On the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Travelling home from Venice on a special train service

On our last morning in Venice our journey with Belmond began: the centrepiece, of course, was their luxury re-creation of the Orient Express train, but it began with a representative meeting us at our hotel and taking us and our suitcases to a private-hire water taxi for the trip to Venice Santa Lucia railway station to wait for our train. It did not properly end until we arrived in London St Pancras in Eurostar's Business Premier Class which was an integral part of the Belmond package.

Given the gastronomic experience we were expecting during the 24 hours on board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express it might have been better for our health to have walked to the railway station, but the boat service was provided as part of the through journey, and it was in any case great to have one last trip up part of the grand canal. On arrival at the railway station waterbus terminal a team of porters was standing by to take our luggage which would be delivered to our allocated compartment. Those with more luggage than ours would have their larger cases stowed in a baggage car, just taking to their compartments what they would need overnight.

And so we arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia railway station and made our way to platform 2 where our escort went to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express desk that had been set up there, ensuring that our arrival had been noted. The train was brought into the platform about half an hour before departure so that there was an unhurried boarding and loading of luggage. As a fan of Art Deco style and the inter-war "Dieselpunk" era, this journey was something I had wanted to do for a long time, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The Art Deco feel of this train has been so well preserved, restored and enhanced, even though modern features like wi-fi and, discreetly hidden, electric charging points have been installed. 

Our steward Gloria took our passports in case they needed to be seen at a border in the night, put our luggage on the rack and introduced us to the features of our compartment - critically, how to lock the door! -  and a waiter came along and poured Champagne into the two flute glasses that stood waiting on the table. The Maitre D came along and asked our preference for the noon or two o'clock sitting for lunch, which, of course, was linked to the seven or nine o'clock sitting for dinner (we went for the earlier in both cases).

The train trundled away falteringly from Venice to begin with, with frequent stops and often moving slowly, but soon it was noon and we washed our hands in our little wash basin and made our way to the third restaurant car,  l'Oriental, for lunch, which was an unhurried affair with included Champagne and a wide variety of wine available, most of it included, but you could easily spend a few hundred pounds on special vintages if you wished to do so. The three-course lunch was delicious and relaxing: we accompanied it with a non-alcoholic rosé, given the amount of Champagne we had already had and that dinner with more alcohol would be coming along later. A meal on a train is always rather special, and in an Art Deco restaurant car in Italy especially special!

 

The train eventually arrived at Verona where the first locomotive change took place. Here we took an opportunity to have a stroll on the platform - just a little more exercise - and reboarded the train when the rain started. It was a fair while before we got going again, and the next service train from the same platform was indicated running 72 minutes late, which made us wonder what sort of disruption was holding us up and for how long. But once we got going we moved fairly swiftly, more like an express train, and were soon into Alpine mountain scenery. Before long Gloria came to our compartment offering afternoon tea, which include a variety of teas and some small pastries, both savoury and sweet. 

I wrote some postcards to the family (which I knew would arrive long after we were home, but they would be posted with the special Venice Simplon-Orient-Express postmark and would be nice for our family members to receive) and then we repaired to the bar car, which we had not yet seen, for a cocktail before dressing for dinner. I could not resist ordering the Vesper Martini, but I am unsure whether it was shaken or stirred. The bar car had a very relaxing lounge-like atmosphere and our drinks were served with a selection of nibbles - you do not go hungry on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express! And so back to our compartment to dress for dinner. Now, smart clothing is required throughout a journey on this train, and I did wear a jacket and tie for lunch, but for dinner, "formal" wear is required and so we did wash and change into formal evening wear. Two people changing their clothes in the confines of a railway compartment is quite a challenge but we did manage within the hour we had allocated to present ourselves smartly attired ready for dinner.

Dinner was in a different restaurant car from lunch, the idea being that we would get to experience everything the train had to offer in our twenty-four hours aboard. This time we were in the Côte d'Azur car, all decorated in blue. This was my favourite, and it was good to have the longest mealtime there. Most people played the game and turned up in formal clothes, some really spectacular, and no-one was in less than a jacket and tie. Once more this was a leisurely meal with all the water and wine you could wish, and started with Champagne. We were not far into the meal when darkness came and we were travelling through the night. The route took us through the Alps to Innsbruck in Austria where the train reversed and made its way eastwards through Liechtenstein towards France. No murders so far, although there was a party of some fifty Americans on board, so the Agatha Christie scenario was not impossible. No Russian assassin attempting to kill a British assassin, either. Time to get ready for bed, and if dressing for dinner in the daytime compartment was a challenge, undressing for bed in a compartment which had been transformed by our attendant into a bedroom with a ladder to the top bunk was even more so! At least the ladder meant that we could easily access our cases on the luggage rack if we needed to get something out or put something away, and actually the compartment was so well designed that we really did not get in each other's way very much. 

The bed - I had the lower bunk - was surprisingly comfortable and I had a decent night's sleep (better than our last night at the Venice hotel, in fact), until we stopped somewhere and our compartment was immediately next to the cooling fans of a locomotive on the next track. Neither it nor our train was going anywhere for some time, and noise came and went frequently as the locomotive's thermostat required it. This felt like it had been going on for a long time, but this can be deceiving, before at last the sound began to fade and I realised from the slight sounds from below that we were on the move again. By now it was two hours to our accustomed morning alarm, and I had the best part of that asleep.

