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!

Adventure In Venice

The Journey Can Sometimes Be More Important Than The Destination!

I had given up on taking the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express when they stopped using the British Pullman to operate the service through to and from London. That had always been the traditional route, the departure I used to see on the International Departures board at London Victoria many years ago and had always wanted to try; when it returned as a special luxury train I waited until an opportune time to take it, but then a coronavirus pandemic intervened, and by the time I started planning in the summer of 2023 a trip on the VSOE for my 70th birthday in 2024, Belmond had stopped operating out of Victoria, quoting difficulties owing to "Brexit". The last such trip was in the autumn of 2023 when I was in the middle of sorting out some health problems, so the idea was scrapped altogether. It would have been a lot of money to pay to have less than what I wanted to do; the new service involved starting from London St Pancras International by Eurostar and crossing Paris, as we have done so many times already - it lost so much of what made it special.

But then, out of the blue, came advertising from Great Rail Journeys, whose escorted tours we have taken many times. The advertising was for an independent tour comprising three nights in Venice, travelling out or back by VSOE and Eurostar and flying the other way, with an option of taking an extra day to travel by rail instead of air for the other direction. The price was what sold it, the whole trip less than what Belmond were asking just for the Orient Express and Eurostar section of the holiday .... to wheel out all the clichés, this was a game-changer, a no-brainer, and out came the diary to start the planning! To avoid the "we've done all this before" feeling at the start of the holiday, we would opt for the return trip being by the Venice Simplon Orient Express: this would take us as far as Paris and then Belmond, the VSOE operator, would book us Business Premier Class on Eurostar from Paris to London St Pancras International. We've never travelled Business Premier before so the whole trip back from Venice to London would be special.

For the outward trip we asked for the rail option, so that would indeed resemble many a previous departure from London but that was OK: this bit was not meant to be special - except that any European adventure is always special to a certain extent. Going by train would make it more of an adventure than flying since by travelling overland we would truly experience the journey and not simply drop into Venice from the sky - and in any case getting to an airport from where we live is a bit of a "mission" before we ever start. There would be an overnight stay in Montreux, Switzerland before an early-morning through train to Venice. This all looked great and we paid our deposit and awaited the departure date. Fortunately we had an adventure to Switzerland in the diary, too, also involving Montreux, in the summer, so we were not simply pacing the floor waiting for October to come round!

I booked the trip almost a year in advance, as soon as I was made aware of it, and so when my birthday came round both my wife and one of my sons bought me the Lego Orient Express set ... and although my daughter-in-law said they could take theirs back and get me something else I opted to keep it because the standard two coaches was a bit short and I thought I'd be able to make up something a bit longer using two sets! Such has been the busyness of my life this year that by the time we left I had completed only one set ... 

This being an independent trip, there was a fair bit of correspondence between me, Great Rail Journeys and Belmond to ensure that all the arrangements were complete (and I imagine a fair bit out of my sight between GRJ and several other companies, too), and eventually, a few weeks before departure, an email message from Great Rail Journeys arrived with multiple attachments containing the many train tickets and other vouchers and information that we would need while away. This time I bought my own train tickets to and from London and a room at the Premier Inn opposite St Pancras International station for the night before our departure. All was set.

Early on a sunny Saturday evening at the beginning of October we walked down to Stamford railway station with our cases packed for a real adventure. We were to see some familiar sights and a lot of very new sights, and we were on our own, exploring places and travelling a few new routes on new trains as well as some we had used many times before, including, of course, the very familiar Cross Country train from from Stamford to Peterborough! It was extremely busy, but everyone had a seat, and we sat near the luggage stack, ideal for our circumstances. I could not help thinking that this little train, perfectly adequate and comfortable (although in need of its pending refurbishment) was a long way from the splendid trains we were planning to use for the rest of our adventure!

