a bit of a disappointment. As the refreshment vendor was standing in the vestibule right behind us I wish I had approached him and asked for tea, but I didn't and now it was too late; we had tea after we'd walked home. After a few hours on trains taking the long way round it was good to walk across the Meadows and through town home, much quieter on a Sunday evening than on the more usual Friday or Saturday!

It turned out that the alternative route home worked quite well, but it would have been better if it had been daylight. I also still wait to see the Midland Main Line route in daylight: we only ever seem to get these diversions in winter! 

And now, coming up soon we have a trip to Bath via Birmingham and Bristol, done before but not for a few years, and Studland Bay via London and Bournemouth, a new route for us because we have always gone via Birmingham before. Then, Zermatt, St Moritz and Venice via London and Paris. Suitcases are never away at the moment.

Tour of the French and Swiss Alps by Train, part 4

Mountains, Lakes and Home

The Wednesday featured a day out in the Bernese Oberland in the Great Rail Journeys itinerary, including the ascent to Jungfraujoch using the new Eiger Express cable car from the edge of Grindelwald to an intermediate station part of the way up the Eiger. We had been to Jungfraujoch before and although we enjoyed it very much we felt that on this occasion our time would be better spent exploring other places in the local area rather than repeating that visit. It's not that we don't like seeing the same things twice, but the particular things that we enjoyed at Jungfraujoch did not seem worthwhile compared with the idea of exploring Grindelwald and Wengen (both of which we had also seen before!) and riding more trains rather than the cable car. 

Those going on the full excursion were warned to take warm clothing, even though the weather at Interlaken was hot and sunny when we walked with them to Interlaken Ost railway station. We did take some warm clothing, as we were heading to broadly the same area, but not intending to climb quite so high. We decided to travel with the party as far as Grindelwald Terminal, where the rest of them would be taking the cable car, then we would walk into Grindelwald centre, have coffee and then take a train via Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen for lunch, moving on to Lauterbrunnen where we would rejoin the party to travel together back to Interlaken. We had the train timings for the party and could easily fit our schedule into it, meaning that our travel to Grindelwald and from Lauterbrunnen was covered by the rail pass we had been issued - a pass that also gave us half-fares on the section between which we were paying-for ourselves.

The Swiss are always developing their railways. Not only did our train stop at the new station at Grindelwald Terminal to connect with the Eiger Express cable car, but also at an earlier station on the edge of Interlaken that serves the commercial area around the airfield. Our walk from the rail station into the centre of Grindelwald was warm and sunny and very pleasant. Although the station we had left was called "Terminal" it was not the end of the line! It was the terminal of the cable car system, which had been under construction last time we were here. The actual terminus in the centre of Grindelwald was being improved to provide better facilities for the town itself and so was a bit of a building site. Nearby was the hotel where we had stayed on our last visit so we strolled over to have a quick look and reminisce,  and spotting a waiter setting out some outdoor tables we decided to have our coffee there - something we had never done when we were staying there. 

Then we had a little walk around the shops and went to buy our tickets. There was some uncertainty about whether we needed to pay for the bit between Kleine Scheidegg and Lauterbrunnen which may or may not have been covered by our GRJ rail pass, but as we were travelling alone we were asked to pay and did so, quite contentedly. By the way, if you think rail fares in the UK are expensive, even at half-fare these little Swiss mountain railways are very expensive, but, then, think of the engineering they have to pay for! Anyway, we had a great ride. I had forgotten just how steep these cog railways in this part of the country can be until the train took a steep dive down the hillside to the "downhill" part of Grindelwald where it changed direction and then climbed steeply back up the other side to begin the ascent to the north face of the Eiger.

As the train climbed so we began to glimpse snow from the train windows (this is June, remember!) and by the time we descended from the train at Kleine Scheidegg there was a lot of snow around, although not at the station. Now it was cold, though, and we wore such clothing as we had brought and made sure we stood in the sunshine. The rest of the party would be up at the Jungfraujoch now, with the icicles and the ice palace and the view down to the glaciers. And the chocolate and watch shops! There is nothing much at Kleine Scheidegg except the train up inside the Eiger to Jungfraujoch, and it is not as busy as it used to be now that a lot of the traffic goes by the cable car to the next station rather than coming here. We joined the next train down to Wengen as soon as it was ready and made our way there. Now the conductor on this train was English and he was pretty sure that we had not needed to pay for this stretch of the journey because it was covered by our passes, so when we arrived at Wengen we spent a few minutes at the ticket office raising the matter and indeed were refunded that part of the fare ... very good. And off we went for a walk around Wengen, visited once before, ten years ago in winter. Now it was warm and sunny and there was no snow down here and we found a very nice traditional little restaurant for a bread and soup lunch, ideal.