It was still dark when we awoke and dressed, taking the opportunity to repack our suitcases as we went along, so that by the time we went for breakfast our compartment was reasonably tidy. It was daylight when we arrived at the restaurant car Étoile du Nord for breakfast. There was a small basket of pastries on the table which we ignored until after we had eaten a fruit salad and, in my case, the best-tasting poached eggs on toast that I have ever eaten. We stayed at our table for some time enjoying the views of countryside not unlike that at home, and drinking coffee and water, then we returned to our compartment which in our absence had been converted back into a sitting space. The train was by then through Dijon and making its way eastward on time towards Paris. The sun was shining, it was a lovely morning to be travelling.

When we arrived at Paris Gare d'Austerlitz it was still sunny and although the air temperature was quite cool, it did not feel particularly cold in the sunshine. The train crew had taken our luggage onto the platform and we collected it and wished them farewell, but our exciting and special journey was not yet over. Since the withdrawal of the through service to and from London Victoria using Belmond's British Pullman train, the Venice to London service now uses the Eurostar in Business Premier Class to complete the London stage of the journey, so we were now to experience Business Premier Class on Eurostar for the first - and quite possibly only - time. But plenty of time had been allowed before the Eurostar train departure from Paris Gare du Nord, so we decided to go for a little stroll along the Seine rather than just take the Metro straight there. As we walked we felt warmer and warmer in the sun. We went as far as the west front of Notre Dame cathedral and then took the Metro from Cité station direct to Gare du Nord, where the signage all seems to have changed since our last visit, with the Eurostar terminal now being designated "Hall 2", with the Union Flag appearing next to it. 

Even after our stroll we still had lots of time before the train to London, but that was fine, because a big part of the Eurostar Business Premier Class for Venice Simplon-Orient-Express passengers is the availability of the Business Premier Lounge while waiting. Another advantage would have been the fast-track queue at the ticket gates, but there were only two or three people in front of us anyway, so that didn't make any real difference! We did get nice smiles from the Eurostar staff, though, amusingly. The lack of crowds made the whole security process so much more relaxed, and I was pleased to note that the scanning of luggage etc at Gare du Nord seems to have improved since my last visit, and the electronic passport gates on the UK passport control had worked this time and let me straight through. There was no queue at all at the French passport control desk, either. Once through passport and security checks we took the lift up to the Business Premier Lounge, showed our tickets, sat down and relaxed. I could not get the phone-charging sockets to work, but that was not important this time, fortunately. We helped ourselves to coffee and snacks, then later a cold drink, while we awaited the boarding of our train, which was scheduled to leave three minutes earlier than when it had been booked, such is the way with Eurostar trains.

As soon as our train left Paris we were served drinks. We chose Champagne; after all, this was a part of our Orient-Express experience! The meal was soon served, but I missed a trick in not asking for wine to go with the meal when the drinks were brought, but we did have plenty of water. In Business Premier Class there is an option of a hot dish, and on our train it was trout and very good indeed. This was a light three-course meal with starter, main and dessert and although not quite Orient-Express standard was pretty good. The meal finished before we reached the Channel Tunnel and before long we were at St Pancras International station, with plenty of time to go before our booked train to Peterborough and connection home to Stamford - I dare not arrange it any tighter because of the multiple opportunities for schedule to slip before we got to London, but in fact nothing held us up at all and we had as long in the First Class Lounge at Kings Cross as we did in the Business Premier Lounge at Gare du Nord.

Our train left Kings Cross on time and we were served the usual refreshments, although we did not need a lot after the week, and the day, we had been enjoying. The train did encounter a few shorts delays which made the connection to Stamford rather tight, but we made it with a couple of minutes to spare and arrived at Stamford exactly on schedule - and without having to hang around on Peterborough station. Our kind next-door neighbour picked us up by car and drove us the last half-mile home: it's a lovely walk in the summer but we were glad of a lift this time.

When we left home six days before I said it was hard to believe that we were going on this adventure (and as I write this I have not yet published that part of the story!), and now we are back I find it hard to believe that we have done it! The legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, ticked off the The List. 

Video presentation of the whole holiday in Venice and 

the journey on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Quick! While There's No-one There!

Our first train trip to London since February

Normally, visiting Westminster Abbey is a nightmare, with queues and little opportunity to appreciate the spiritual qualities of the place. I had only been there for services, choosing to avoid visiting it for the history and architecture, both of which are worth a look. But for the moment, in 2020, hardly anyone goes there and in any case the Abbey cannot manage many but desperately needs the income from visitors. So we decided to go while it was quiet, to see the place properly and to do our bit for its upkeep by buying tickets to visit, all pre-booked like virtually everything else in Britain at present. This was to be our first visit to London since all the cancellations in February and we decided to stay one night, have tea at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly (they were offering two for the price of one, so it was only expensive rather than extremely expensive) and just enjoy the West End without the crowds.

As a member of Hilton's loyalty scheme I booked a room at the Doubletree Westminster, a few minutes' walk from the Abbey, and First Class tickets with LNER to and from London Kings Cross to connect conveniently with the reduced-frequency trains between Stamford and Peterborough.All was set. Both Cross Country Trains and LNER insist on reservations for travel: with LNER we are given specific seats which we have to use; on Cross Country we can choose any empty seat far enough from other passengers but they will not sell tickets for a train which already has as many as it can take with social distancing. All our train tickets were electronic, held on my iPhone. I am beginning to get the hang of finding them quickly for operating barriers at stations.

The weather forecast was not wonderful: warm enough but wet at times. We took minimal luggage for just one night, one small case between us and walked together to Stamford station. Our train to Peterborough was just a couple of minutes late and our connection to London was easily made, although the temporary "one way" system at Peterborough station really does not work well for connecting passengers. Once the London train was under way I sent to collect our coffee and biscuits from the First Class host, probably not very different from what we would normally have had on such a short trip.