At Peterborough we had a short wait for our connection to London; Sunday upgrade work on the East Coast Main Line meant that traffic on the line was rather reduced and when we boarded our train, on time, there were very few passengers in our coach so the complimentary service was very swift and fulsome. It was from the lowest-category Deli menu (trains were only starting at Grantham, so nothing hot was being served), but I enjoyed a very filling chicken brioche roll. We asked for a can of Hop On Board ale each as well as water for the trip and the usual crisps and the caramel pot for dessert and the little chocolate brownie to go with the coffee. Also supplied were biscuits, which we kept as "emergency rations" in case we needed them later in our adventure, and an extra can of ale each, which we also kept back for later.

Duly fortified we arrived in London needing no dinner and went straight to our hotel and to our room, via the Little Waitrose at Kings Cross station to buy fruit for the following morning when we had an early start. The adventure had begun! After all the planning and preparation it was hard to believe we were actually doing it, but I had a great "wodge" of home-printed tickets (also saved to our iPhones in case that would be more convenient) to prove that we really were.

You can never complain about a Premier Inn room!

We set alarms for six o'clock Sunday morning, got ready for the day and made our way to St Pancras International station. Walking down Midland Road and entering through the side entrance we were straight into the International Departures area as the gates were being opened at 06:45 for the 08:01 train for Paris. The queue moved swiftly and we were soon through the security check and the British and French passport control - although at the British one we were behind someone with really complex multiple passports which held us up a bit: how complicated can nationality and citizenship be? Anyway, early on a Sunday morning there was plenty of waiting space in the departures area, we found a table in the Station Pantry café and I went to buy coffee. At security I had got chatting to a smartly-dressed young man who was on his way to the races at Paris, "the biggest horse racing event in Europe," he said. Looking around there were several men in ties and many in waistcoats clearly going the same way. One of them was buying four pints of gassy beer to take to his table with his friends when I was buying our coffee - I really could not bring myself to drink any sort of beer at that time of day!

Travelling Standard Premier Class in this direction we were served a light breakfast soon after departure, having already eaten our fruit from Waitrose with our coffee at the Station Pantry. It is amazing how quickly the time passes on the train journey to Paris: it is not one of the world's most scenic railway routes, although some of the section through Kent, and some of that just north of the Paris suburbs are quite picturesque. The tunnels under London and under the English Channel, of course, provide no view of anything at all, but at least these days there is full 4G data coverage through the Channel Tunnel.

Having always changed station in Paris by the RER (two stops to Gare de Lyon from Gare du Nord, so fast and convenient, but the trains are unpleasant and often very busy and the stations are not wonderful, either), we experimented with the Metro which I knew would take longer but we were in no hurry, having plenty of time before our booked train to Geneva. It had been my intention to travel on Metro line 5 to the Gare d'Austerlitz which would have left us an easy walk to Gare de Lyon and had the side benefit of seeing the station at which we would arrive when we came back to Paris on the Venice Simplon Orient Express on Friday; unfortunately it was raining in Paris so that plan would have resulted in us becoming quite wet on that easy walk between stations, so instead of going on to Gare d'Austerlitz we changed trains at Bastille and went to all the way to Gare de Lyon under cover! We bought our lunch from Monop'daily at Gare de Lyon as we have before, but this time we ate it inside the station and not outside as on previous occasions.

As soon as the platform was announced we went to join our next train, a TGV Lyria for Geneva, and took our reserved seats on the lower deck of a First Class coach, a pair of window seats at a table for four, so we had company in the aisle seats for this stage of the trip, but in First Class we still had plenty of space to ourselves. This was a similar journey to the one we had taken on our escorted tour to Lausanne and Interlaken in the summer., the Alpine scenery beginning after the train left the high-speed line and started making its way eastward towards Switzerland. At Geneva we left the train and walked through the passport control and customs post with no delay: it was a bit busier there than usual because the train was terminating there, short of its normal terminus at Lausanne because of a problem on one Lyria set which left the service unable to operate its full timetable. Those going forward were directed to the next train for Lausanne, which was not long afterwards. We had a little longer to wait for the connection to Montreux where we were to spend the night, but that was fine because we wanted a coffee break anyway and found a strange little place called The Bloody Bar inside the station. I'm sure we used a café at this this station about ten years ago but it was not like this ...