And so to the train again to its terminus at Lauterbrunnen where we awaited the one after ours, which we were able to watch winding its way down the hillside opposite the village, on which the rest of our party were travelling ... or, rather, they should have been travelling. Every tour manager's nightmare had ben visited on our tour manager Richard when one of the party had failed to catch the train back down from Jungfraujoch, so the party was one short when they arrived. These days with mobile telephones it is much easier to sort out this sort of thing than it once was, and the missing person was easily able to follow down on a later train. 

Back at Interlaken Ost we walked back to the hotel and changed for dinner. This night we were to dine in the restaurant at the very top of the tower; we assumed that there were few enough diners for only one restaurant to be needed so they fitted us all in on the top floor. I think some of those who had booked it for following day, when we had to make our own dinner arrangements, were a little put out that we were all getting that view anyway! Another great meal, with an amazing view. At one point there came rain, and then, looking along the valley back towards the Jungfrau there was the most fantastic rainbow right over the mountain. I think this hotel must have been put on this site specifically to take advantage of the view up the valley to the Jungfrau, and for us that evening it really was very special.

Not sure why this guy is looking at me this way ...

Thursday was an entirely free day and we had decided long ago that on this day we should trip out to Meiringen to visit the Reichenbach Falls made famous by the (apparent!) death of Sherlock Holmes with Moriarty in what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had intended to be the last of his series of Holmes novels. This we did, after having a rather later start than on the last few days, but we managed to pack a few more bits in as well ...

We began again with a walk to Interlaken Ost railway station from where we bought our half-price train tickets and caught a train direct to Meiringen: this took us along the north shore of Lake Brienz and through the lakeside town of that name which we had visited on a previous trip. It was a fantastic scenic ride. At Meiringen we strolled into the town centre and kept walking until we came to funicular station that would take us to the Reichenbach Falls, a little way out of town. It was a great walk, but we could have done most of the trip on a little local train that goes that way. Before ascending to the Falls we had coffee at a nearby café which was actually the canteen of a hospital but open to the public. We were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. By then we had decided that after the Falls we would like to visit the nearby Aareschlucht Gorge, which it was possible to visit using the aforesaid local railway, and there happened to be a combined ticket available for the two attractions - and in Switzerland you take every opportunity to save money. The ride up to the Falls was fun - funicular railways always are, with their ever-changing view of the world below - and arrival was in a mist of spray. The waterfall is a spectacle but I think not such a spectacle as it would have been in Conan Doyle's day, with various alterations - and safety features - which mean that even if you could get to the edge to plunge over it you would probably survive now! 

Back down we walked to the station on the Inertkirchen Railway which would take us to the start of the Aareschlucht Gorge. Access to the gorge is at either end, with a railway station not far away from each end: we opted to travel to the far, eastern, end of the gorge and walk back through it to take a train back to Meiringen from the western end. The day continued sunny and we had a fantastic adventure, making up the itinerary as we went along, with local advice and the ever-available information from the internet. Apple Maps on our iPhones provided us with the train times and we were soon on a train to the far end of the Aareschlucht Gorge, where the station was actually inside a tunnel: I would have photographed the train there but the driver asked me to leave the platform because the signal would not clear to start the train while the platform was occupied! Not wanting to be the reason for a delay to a Swiss train, we rapidly left the station and the door slid shut behind us. Outside was a small group of people awaiting a train in the other direction but who would not be able to go onto the platform until the train was there and the door opened for them. If the London Underground worked that way it would slow things down quite a bit! So, a nice bit of uphill walk to where the gorge started, and a brief pause for an ice-cream to recover from the uphill walk in the hot sun, and then we paid our admission fee and started through the wonderful scenery of the Aareschlucht Gorge.

Photographs on a website cannot do justice to this amazing natural wonder: you simply have to go and see it for yourself. In places the river is wide: in some other places you can reach out and touch the rock on the opposite side! Here and there there are waterfalls and rapids, and occasionally you have to walk through rock tunnels, although much of the way you're on a walkway cantilevered out from the rock face a few metres above the water. It is all safe and easy, with some care, and there is much interpretative information on display boards as you go through. As we emerged the other end there was a gift shop and after browsing there we walked to the station to take our train back to Meiringen, this time from a station in the open sunshine. It was a trip of just a few moments and then we were able to join our train from Meiringen back to Interlaken Ost where we added just one more adventure to the day's itinerary: if there was not too much of a queue we would take a funicular ride up to Harder Kulm, the conical peak that overlooks Interlaken town centre ...