Arriving in London we walked to our hotel in Westminster. A long walk punctuated by a lunch break in a small park, and not quite the shortest route but a more scenic one which took us by the Savoy and along the Embankment. The hotel was having building work done and the main entrance was not in use, so it took us a while to find the way in: it turned out that it only reopened that day after the Covid-19 closure and that we were only the second group of guests to arrive. The restaurants were not open so we would have to have a packed breakfast either in our room or as a take-away; as we had nowhere to take it to we opted to have it in our room and specified a time. We went to our room, unpacked our few things and got ready to go out to tea. The room was looking really tidy and clean: Hilton had been to some effort to combat the virus by extensive cleaning of all rooms. It was looking a bit dated, though, with no device charging points by the bed, unlike our hotel in Edinburgh a few days which had double sockets with double USB points each side of the bed. We wondered if the refurbishment would address this sort of thing.

We set off through the drizzle, which came and went a bit, for the long walk to Piccadilly. By now, tea time, there was very heavy traffic in our street and here-and-there elsewhere, but our route was largely through quiet streets and pedestrian ways, and across St James's Park, all very pleasant. We arrived in plenty of time before our tea booking, and we walked through both Piccadilly and Burlington Arcades and then had a few minutes browsing the goods on offer at Fortnum & Mason before proceeding to the lounge for tea, which compared quite well with the afternoon tea we had enjoyed in Edinburgh less than a week before! As then we had two hours, which was more than enough, and as then we did not need any supper afterwards but rather a long walk ... we even declined the slice of cake which was an option to finish off the meal!

We took the long walk back to our hotel, through the occasional light shower, via Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square - it felt like the Monopoly board - then along Whitehall and across Westminster Bridge and back over Lambeth Bridge to our hotel off Horseferry Road.

In the morning our packed breakfast arrived and although it was not quite the standard we have come to expect of Doubletree hotels it was all good, and the coffee was excellent. we checked out and left our case at reception to walk the short distance to Westminster Abbey, clutching our printed-out on-line tickets and vouchers for the multimedia guided tour. The queue was minimal and after a quick security check and hand-sanitise we were in and in possession of the devices which would provide us with the guided tour. Photography was not allowed in the Abbey, so this part of the blog will have to go without illustration, but it suffices to say that this building is one of Europe's finest, so do see it if you can. Similarly the history here is amazing: a thousand years of the story of England and her church and monarchy, intertwined, is told here and is better described by others than by me. I recommend the electronic multimedia tour: each talk is short and to the point, it is easy to operate and copes with several languages and is good at reminding us throughout that this is still a working place of worship with a regular round of prayer and praise - although somewhat curtailed at present like all places of worship.

We visited the gift shop and then returned to collect our case from the hotel, bidding a farewell to the receptionist, who was the only other person we met there! She is from Italy which is where we had been going to go this autumn and have rebooked on a date next year.

We then revisited Fortnum & Mason, having noticed the day before that they were offering their knickerbocker glories at two for the price of one ... then we walked that off by going on foot through London to Kings Cross, up Regent Street and Great Portland Street then along Euston Road and taking the signposted walk from Euston to Kings Cross through the middle of St Pancras station. We had a few minutes in the reopened First Class lounge (no refreshments yet, but expected soon) before boarding our LNER train to Peterborough where we changed for Stamford as usual. By then the rain had started but was all right for walking home where hot chocolate made a fitting end to such a day. We had only left the day before but we had enjoyed tea and ice-cream and walked 17 km as well as our object of seeing Westminster Abbey without the crowds. Wonderful!

When I am not travelling

The attraction of model railways

I have had a model railway of sorts for as long as I can remember, and in adult life, indeed from about the age of six (!), they have been about much more than the trains. I have always tried to make them about journeys and to reflect the joy of travel, my enjoyment of which goes back to toddlerhood when my parents took me to my mother's family in Margate for a week each summer. I expect that like every toddler I did not enjoy every aspect and would have made my parents aware of that, but my memories are all good: it was exciting, both the destination and the journey. I think that is why I am still hugely fond of train travel today, as well as the grown-up belief in railways as (at least potentially, and often actually) a civilised, environmentally-friendly way to travel.

A few years ago, with a hankering for the era of glamorous train travel and a liking for art deco and modernist architecture, I built a moderne fantasy model railway layout with streamlined and Pullman trains and deco and moderne buildings. The video below is a summary of several years' development. I  hope you enjoy it.

Kentish Adventure for Seven

By High Speed Train to Canterbury, again

As if the November trip to Canterbury for my daughter's doctoral graduation were not enough, the long-planned group day out to Canterbury finally became reality in December, so I was there twice within about three weeks. The weather was similar, showery and cold, although not too cold, and there were gaps between the showers. We had not particularly aimed for a winter outing but by the time we had agreed a convenient date that was when it would have to be, and so it was!

When I was a young child I went with my parents to Kent every summer. My mother was from Margate and the only way we could see that part of the family was to have our summer holiday with them, for in those days annual leave was just the one week plus bank holidays. It was fortunate that my mother's family lived at a seaside town, so it was a good holiday, too! I have smashing memories of the train ride from Spalding or Kings Lynn to London (through locomotive-hauled express trains) and mixed memories of the struggle across to Victoria (no Victoria Line then) for the Kent coast trains to Margate, mentally ticking off the stopping places on the way. How different it is today! Main line trains no longer venture into south Lincolnshire or north Norfolk (see my recent post on the East Lincs Main Line) but the other end is so much better: High Speed trains now operate from St Pancras to many Kentish destinations, giving a simple cross-street change of stations in London and then a fast service into Kent. It is still a long way, but it is now easily possible to have a day trip to almost anywhere in Kent from our current home in Stamford, Lincolnshire, or probably from almost anywhere in the midlands.

