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_Rail_Adventures 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!

UPDATE: Complete video of this trip is now available on my YouTube channel. 

Summer Alpine Adventure 5: Sunshine and Rain

When I began writing up this tour, I expected it to need three episodes to take all that we had packed into the eleven days without (a) taking an age to write before I publish the first bit and (b) boring my readers, and myself. However, it was so action-packed that one of the other customers on the tour asked the tour manager on about the third day, "Do we get a holiday at some point?" and so after four episodes I find myself writing a fifth. I really must get on with this, because I've since been on another holiday - a rather interesting one which I am raring to write up - and a day out which is worth a few words.

So, where was I? Yes, the day trip to Italy! A reasonably early start was required from Zermatt because before we could go anywhere else we had to travel back down the valley to the main line at Brig. Here we had a few minutes to spare before our international main-line train to Domodossala and we had a little wander around this place where we had stayed for three nights on our last visit to the Swiss Alps. Little had changed and it was great to see it all again. Our train was a regional one, nothing very special, and although we were in First Class accommodation it was fairly spartan and not air-conditioned, although the windows did open very wide. Off we set and before long were in the Simplon Tunnel on our way to Italy. The train was signal-checked in the tunnel, tantalisingly close to the end but very dark and very hot, but eventually we were on our way. This is still mountain territory and although we were on a standard-gauge main line there was still a spiral tunnel, although you do not really notice it; so many tunnels and this is just another one. We arrived in a baking hot Domodossala and made our way to the bus station across the road where a coach waited to take the whole party to Stresa on the western shore of Lake Maggiore. I had been disappointed that we had to take road transport on this trip but it was a very smooth and comfortable coach and got us to Stresa reasonably quickly, and straight to the quayside for the boats to the various islands on the lake.

The brochure had described the boat trip as a "cruise" but in truth this was large motor boat providing a fast ferry to Isola Piscatore, a small island consisting almost entirely of restaurants, clearly intended for foreign visitors at mealtimes, just like us. We had brought a packed lunch, however, bought from a bakery at Brig station during the train change, and sat eating it watching the boats on the lake. It was warm hot and sunny and an almost idyllic place to sit.  We set off on a walk around the island (a few moments), visited the church and the market stalls along the lake shore (carefully watching our bags and pockets) and met the rest of the tour for the ferry back to Stresa. Some of the party had used the restaurants for a rather more substantial lunch than ours and perhaps when presented with a wide selection of Italian restaurants that is a reasonable course of action, but we prefer not to have too many huge meals per day. We'd had a great day out, but it was the one thing on the trip that looked like a mass-produced experience: it stood out amidst the very high standard of the rest of the tour.


Back in Stresa we had an hour or so before the coach back to our return train and we enjoyed a walk around the town and bought some souvenirs to take home for friends and family, and, of course, an Italian ice-cream!

At Domodossola station we boarded the train to find our empty takeaway cups exactly as we had left them on the tables when we arrived that morning: not only had the train patently not been cleaned (not a big deal: it had only been a short trip), but had not been used by anyone else either. It must have stood there, in the heat, at the platform, all day! We were soon back in Brig and on our metre-gauge cog-railway train back to Zermatt, and an evening meal in the comfort of our wonderful hotel.

The following day was a free day and we had been planning to go back to Domodossala to take the Centovalli railway across to Locarno on the north-east shore of Lake Maggiore. We had done it before in poor weather and wanted to see it in sunshine. A day like the one we had just enjoyed at Stresa would be really great, and Locarno would be in holiday season with everything open and available to enjoy. The weather forecast was not wonderful but we went to bed hoping that all would turn out well ... but no, the forecast in the morning was no better and the day was already murky. Given that even with our half-fare cards it was quite an expensive trip and that the visibility may be little or no better than last time, we decided not to go to Locarno and spend the day exploring on foot around Zermatt instead.