Our regional train to Montreux was a Swiss double-decker and although we had no reserved seats we were in First Class and we opted to sit upstairs and enjoy the lake view. By the time we arrived in Montreux the sun was setting. Great Rail Journeys had booked us a room and breakfast at the Swiss Majestic Hotel, right opposite the station, but because our train was leaving very early in the morning we asked for packed breakfast to take on the train and were promised that this would be arranged. Our room was small but great, with all the features we needed, and a small balcony with a view over Lake Geneva. I was beginning to wish I'd asked for two nights here instead of just the one, but anyway we had some evening so we popped out for a salad from a supermarket and ate that for supper on our balcony. A brilliant part of the holiday. The sunset over the lake was fantastic, enhanced by a pleasure boat coming into Montreux pier, just along the shoreline from our hotel.

After supper we had a stroll along the lakeshore and then went to bed early ready for the morning's early start: that would be two early starts in a row, so we determined not to rush to be up on the third day!

When we checked out, our packed breakfasts were ready and waiting for us on the reception desk: this is Switzerland and most things just work. But we were off into Italy. Montreux station was familiar from our summer holiday, where we caught the Golden Pass Express to Interlaken among other things. This day we were taking a six-hour ride straight through to Venice on an Italian EuroCity train, starting with a Swiss crew and then to be changed for an Italian crew at Domodossola - where we found our timekeeping lost 13 minutes, which it never regained, during the crew change! Never mind, it did not affect our holiday but it just seemed an interesting factor in the way different nations operate. We were in First Class again and in the front coach, but although this was a long-distance international train it had no catering facility on board (well, not quite true: it had a buffet coach but the buffet counter was shut for the whole journey), but we had allowed for this eventuality and had boarded with coffee bought at the station, our packed breakfasts from the hotel, and a few bits left from our LNER trip two days before, as well as some fruit from home. The packed breakfasts were very worthwhile and so did last us through the whole morning, just before one o'clock at Venezia Santa Lucia station. The train had reversed at Milan, so when we arrived at Venice we were in the rearmost coach instead of being at the front, so we had a bit of a walk to the station exit, where we were met by our English-speaking guide who would escort us to our water taxi and take us to the hotel. I had wondered how this part of the tour would work: Great Rail Journeys had included a private boat transfer from the station to the hotel (I'd have walked!) and there was Francesco, as he introduced himself, waiting with a board with our name on it, and the GRJ logo, as we reached the station concourse. 

After waiting a few moments for the taxi to find docking space we were whisked off by the canals of central Venice, finishing up back on the Grand Canal (having cut off a big loop) for the final approach to  the Hotel Savoia & Jolanda which had been booked by Great Rail Journeys for us. Our room on the first floor had a view across the lagoon to the island of San Giorgio, and we overlooked the waterbus stops and gondola station right outside our windows. 

We took advice both from our guide who had brought us here and from the hotel reception staff concerning restaurants and gelateria, and their advice was to provide much of our agenda for the two full days we were here! It was, of course, already lunch time by now, so guided by Apple Maps we set off for a supermarket for a salad which we took back to our room for the "main course" and then set out again for a gelato for the "dessert". The recommended gelateria had such an enormous queue that we decided to look for a quieter one, which we duly found and enjoyed what we bought. We had been to the Tourist Information Office near the railway station and after taking advice bought a three-day pass each for the water buses, the "vaporetti," which are most practical way of getting around the whole city and its multiple islands. The passes were valid for 72 hours from first use, so would enable us to travel the rest of that day and the two full days. We tracked down the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner, advisedly the "best carbonara in Venice, the Dona Onesta. It did not take bookings, but it was by now almost our dinner time and its opening time, so we went for a short stroll and came back to ask for a table. We both ordered spaghetti carbonara and it was indeed extremely good, but not having tried the same thing in any other Venetian restaurant I cannot comment on whether it is the best!