Our little party gathered at our local station in time to catch the 08:00 Cross Country train to Peterborough. For some reason the reservation slips had not been put on our seats but as it happened most of them were unoccupied, and there were plenty of others nearby for those of us without our reserved seats. At Peterborough we had about half an hour before the scheduled departure of our connection to Kings Cross: I had arranged First Class tickets for that leg of the journey and a handful of the group took up the offer of free coffee and cake at the Great Northern Hotel that comes with First Class LNER tickets at Peterborough. We were soon on our way on one of LNER's remaining British Rail mk4 electric trains, a touch late but still in good time for our Southeastern Highspeed connection in London. Soon the coffee, fruit juice and croissants were brought round by the attentive First Class hosts. At Kings Cross we made our way through the concourse towards the main entrance to St Pancras, directly opposite, and via the escalators and lift to the Southeastern platforms. Our train, eventual destination Margate, was already waiting for us and the swifter-moving members of the party boarded quickly and "bagged" a couple of tables together while I made sure that those moving more slowly found their way to join them. I had to feel sorry for the unsuspecting member of the public who joined us and took up the eighth place at our tables ...

We left London exactly on time and accelerated out through the tunnelled High Speed One main line, emerging briefly for a stop at Stratford and then along the north Thames bank until tunnelling under the river at Dartford and emerging for the stop at Ebbsfleet. The final stop on HS1 was at Ashford where we waited a little longer while the train's pantograph was lowered and power pick-up transferred to the heritage third rail system for the rest of the trip to Canterbury (and beyond to Margate for the train, but not for us). Highlights of the trip (apart from the astonishing speed!) are the view of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge at Dartford, the crossing of the Medway estuary with views of the M2 motorway as well as the Medway towns, and the distinctive Kent countryside on the last stretch between Ashford and Canterbury.

The weather that greeted us in Canterbury was as expected: cold, but not too cold, and damp with intermittent drizzle, but no real rain (yet). I walked with the group into the heart of the city and we all went our separate ways. Most people had come with a list of places they wanted to see, obviously including the cathedral, but I had no real agenda myself, having been here many times and as recently as a couple of weeks earlier! I had thought of travelling by bus to Margate for old times' sake, but the weather was really not very conducive to enjoying a day at the seaside, so although I got as far as the bus station I decided against doing that. There were odd bits of Christmas shopping I wanted to do, and although Nason's department store was already closed and Debenham's was in the midst of its closing-down sale, Fenwick's was still going strong, as were many other shops. Canterbury is also one of those cities where it is a pleasure just to be there and walk the streets and enjoy the architecture. Somehow the day just went by!

I had my lunch at The Old Buttermarket pub opposite the Cathedral Gate hotel where I had stayed on my recent visit: the pub was closed for refurbishment then so it was good to try out now - I could small the fresh paint as I walked in through the doorway! Some excellent cooked meals with decent local ale were on offer and the temperature and the company of other customers were congenial ... and I was joined by some other members of the group, too. We use WhatsApp on these tours to keep track of each other and this was the first trip I had done where every member of the group was using it, and it was very effective. The three of us gathered at this pub decided to meet later at one nearer the station before catching the train back, and I messaged the whole group to suggest an informal rendezvous at The Bishop's Finger 45 minutes before departure, and even single one turned up (all of them before I did!).

When I remarked on her Unicorn
ticket clipper, the nice train
train manager kindly made these
two special tickets for my senior
(four years old!)
granddaughters. How kind is that?

And so came the time to make our way to the station for the journey home. It was already dark, so there would be little to see. This time we took a local stopping train to Ashford where we changed for the Highspeed train to London. Ashford International is a convenient interchange station but it is not really an interesting or exciting place to wait for a train, and in the cold and drizzle all we wanted was a train! I did buy a hot chocolate from a buffet counter on the platform, which was warming and pleasant. Everyone was chatting excitedly about what they had done and seen on their day in Canterbury and I briefed them on the next stage of the journey: from Kings Cross we were to travel on one of LNER's new ten-coach Azuma trains, made of to five-car sets couple together, so it was vital to board the correct coach, or, at least, one nearby in the correct half of the train. Again we were travelling First Class and we had time to wait in the lounge at Kings Cross while the train was prepared. Slightly distressing, the escalator down to our platform was out of order, so we had to take two turns to get the whole group down via the lift. We did have reserved seats, which were reserved, so there was no hurry to get to them, but with some of the group having mobility issues I was a bit on edge until everyone was in the correct coach. I could have done without one couple announcing that they had lost their tickets and railcards at this stage ... later found in a hat, of all places, fortunately before they were required for inspection. This was by far the most complex of these day trips I had arranged and everyone had six ticket coupons plus separate compulsory reservation coupons for some legs of the journey, so it was very easy to get tickets confused. I may have to reconsider my policy of giving everyone all their tickets at the start of the day ...

The usual snack meal available to short-journey passengers was served on the way back to Peterborough and we arrived just slightly early there so that even with some mobility difficulties we all managed to catch the very tight East Midlands Railway connecting train to Stamford rather than having to wait half an hour for the usual Cross Country train. We made our way over the footbridge at Stamford and said our farewells - the walk home allowed me the chance to relax and thus soon to sleep after an exciting day out with half-a-dozen friends.

I have to say that we met some wonderful train staff and station staff throughout this day. I don't think I have ever enjoyed the company of so many cheerful and helpful railway employees in one day. All our trains were either on time or so nearly so that it made no difference to us, and all were clean and had enough space for us. Given the amount of time we spent on the railway, these aspects mattered to our enjoyment of the day, and they certainly contributed to it. Some members of the party do not often (or ever) travel First Class, so it was an introduction for them - I did emphasise that it is inexpensive because of boring three months in advance which cannot always be done. Whether it is affordable otherwise is a decision which each of us would have to make depending on our means and other calls on our funds.