We walked out past the cable-car terminals which were taking some tourists high up into the mountains: one route went to a ski resort where it was possible to ski even in summer, and another went over the border to Italy. These cable-car routes work just like bus or tram routes and there are interchange points up in the hills where it is possible to change cars for other destinations. We were not tempted to pay the fares and see the world from even higher, but it was fascinating watching the cars coming and going as we walked along the roads and footpaths were the village was being expanded and more and more homes were being built. The road on which we eventually found ourselves walking uphill is a toboggan run in winter and a road when passable! Lower than that was a route for the electric bus service to and from Zermatt village centre.

After a good walk we repaired to a bar-restaurant for a drink (hotel breakfast - minimal requirement for lunch!) and sat outside in the sun looking across at the Matterhorn. From our table we could see the trains of the Gornergratbahn making their way up and down the mountain, crossing the valley in which we sat. Mental note made that this looks a great place to eat, too, and TripAdvisor seems to agree. We were just leaving, having decided our route back into town, when we felt a few spots of rain. The a few more and a heavy

shower began. There was a bus stop with a timetable, I checked and a bus was due, then I realised that the crowd standing across the road in the church porch was the bus queue! We joined it and boarded the bus. I paid the fare, forgetting in my haste and relief that we were entitled to travel free with our pass. Never mind, it was not expensive and it was dry. And an experience to travel on one of Zermatt's little electric buses! By the time we were back at our hotel a few moments later the rain had stopped and the sun was shining again ... and we were still wet! We spent the rest of the afternoon, as planned but maybe not quite so soon, in the hotel swimming pool, which was excellent, and ate our picnic "dinner" on our balcony, preparing to leave Zermatt the following day, when rather better weather was forecast.

Departure for the next stage of the tour was rather more leisurely than we had been accustomed to. There was no rush and we were able to pack at our leisure and make our way down to the station. Before then, however, there was the spectacle of the Corpus Christi procession which passed the entrance gates to the hotel. I thought how little my own parish would be noticing this important festival (although there would be a service in church) compared with the way that Zermatt people could not miss it! Almost all of us on the trip went down to watch the procession.

Our cog train took us back down the valley for the last time and we changed trains at Visp, buying provisions at the station, and bought the main line train for Basle where changed to a local stopping service into France for an overnight stop at Colmar.

Colmar is a beautiful town which looks more German than French and is well worth a visit. It was very hot when we stayed there and we were grateful for our hotel room's air conditioning. We had time to explore the town both on the evening of our arrival and briefly on the morning before we left.







Our train from Colmar was a little late, and we had one simple change of train at Strasbourg to catch the TGV for Lille were we changed for the Eurostar to London and thence home. It was the first time we had caught the Eurostar from Lille and we did have a little time to explore. Again, Lille is a place worth visiting and one day we must programme a little time there into one of our own European tours.

Summer Alpine Adventure 4: Glacier Express, Zermatt and the Matterhorn

Provisions being loaded into the kitchen of the Glacier
Express during its reversing stop at Chur

A feature of our Great Rail Journeys holiday this year is that it includes the complete route of the Glacier Express, all the way from St Moritz to Zermatt, the two Alpine resorts in which we stayed on this memorable adventure. We had done the whole route before, but in bits and pieces, only using the Express itself between Brig and Chur, so it was good to see it in one go.

Our party was all accommodated in a First Class car at the rear of the train leaving St Moritz, although there were a handful of other passengers in the same coach. The first part of the journey was back along the way we had arrived from Chur, some of it the same way we had travelled as far as our change of train on our free day, too. At Chur the locomotive was coupled to the other end of the train and hauled it in the other direction, retracing our journey for a few kilometres before taking the line straight along the Alps towards the east.

