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Photos by William Rafferty
One of the cars on the Orient Express - the reason for our taking this trip. Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris - my sister and I had been to all of these places, but you always see something new or from a different angle every time you go. But -- what decided us to take this trip was that we would go by overnight train from Venice to Paris aboard the Orient Express. Now, who could pass that up. Not us. While in Rome we toured the city by bus, went to the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. At dinner that night we sat at a table with Bill and Diane from Vineland, New Jersey with whom we shared many of our adventures and with whom we still keep in touch. In fact, a few months ago Margie and I had dinner with them when they were in Boston for a convention. We visited an ancient Roman house which has just recently been restored, took a bus tour into the countryside where we stopped for lunch. We were supposed to go up to the Pope's summer residence but, when we came out after lunch, it was raining so hard that the bus could not go up the hill leading to it - we did see it from a distance, though. Then off to Florence the next day - it was still raining but we strolled through the outdoor shopping area, had lunch at a small cafe and met for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery, home of the Mona Lisa and other amazing paintings - but so much to see and so little time. A full day tour of Siena and San Gimignano (say that three times fast) through beautiful countryside of farms and vineyards was next. And, then, motor coach to Venice, with a stop in the town of Verona, home of Juliet. A water taxi took us to our hotel on the Guidecca Canal, our home for the next two nights. At the suggestion of our cousin, Margie and I had both read City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, which detailed the big fire which occurred in 1996, burning down the Ferenze Opera House. It was so interesting to actually see the places like St. Mark's Square, with its Cathedral and Palace of the Doges, Pitti Palace, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, the new Opera House, the different old churches and other places mentioned in the book, when they were pointed out on our tour of the canals and especially on the gondola which took us to a restaurant for dinner at night. And, finally, Day 10, we took a water taxi to the Venice train station for our overnight trip to Paris. And there it was, the exclusively chartered Orient Express waiting to take our group to Paris. We had received information about riding on the Orient Express, mainly proper dress, no jeans, shorts, etc., only one overnight bag or suit bag (the rest of our luggage would be carried in a special baggage car), each compartment had a small sink area with towels, etc., and, what I found most interesting, only one WC at the end of each car. However, much to my surprise, there were no long waiting lines, even the next morning, and everything worked out well. Bright, shiny dark blue cars with the Orient Express insignia were waiting for us to step across the carpet, find our designated car, board and, with the help of smiling uniformed attendants, locate our compartment. Margie in our compartment, Bill and Diane in theirs, and how it looked when we first entered. We had boarded the train late morning and by the time the train had left Venice it was time for lunch. After walking through our car, through the bar car, complete with a very small boutique, full service bar and comfortable seating area, we arrived at the beautifully appointed dining car. Snowy white table cloths laid with fine china, stemware and silverware, a smiling maitre d' and waiters took care of our every desire. Lunch was wonderful, conversation with our table mates and the scenery gliding past the windows made for a delightful time. The table is set for lunch,the bar car for gathering with other members of the group, and don't you just live the little sink area - no showers on this train. Our trip took us through small and large villages in Italy, the Austrian Alps, Liechtenstein (do you think that counts as a country I've been to?), the Swiss Alps, into France and Paris. As it was March, and the weather was very gloomy, the scenery was rather dull but we could see snow-covered mountains in the distance. We missed a lot of scenery because so much of the trip was at night but the action on the train more than made up for it. As these sleeping, dining and bar cars had all been built in the very early 1900's, what would be more fitting than we should celebrate in our very best "roaring 20's" attire. The men were encouraged to wear tuxes, but a suit would do. As Diane said, "it was quite a challenge to pack a tux in an overnight bag." Our tour guides went through the cars with feather boas and/or feathers for the hair of the women to make sure that we were all dressed for the occasion. Those of us who had the second seating for dinner met in the bar car ahead of time for cocktails and to admire the originality and creativity of some of our fellow travelers. Some of them really got into the act - it was quite a show with top hats, long cigarette holders, feathers, jewelry. Our tour guides, Bill and Diane and Kay and Margie are all dressed up for the party. If lunch was wonderful, dinner was superb and everyone was in a party mood. The atmosphere was filled with laughter and chatter as we were all impressed with the Orient Express. But all good things must come to an end and we had an early morning with our 8 a.m. arrival in Paris. In our absence our compartment seating had been turned into bunk beds and we were ready to turn in for the night. Continental breakfast was served in our room and then, our big adventure aboard the Orient Express was over - but we still had three days in Paris with a city tour, trip to the Museum Orangerie (which we chose because it was not so overwhelming as the Louvre to which we had both been, but again - so much to see, so little time). A tour of Paris by night was delightful, especially seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up with sparkling lights. The next day we had the option of going to Versailles (I did) or a full day French Impressionist tour (Margie took that). Then our Farewell Dinner at Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon Railroad Station, a fantastic and very ornate restaurant, built in 1900 for the Paris Exhibition, was the perfect ending to our trip. It was time to enjoy another superlative dinner, say goodbye to our new friends, promise to stay in touch, and get ready to go home. It was a wonderful tour, but the Orient Express was the highlight for us all. No murder, no Inspector Clouseau, just an interesting trip back to the 1900s. August 5, 2011
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