Where to next? Well, it is probably time to organise another party in a brewery ... See my Come with me! page for details of how to join us.

Such a Pretty City!

When I was growing up it was hard to imagine that I would ever be able to visit eastern Europe, or if I did I would be constantly under suspicion and in danger. There were exotic cities like Budapest, Bratislava, Belgrade, Berlin, Prague and Warsaw which I never expected to see and yet now all are easily accessible. They are in EU countries and as an EU citizen I can visit them and feel at home – until next year anyway, and even though language and currencies vary, it is easy enough to mix with fellow citizens of what Mikhail Gorbachev called “our common European home”. This year I managed to visit some of these on an escorted rail tour with Great Rail Journeys. I have already written about our very brief introduction to Berlin, probably the city that symbolises the past division of Europe, and from there we moved on to Prague which was a totally different experience. Prague was almost completely untouched by 2nd World War bombing whereas Berlin was almost destroyed; Prague was the centre of an early attempt to break free from Soviet domination; Prague has an enormously long history as a capital city of an historic principality, then kingdom and finally a republic as it is today.

We arrived there by direct train from Berlin, and when we left we took a direct train to Budapest, both operated by the Czech national railway with comfortable, modern carriages and electric locomotives. They were not high speed trains but reached 90mph at times and some very good food and drink were available from the restaurant and buffet car: this was neither the down-at-heel slow and dirty train of film-noir spy stories nor the glamour of international expresses of the inter-war detective story.

Down to dinner!

Getting off the train at Prague's main station we were amazed at the highly decorated circulation space at the main entrance with its vaulted ceiling and classical style. There was clearly still some restoration work to do at this station, but what had been completed was stunning. A coach took us through the city's congested streets (we arrived at the evening rush hour when an accident had closed a main road tunnel) and eventually got us to our hotel on the other side of the city centre. The hotel had two buildings at the top and bottom of a steep hill and we were delivered to the upper building where our rooms were. To get to the restaurant for dinner we had to go down by a cable-hauled funicular railway to the lower building. The view from our room over the city was brilliant, although the same could not be said for the weather for most of our stay, although it had some good patches.

We had a spacious, comfortable room and after a good night's sleep were ready for the tour of Prague following morning. It was the same sort of early start which had one of our Australian fellow-travellers on last year's holiday ask the tour manager, “Do we get a holiday some time?” but, really, if you've come all this way to an exotic place you do really need to get out and see something of it! At least this time we did not have to have packed before the day started, as we were staying a second night at this hotel.

St Wenceslas' shrine in the cathedral

The tour began with a coach transfer to Prague Castle, and then we were on foot for the rest of the morning, for Prague is very much a "walking city". Unfortunately the morning was punctuated with showers, some of them moderately heavy, but we were prepared for the weather from the accurate forecast and everyone had umbrellas or hooded coats. Prague Castle is the biggest castle in Europe (Windsor is the second biggest) and includes a cathedral and three other churches as well as the presidential palace. The palace has been the official seat of the rulers of the Czech people ever since it was founded, surviving changes from principality through kingdom to republic. Wenceslas, the nation's patron saint, was probably the most famous resident, but he was a prince, not the king of the well-known Christmas carol.

The castle is on a hill overlooking the rest of the city and after a thorough exploration of all the public areas, and a coffee break, we walked down through a vineyard area to the city centre via the famous Charles Bridge with its statues of the saints (which have remarkably survived both Nazism and Communism). Many of the tour party then made their way by tram back to the hotel, but we decided to walk back through the city and see some more of Prague's sights.

It was by now lunchtime, and one thing we needed to do was to try the trdlo, a sweet confection made from bread in the shape of a cylinder, similar in taste to a Danish pastry, for example, but much less sticky. We had no Czech currency with only being here a short time but in the tourist streets where these things were on sale we could pay with Euros (like the UK, the Czech Republic is an EU member state which still has its own currency). We found a place where we could sit outside with a coffee and a trdlo (mine filled with strawberries and whipped cream, Alison's plain). As we were about to leave the heaviest shower of the day began, so we waited until it subsided before we walked on - fortunately there was no queue for our table. The principal place we wanted to see was Wenceslas Square, scene of the demonstrations and meetings which ended the communist era just a few years ago. Wenceslas Square is not actually square, but a long rectangle (like Eaton Square in London) and is a major shopping street, now with a large branch of Marks and Spencer in it: the capitalists have moved swiftly into eastern Europe!

And so back to our hotel through the streets of Prague with their varied, often Parisian-looking, buildings and over the River Vitava. The hotel grounds, full of trees and climbing steeply up the hillside, looked great, but the new highway in front of it, with bits still under construction, rather spoilt the effect its architect had intended. Still, reunited with the rest of our party it was soon time for dinner, a shower and sleep ready for our next move. The following morning we were to depart at a similar time again, but this time packed and ready to catch our train. We were driven slowly through the morning peak traffic back to Prague main station and waited for the platform indicator to show where we needed to wait for our EuroCity train direct to our next stop at Budapest, capital of Hungary, another city I once never imagined I would be able to visit.

This was a long journey of around seven hours, all on one train, which this time did have the scheduled buffet/restaurant car which served superb hot and cold snacks and full meals. We had a hot snack lunch with Prosecco which we took back to our seats, but there was also seating the bar area and a small restaurant where we could have opted to have a waited meal. We also had our morning coffee and afternoon tea on board the train. I wrote much of the previous blog post during this journey, too!