It is impossible to do justice to the scenery on the route of the Glacier Express; it is a journey you simply have to experience yourself. After leaving the line on which we'd arrived we traced the Rhine gorge for some distance, totally different from anything else we'd seen, and then with the familiar twists and turns we climbed up into the Alps. At Disentis the Rhatische Bahn locomotive was taken off and a Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn locomotive with cog-wheels was coupled onto the train to take us the rest of the way: this route is a collaboration between the two railways.

Soon tablecloths were brought and lunch was served. It so happened that we were waiting to cross an oncoming train in a passing loop overlooking a high-altitude lake as we were eating. A cooked meal was included in our holiday and we bought our own drinks, in our case an appropriate wine, and after the meal the Grappa liqueur which is worth having just for the joy of watching it being poured from a great height by a skilled waiter.

There was another brief pause in the journey at Andermatt and from the station there we were able to watch another Glacier Express train climbing up the way we had just come down, shuttling across the Alpine mountainside and weaving in and out of tunnels, the railway and the Oberalp highway criss-crossing one another in the landscape. Far beneath our feet was the Gotthard Tunnel taking a railway line north-south under the Alps, and a little to the west the Gotthard Road Tunnel on highway 2 which crosses the middle of Switzerland, north-south.

The tables were cleared and we descended into Brig, where we had begun our winter holiday in the Alps three years before, and then, turning south at Visp, the cogs were engaged once more as we began the climb to Zermatt. We were running out of words to describe the scenery, but in many ways the best was yet to come as we made our way to the Park Hotel Beau Site in Zermatt and then, after checking in stepped onto the balcony of our room to see the stunning view of the Matterhorn presiding over the village.

Zermatt had been a poor agricultural village until the penchant of rich young aristocrats, mostly British, for mountain-climbing was established just a century or so ago and the village decided to make an industry out of welcoming its visitors. Hotels were founded, railways and cable-cars were built and people came in droves and spent their money, and plenty of it. Outside the village is the settlement where the mostly foreign workers live who keep this expensive tourist attraction functioning, and the car park where everyone has to leave their cars, for internal combustion-propelled vehicles are not allowed in Zermatt.

We do not count ourselves among the rich, the young or the aristocracy, but with a little willpower and some savings is is possible for commoners of more limited means to enjoy a good holiday in Zermatt, at least with the resources of Great Rail Journeys to get a decent deal. On our first evening we just had to stroll down through the village on the route we had walked on our day-trip to Zermatt in winter, simply to see how it looked without a metre of snow having fallen the night before. Unfortunately the sky was not quite as clear this time, so our view of the Matterhorn was not as good as before, but it still, as always, looked stunning.

After an excellent dinner and a good night's sleep we were ready for the next day's adventure, to climb the Gornergrat by train and to enjoy a guided tour of Zermatt. We also planned to visit the Matterhorn Museum in the village, so although we were not off to too early a start this time, there was still a lot to pack into the day! The party walked down to the Gornergrat Railway terminal and boarded the next train to the summit. Last time we had done this on our own in free time in Zermatt but this time it was included in the tour. One of our party was an experienced geography teacher and author and gave us a most informative lecture on the glaciers we could see from the summit of the Gornergrat, an unexpected and worthwhile addition to the programme. We had not seen these on our winter visit, being deep under snow.

We did not avail ourselves of the expensive refreshments at the hotel on the Gornergrat and made our way back down to Zermatt a little ahead of the party then met them again for the guided tour, which took in both the English church (founded mostly for climbers!) and the local Roman Catholic church. Each was interesting in different ways.

We learnt something of the story of Zermatt and how it became the holiday resort that it is now. After tea at our hotel (tea and cake served every afternoon at no extra charge) we went to the Matterhorn Museum which taught us about the first ascent, how it ended in disaster as four members of the seven-man team died on the way back down, and how that tragedy started Zermatt's fame and fortune.

Another wonderful dinner and an early night, because we had another early start in the morning for the next excursion on our tour, a trip through the Simplon Tunnel to Italy and a visit to a lake island.

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