We returned to our hotel by waterbus, using our passes, and it was soon time for bed in preparation for a day's exploring tomorrow. We wanted an early start because rain was forecast from about noon and we wanted to squeeze in as much as possible before the rain.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was good: the usual fruit juice, coffee and a buffet, which included scrambled egg so yellow that I wondered what happened to most of the egg whites! It was delicious, though. 

We took a waterbus to Murano, the island on which we had stayed last time we visited Venice, so it was interesting to revisit a few years on. We strolled around remembering our previous stay, and visited a few glassware shops, coming away with a new Christmas Tree decoration as our souvenir. One gelato, and it was time to take another waterbus to the island of Burano, much further out in the lagoon, which we had never visited before. This was to be a day of island-hopping, but it was dampened somewhat by the weather, as light rain began while we were on our way to the waterbus stop (the service to Burano only calls at one stop on Murano), and it was raining a bit more when we arrived on Burano, although it was patchy and we did have a couple of dry spells. We found a lovely café for coffee and a spot of lunch and then as we set off to explore the island the rain really came down solidly and quite heavily. The island was beautiful: it seems to be the thing to do to paint your house in bright, vibrant colour on Burano. You could never mistake it for any of the other islands. Well worth a visit. We walked as quickly as we could back to the waterbus stop and took the next departure back to central Venice, which took us via some of the other peripheral islands, but with wet and steamy windows we could not really appreciate them as we had hoped to do. The waterbus was busy but we managed to get seats, although in soaking wet trousers sitting was not easy! I had dried off reasonably well by the time the vaporetto moored at our local stop and we walked through the rain back to our hotel. We showered and changed and decided swiftly that dinner would be in the hotel restaurant that evening! As resident guests we received a 10% discount on the food bill at the restaurant, but the main incentive was not having to go back out in the rain!

The following day the weather was dry and mostly sunny, although a little windy but not too much. A much better day for weather, and we continued the island hopping theme, starting by taking the vaporetto straight across the the island of San Giorgio which was also new to us, although we had seen it quite a lot both on this visit and the previous one because you cannot really miss it! It is the background to life in this part of the city. We walked along the marina which forms the waterfront facing the place where our hotel is and saw the boats and ships making their way into and out of the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal which come together at this point: only the Giudecca Canal can take the larger vessels such as car ferries and the occasional cruise ship (which are no longer allowed to dock on Venice's islands). Building work on the island prevented us exploring there any further and we took the next waterbus along to Giudecca island and walked all along its waterfront, finding a local café for morning coffee, and crossing bridges until we reached the island of Sacca Fisola at the far end of the little chain of islands, from where we took a waterbus back into the city centre, for we were in search of a hat for Alison as well as some more exploring. In the hat shop were some interesting styles: the proprietor bought in a variety of plain hats and decorated them in various ways. We did not buy the steampunk top hat, although I was tempted until I remembered my luggage space!

Our exploration included some detective work to find the palazzo where we'd had dinner on our last night in Venice on the last trip - not to dine there again but because we had been taken there in the dark through a maze of back streets and picked up by water taxi direct from the palazzo and never really took in where we were. After a couple of false leads we did find it, the Palazzetto Pisani, with its front door in a narrow alley and a small mooring in which a boat was ready for its next trip. Now we knew where we had had that great dinner four years before: not a necessary piece of knowledge, but we were intrigued to know.

We walked back over the Grand Canal (using a bridge!) and took the next vaporetto back to San Marco and our hotel for dinner again. This time I had a pizza. I almost always have a Margherita, original and best in my opinion, and not just because they're usually the least expensive!

It was our last evening in Venice, for the following morning was to be the highlight of a trip which had already had its fair share of really, really good things: the ride home in the care of Belmond and its Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train. From check out at the hotel until arrival in London, all was booked and was to be of the highest standard. We had been used to Belmond's hospitality on the Royal Scotsman train three years ago and looked forward to a similar experience on the Orient-Express.