We were about half and hour late getting to Budapest, so our coach ride along the Pest side of the Danube towards our home for the next seven nights, the MS Amadeus Brilliant, took place in the thick of the evening peak and added several more minutes to the delay to our arrival, so we missed tea on the ship but at least we were in time for the briefing for life aboard the vessel, followed by the welcome drink (more sparkling wine) and dinner. After dinner our visit to Budapest began, and of this I shall say much more in the next post.

Summer Alpine Adventure 2: Top of the World!

Our train crossing the Landwasser Viaduct on the
Rhätische Bahn Albula Line en route for St Moritz

From Basel we continued the journey along the Rhine valley towards the south of Switzerland, on the top deck of a Swiss duplex train in great comfort. After more stunning scenery we changed trains again at Chur, boarding a Rhätische Bahn metre-gauge train for the ascent via the Albula line to St Moritz. We left the Rhine valley a little way out of Chur and began the climb along the Albula valley towards Thusis and Tiefencastel, across the famous Landwasser Viaduct, through countless tunnels and across even more bridges, then spiralling up the valley sides, looking down on the tracks we'd already travelled and passing some villages several times before plunging through the Albula tunnel to emerge in the High Engadine valley and into St Moritz which bills itself the "Top of the World". We had been here briefly between trains on our winter visit and knew it only in deep snow with the lake frozen, and now we were seeing it in warm weather, soon to become warmer, and with sun on the grass and woods, but still with snow on the high peaks all around.

View from our room at the Hotel Schweizerhof in
Sankt Moritz

Our tour manager, Ray, led us to the hotel via a route modified by recent and continuing building works, including improvements to the railway station. After checking in we found our room and were bowled over by the view of the lake and the mountains beyond (a lake view room was a paid-for optional extra on this tour and well worth paying-for). We had a little balcony which came into its own as the weather improved during our stay, but now was the time to go down for dinner. As usual with Great Rail Journeys holidays, all the breakfasts, most of the dinners and a few of the lunches were included in the cost of the holiday and we dined together with the whole group. We had a section of the hotel dining room set aside for the group and a menu with few choices and an excellent standard of food.

Nibbles and sparkling wine as the Bernina Express leaves
Alp Grum for the descent towards Italy.

Looking down on the Brusio Viaduct as our train approaches:
with much squealing from the wheels we would soon slowly
descend to the plain and pass under the same bridge!

The next day was an early start for a trip on the famous Bernina Express to Tirano, back in the European Union just across the border in Italy. We had done some of this line before, but not all of it. Now we would experience the dramatic helical viaduct at Brusio as well as seeing in summer the scenes we'd only before seen with deep snow. The Bernina Express trains had also recently been fitted with an "Infot(r)ainment" system 🙄 which allowed us to obtain commentary and follow the route on our smartphones as we travelled. We heard that the line was constructed to minimum curve radius and maximum gradient standards to allow trains to ascend and descend the Alpine gradients without the use of the cog and rack system used in many other parts of the Alpine rail network. This line took us back down from the Alps to the tiny city of Tirano and past much interesting scenery on the way. The train paused for a while to allow us to get off and enjoy better the scenery at Alp Grum, and there was sparkling wine awaiting our return to the train for the descent via Poschiavo into Italy.

Our tour manager gathering us together for the train back
to St Moritz

We had a lot of free time to explore Tirano. It was a very warm, even hot, day and we enjoyed a real Italian ice-cream in Italy at Italian prices - lower than in either England or Switzerland. Shopping was inexpensive because all the shops close for several hours at lunch time when we were there, but we did get some souvenirs at the shop at the railway station. Spending today was in Euros: all this border-crossing meant having three wallets with different currency, although the Sterling was put away until the day we went home so we were down to a choice of two. We also take a commission-free credit card from the Nationwide building society and pay in local currency for souvenirs, meals etc, just using cash for drinks, snacks etc.. We made a note of some of the offered Sterling prices and when we arrived home and examined the statement it was clear that we had saved quite a lot by opting to pay in local currency at Nationwide's exchange rate rather than in Sterling at some unknown foreign bank's rate with commission!

Our train back to Switzerland was an ordinary service train, still very comfortable but with no scenic stop at Alp Grum and no sparkling wine ... and soon we were back in St Moritz for shower, dinner and eventually an earlyish night after a busy day's exploration. I did pop out and get some postcards to send home to family and friends, in the hope we could post them to arrive at home before we did.

The following day was the "day at leisure in St Moritz" during which we intended to go and explore some places we had seen under snow on our last visit to Switzerland. It would include "leisure" but also more exploration!

The Birthplace of the Railway

An email message arrived out of the blue from Virgin Trains East Coast around New Year with a gift of two First Class single tickets to anywhere on their line, a thank-you for being a frequent customer. It was a very welcome gift and a complete surprise; the tickets had to be used by a date around Easter time and it worked by having two £0.00 priced First Class advance singles available when I logged into the company's website. I looked at my diary and all the opportunities to travel as a couple within the allowed time had already been booked up (one of them the last use of the old East Coast Rewards scheme free tickets, as it happens), so rather than using these to reduce the cost of a trip together, I started thinking about a trip alone, perhaps to somewhere my wife would be less excited to visit … and Locomotion Shildon sprang to mind, a branch of the National Railway Museum, near Darlington.

This would give me a long ride for my free tickets, was easy to do in a day, and would take me somewhere I'd been wanting to visit and could be arranged for my birthday week, which was rather nice, especially as the diary that week was looking congested and my “uninterrupted 24-hour rest period” looked like being on my birthday itself. Website consulted, tickets were booked with connecting tickets between Stamford and Peterborough and between Darlington and Shildon, map of the museum site was downloaded and printed and I waited for the big day.