We arrived at Ost station and walked along to the river bridge and level crossing which took us to the funicular terminal and sure enough there was just a very short queue, so we joined it and bought tickets for the ascent. This was a longer trip than the one to the Reichenbach Fall; indeed it may well be the longest funicular I have ever ridden, and the unfolding views of a town we had begun to know were just stunning.

Like all these tourist railways up mountains there were viewpoints and a restaurant at the top. We spent some while taking in the views and then stopped for a beer, no more, at the restaurant outside bar. We could look down on our high-rise hotel, along the valley to the Jungfrau in the distance, and we could see the trains, like small-scale model trains, in both Interlaken stations. Both lakes were in view, and both boat terminals where the lake cruises operated: we had arrived in Interlaken on a boat on Lake Brienz on a previous holiday, and were due to take a boat from here on Lake Thun the following day.

Back down in the town we wandered along to a shop where we had seen drinking glasses with their bottoms moulded in the shape of alpine mountains and thought these would be great souvenirs of our holiday, so we popped in and bought one depicting the Matterhorn, which was a feature of our first alpine holiday, and the Jungfrau, a feature of this one. 

Then it was back to the hotel and dinner at the top floor restaurant, this time at our own expense from the full menu. There we met a few others from the Great Rail Journeys group who, like us, thought it would be hard to find a better location.

The hot, sunny weather did not last, and the following morning saw us setting off by bus in light rain to see the historic architecture of Bönigen, a very old place now a suburb of Interlaken but clearly its historic origin. There are many old, traditional Swiss timber building in its narrow streets, so much so that an architectural trail has been created for visitors. In the steady rain we followed this trail and did see all of the buildings, mostly houses, but our map got wetter and wetter and it was hard to take photographs, but I hope you'll enjoy the few I have put together here. Again, Bönigen is well worth a visit if you are in Interlaken with time to spare, and again, for us Apple Maps delivered on the bus timetable. We just managed to fit in our soggy tour of Bönigen in time to meet the rest of the group for the afternoon cruise on Lake Thun, included in our Great Rail Journeys tour.

Bönigen

By the time we left for Interlaken West station for our boat the rain had almost stopped, and by the time we boarded and the boat slipped away from the quayside (astern!) it was dry. Once clear of the river, the boat turned and cruised along the lake to Thun, where we would have a good couple of hours before taking a train back to Interlaken.

On the cruise we bought a glass of wine from the bar and enjoyed watching the scenery slip by - including, while gong astern along the river, the receding Harder Kulm from where we had looked down the previous evening. Some of the party had a light meal aboard, but we contented ourselves with a snack on the waterside in Thun. 

I had been advised by another railway modeller that there was a department store in Thun with a decent model railway department and we sought it out and there purchased a station kit I had long wanted and did not expect otherwise to be able to find: Swiss model railway equipment is fairly sparsely available in the UK. I was, though, beginning to wonder about the capacity of my luggage going home ...

Dinner at Interlaken was an included meal back in the downstairs restaurant and then we began our packing ready for the morning:it was time to think about getting home, a long journey all in one day.

We checked out and walked all together to Interlaken West and there joined a Regional train to Spiez, unfortunately already rather well-filled with people with a lot of luggage, so we were standing in the vestibule with ours. It was only a short trip, though, this leg, and the view of the lake was as good as ever. 

At Spiez we joined an Intercity train to Basel, again in Second Class but this was a duplex and we managed to bag some great seats on the top deck with some really good views. We had a little time to buy lunch at Basel before travelling First Class on the TGV to Paris, being taken by coach across to the Gare du Nord for the Eurostar train to London, travelling in Standard Premier with a light meal with wine as usual. 

We were in the very front of the London train which was great because we were able to leave quickly and make our way over to Kings Cross to get the last fast train of the day to Peterborough, again with a light meal, from where we needed a taxi to our home in Stamford, being too late for a train. On the way to Peterborough we downloaded an app for a Peterborough taxi company which had been recommended by a family member, and with that we were able to book and pay for the taxi (technically a private hire car) which was then waiting for us in the pick-up area at the station. It worked brilliantly: no need to have enough cash to pay a black cab, and no fear of a huge bill if the journey is delayed. We'll use that again we need it.

We had said farewell to our brilliant tour manager and to all our travelling companions while we were on the Eurostar train, and so had been ready for that dash to Kings Cross, but could not help wondering, as did some others, whether an earlier start from Interlaken might have got us back at an early enough hour not to have that rush back home. Some people were staying a night in London because they lived too far away to travel home that night. Still, that did not detract from what had been another really great holiday. We had seen much that was new, and seen again some old haunts. Some things had been a real adventure, some relaxing, all of it good. The weather could have been better at times, but at other times it had been absolutely perfect. We are already looking forward to our next foreign adventure ... and that story will be told soon!