East Coast breakfast!

I left Stamford on the 07:19 train to get an early East Coast train from Peterborough to Darlington. Then I would not be hurried and would have breakfast on the train – included in the ticket price (i.e., free!). Day dawned as I waited at Peterborough: I can think of more exciting places to watch the sun rise, but I can also think of worse times to be in Peterborough … The weather forecast was rain mid-morning all down the east side of England, almost perfect as it would have stopped by the time I arrived at Shildon. Breakfast was served after Newark (and again after York – a bit late then for breakfast, but people were still taking it!) and I had the cooked English option, with orange juice and a croissant: coffee and a muffin had been served earlier to keep me going as far as Newark. When not eating and drinking I was in touch with my family via Whatsapp, which is brilliant for this sort of thing, sending pictures and messages to multiple recipients free of charge over the onboard wireless internet (again, free in First Class).

I got off the train at Darlington and spent a few minutes in the waiting room beginning to write this blog post, after a little exploration of this fascinating station. The entrance is in the middle of the station, with road access via a ramp from a street below, and the two through platforms are either side of the station with a pair of terminal bays facing south between them. (Edinburgh Waverley is similar, but larger, with more terminal bays.) Soon my train to Shildon came along – the contrast between this Pacer and the express I'd just left was stark, but it was warm and comfortable and it was only a few minutes' ride. The rain came on quite heavily on this section of the trip so I put my hood up as I prepared to get off, but it had stopped by the time I stood on the platform, The way to the various elements of Locomotion Shildon was clearly signposted from just outside the station and I decided to look at the outdoor bits first in case the rain started again before I'd done them.

Frankly there was not much to see outside. The “Welcome” building, a former Methodist Sunday School room which houses “Sans Pareil,” one of the earliest railway locomotives (not to mention the toilets!) was locked – not ever so welcoming, but I could lurk around the goods shed and the coal drops, the later being especially interesting from the railway historical point of view. No rain came and I saw all I wanted to see (apart from the inside of the Welcome building) there and made my way to the main exhibition hall at the other end of the site. I passed what I'd thought was a preserved signal box but it appeared to be still in use on the line by which I'd just arrived! An hour or so spent looking at the locomotives, coaches and wagons in the main building was well worthwhile, and in one corner, cordoned off because of the paint spray, a Deltic express diesel locomotive was being painted in the early two-tone green livery: I look forward to seeing her, “Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry”, out and about in due course. A beautiful engine and only one generation before much of the current front-line traction on the East Coast Main Line today.

There was a decent cafeteria inside the hall and I had a snack lunch there and then made my way back to Shildon station for the Pacer to Darlington. I had about three hours left before my booked train home, and so I alighted at North Road station instead of going through to Darlington Bank Top: at North Road is the Darlington Railway Museum, recently re-titled “Head of Steam,” in which the early locomotive “Locomotion No.1” is displayed, among other things. The museum gives a history of the area's association with railways, longer, of course, than anywhere else in the world: it all began here. The exhibition hall here is the original station building, now far grander than is needed for a local station on what is now a branch line. Admission is not free but is very inexpensive and well worthwhile.

And so to the main line station at Bank Top to get the train home. It is a bit of a walk from North Road to the town centre but I had plenty of time and had a good look round some of the shops before I went to the station where after a short wait my train to Peterborough arrived and I took my seat and waited just a short while before I was asked for my food and drinkorder. Although it was still quite early the hot meal was available and after ascertaining that I was travelling far enough the hostess handed me my cutlery and napkin (a neat little package, with salt and pepper sachets wrapped inside, too) and the lady with the drink trolley served me my beer. I had been looking forward to trying this bottled ale, Hop on Board, brewed especially for Virgin Trains East Coast, which has now replaced the canned Old Speckled Hen which used to be served in First Class. The beer was excellent, as I had been led to believe by others who had tried it, and crisps were a suitable “nibble” while waiting for my beef and ale pie which soon arrived. I was assured that more beer would be available after York, which it was. A banana made a good second course and I declined a third beer after we left Grantham. Hot chocolate was a better bet then, with the cold weather at the end of the journey.

A quick change of train at Peterborough and I was soon home, large dinner unnecessary for I had eaten rather more than the afternoon tea I had anticipated, but when beef and ale pie is on offer at no cost, well, you have to have it, don't you … and it was superb. I have to say, I do think the food and drink on offer suits me better than it did: I always liked it, but it now more filling and the pie crusts are really crusty. The Hop on Board ale is really good, although it is a pity that the label does make me think of Where's Wally!

It was a great day, a visit to the birthplace of the world's railways and at very little cost indeed, thanks to the sudden and unexpected gift of First Class tickets from Virgin Trains East Coast. A thoroughly good time.


Photographs of the day can be see in my Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/frmark/albums/72157662210355864

The Romance of Train Travel: not gone yet!

I was given a copy of Andrew Martin's "Belles and Whistles" about the decline of the famous named trains, the fall in standards from monogrammed cutlery on express trains to wooden stirring sticks.

The cover picture says it all, really, but although it is generally true that travel is not as special as it was (by car or by air as well, come to that, as well as rail), there are still four or five trains in the UK which are still rather special and I have made a point of seeking these out and travelling on most of them as part of my railway adventures. Their future appears shaky at times but at present is as secure as anything that requires commercial success can be.

All my train journeys have been described in posts in this blog, but I list them here for convenience, and there is one I have not yet done but is on my "list".

1 The Night Riviera

Great Western Railway has retained several named trains in its timetable, but most of these are just any old inter-city train, with a name in the timetable notes. The one real exception is the Night Riviera, the sleeper train service between Penzance and London Paddington, with dedicated coaches and a tailored provision of service. A movie about it can be seen in my post last summer. We travelled on it from London to Penzance and it was a great experience, quite different from many a frenzied departure from Paddington. The coaches have recently been upgraded and so the experience is probably (even) better than when I tried it.

The Night Riviera departs from platform 1 with its polished marble surface, and sleeper train passengers are entitled to use the First Class lounge on this platform. The gleaming train is brought in well in advance of its departure time and passengers are met at the doors by attendants and taken to their berths. A pack of toiletries is included and there are all the facilities needed for a night aboard the train (though no showers on board, but there are at the terminus stations). There is a Club Car serving food and drink, and breakfast can be taken in sleeping compartments or in the Club Car: I always prefer sitting fully-dressed in the Club Car, feeling ready for the day, and it is great to look out on Cornwall slipping past the train windows while eating breakfast.

This train operates every night except Saturday (few need to be in Cornwall first thing on Sunday morning!) and the London-bound one (which I have not yet tried) arrives in time for work. Weekend in Cornwall: no waking travel required (if you're in London)!

My description is at The Cornish Riviera!

2 The Caledonian Sleeper

This is actually two trains: the Highland Sleeper with sections for Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William, and the Lowland Sleeper with sections for Edinburgh and Glasgow. Both depart from and arrive at Euston station in London, the former leaving much earlier in the evening than the latter. Both are special but the Highland train more so, and that is the one I describe at West Highland Adventure.  Like the Night Riviera, the train is at the platform in good time and passengers may use the First Class lounge, but in this case there is no beauty in the platform itself, looking as much like a cellar as any other Euston platform. We are met by the attendant and shown to our berths. This train includes a Lounge Car with leather sofas and a few dining tables, and leaving early enough in the evening it provides a decent dinner menu (which I understand is even better now than it was when I travelled - I think another trip is called-for!) with a Scottish feel.

It is worth travelling to Forth William just for the train ride! Arrival is well into the morning, for the ride is so long, and this train just takes you to another world, finishing on winding single track in wild landscape after its departure from London along some of the busiest main line in the country. Again, it is worth dressing and having breakfast in the Lounge Car, with coffee on the sofa watching the snow-capped peaks slip by the windows.

Update:

New rolling stock has begun to be used on the Caledonian Sleeper there is an opportunity for even more romantic travel, including double beds in some berths, and en-suite showers.

3 The Highland Chieftain

This train does not have dedicated coaches, it is "just" another HST (Inter-city 125 High Speed Train), but it is the only daytime train between London and Inverness (the sleeper being the only other through train) and is the longest trip available on the East Coast Main Line. I have used this a few times in both directions (although never end-to-end, having to connect into it along the way). The catering is just like that on other Virgin Trains East Coast services, but you do get to consume quite a lot of it on such a long journey! There are no longer restaurant cars on these trains, but a First Class ticket includes an at-seat meal service of decent-enough food and drink.

It feels particularly special when standing at the platform at Inverness among the two- or four-coach Sprinters going to other parts of Scotland, and, naturally, even more special if you travel, as we always have when visiting Scotland, First Class. 

Trip reports posted at The Highland Chieftain: the bargain trip of a lifetime! and The Far North!

Update:

The Highland Chieftain now uses the Hitachi Intercity Express Train sets which the present operating company LNER calls "Azumas", just like almost all of the other LNER trains. But its route, and its once-a-day timetable, still makes it special.

4 The Gerald of Wales

Dinner on the northbound Gerald, with thanks to
Thomas Isherwood on Twitter @ThomasIsherwoo2

This is the train that needs to be included, but which I have not yet tried, Transport for Wales's Gerald of Wales between North and South Wales, which has dedicated coaches and complimentary cooked meals in First Class and sounds wonderful, one journey per day in each direction. I understand that the tablecloths have now been removed to give a more "businesslike" atmosphere, which is a pity for leisure travellers but understandable! The train leaves very early in the morning from Holyhead with breakfast served on the way to Cardiff via Chester, and the crew aims to serve everyone, not just those boarding early. The return evening service is more likely to appeal to leisure travellers than the early southbound one, and a three-course cooked dinner is served on this.

I understand that there is a simple First Class upgrade available to Standard Class ticket-holders, this being the only TfW train conveying First Class accommodation. I can feel a triangular trip coming one - starting with an outing to South Wales and ending at Llandudno via the Gerald (apparently named after a medieval Archdeacon ...).

Update:

I understand that TfW now runs a similar train a few times per day on its Cardiff-Manchaster rail route. Makes it an even more enticing proposition for those of us living in England!

5 Pullman Dining

I said there are "four or five" special trains. The one I did not know whether to include or not is the handful of ordinary First Great Western train services that convey what the company calls a Pullman Restaurant Car, the only remaining full restaurant service on ordinary British main line trains. The trains are nothing extraordinary, but the dining is! It is not cheap, but neither should it be with this standard of catering. You have to look carefully in the timetable to select a train that has the Pullman Restaurant Car, for most of them do not, and you have to budget for the meal as if you were going out to an expensive restaurant. It was one of the best meals I've ever enjoyed and it was served beautifully. Fully recommended as a way to make a 125mph journey to Devon pass even more quickly - we were in Exeter as the table was cleared!

Posted at Return to the Dart 

Update

Since writing this I have travelled on the direct train to the French Riviera and would definitely now include that journey in this list. It is mostly not in the UK, of course, but it started in London and is long enough for two on-board meals. It is just one train a day at most (less in the off season), but sadly does not have a name. My report at Mediterranean Sunshine, part 1.

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