BY JANET STEINBERG
With the remake of the 1934 mystery film Murder
on the Orient Express lighting up the nation’s movie screens for the
holiday season, I thought of what a newspaper editor might have said to an
8-year old girl named Virginia if she had written the following question,
instead of the one about Santa Claus:
Dear Editor: I am 8 years
old. Some of my little friends just saw a movie named Murder on the Orient Express and they say there is no
Orient Express. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there an Orient
Express?
Yes, Virginia,
there is an Orient Express. It exists as certainly as your family car,
the planes in the sky and the ships on the sea. As a matter fact, come
along with me and I will tell you about a journey back in time when I was a
passenger on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express (VSOE) for a luxurious overnight trip to
Venice.
Because I rode
the rails in pre-Chunnel days, there have been some slight itinerary changes
since my time on the train. However, the classic journey, wrapped in
timeless romance and epitomizing the golden age of rail travel, is still the
same.
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| THE JOURNEY BEGAN IN LONDON |
Following a stay in London, I arrived at
the private, red-carpeted Venice Simplon-Orient Express check-in desk in front
of London's Victoria Station. The chocolate and cream-colored British
Pullman parlour cars awaited me for the first leg of my journey. I saw
train cars named Audrey, Cygnus, Ibis, Ione, Minerva, Perseus, Phoenix and
Zena...all with their lovely marquetry, mosaic-tiled lavatories and glittering
history.
After boarding the train, I was so busy
looking around that I hardly noticed when it gently pulled out of the
station. As the train passed through the rolling Kent countryside, I
joined my fellow passengers for lunch. There was plenty of time, before the
Channel crossing, to savor my first enchanting taste of life aboard the Venice
Simplon-Orient-Express.
In France, I transferred to the splendid
continental train with the navy and gold carriages in the traditional livery of
the 1920's Wagons-Lits Company. Resplendent in all its romantic glory,
each car was regally adorned with the Wagons-Lits crest and raised brass
lettering that read: 'Compagnie Internationale des 'Wagons-Lits et des Grands
Express Europeens'.
 |
| BOARDING THE NAVY BLUE AND GOLD CARRIAGE |
All Aboard! As I walked through
the corridor of the train, I noticed that the doors of each cabin were
decorated with oval marquetry panels of stylized flowers. Within all of
the cabins, the marquetry (inlaid woods) continues in the shapes of delicate
flowers.
My cabin had been ingeniously designed
with its own concealed wash cabinet. It was wonderfully appointed with
monogrammed towels, VS-OE soap and a 24-hour supply of Evian drinking
water. The chrome luggage rack had a flower motif in relief; the base for
the traditional silk-pleated lampshade was cast from the original mold of the
1920's; and, although macassar hair oil is a thing of the past, the
1920-like upholstery was crowned with crocheted antimacassars.
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| 1920-LIKE UPHOLSTERY WAS CROWNED WITH CROCHETED ANTIMACASSARS |
Lapped in luxury, I was content to spend
my first hours aboard the continental train just looking through the windows.
Spectacular reach-out-and-touch-me views were enhanced by high tea---complete
with finger sandwiches, country scones served with lashings of clotted cream
and strawberry jam, Norfolk fruit cake, coffee kisses and Ceylon tea.
Dining on the Orient-Express was a
treat, the culinary adventure of a lifetime. The train had several dining
cars…the Chinese-motifed car #4095,Voiture Chinoise; the #4110,"Etoile du
Nord", where some of the finest marquetry in the continental rake is to
found; and the renowned #4141, the Lalique Pullman decorated with glass panels
of Bacchanalian maidens by Rene Lalique.
It was impossible to overdress on the
Orient-Express. My daytime attire was highlighted by a Chanel-like cloche
and an antique carved ivory cigarette holder holding a pink cigarette that I
never smoked. It was even more fun to dress for dinner with a suggestion
of the roaring twenties. Long pearls, and a few strategically placed ostrich
plumes from a local costume shop, gave a period look to my evening clothes.
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| ROARING 20’S PEARLS, FEATHERS AND BEADED PURSE WERE DE RIGUEUR IN BAR CAR |
At dinner, the white-linen, orchid-vased
tables---exquisitely laid with handsome monogrammed silver, cut crystal and
Limoges china---were truly fit for royalty. The elegant Bar Car, once
used to take invalids to Lourdes, attracted a worldly crowd both before and after
dinner. The finest champagnes, the Art Deco interior, and the Lalique
glassware conjured up the romance and glamour of the Roaring Twenties.
Noel Coward tunes, resounding from the baby grand piano, brought a
glorious age back to life.
I was lulled to sleep in a bed swathed
with damask linen. Morning cafe complet was within my cabin.
Zurich, Switzerland was outside. Innsbruck, Austria accompanied a grand
lunch. There was only one more tea time remaining and then it was time to
detrain in Venice where a water taxi sped me off to the Hotel Danieli.
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|
THE
JOURNEY ENDED AT THE HOTEL DANIELI IN VENICE
|
By then I realized that one of my life's
great adventures had just become history. I also realized that riding the
rails, from London to Venice on the VS-OE, was an experience--not just a means
of transportation. There are many faster, and less costly, means of
travel. My 30-plus hour ride on the Orient-Express rekindled the romance
of the rails as it melded with history. It was intrigue, glamour,
fantasy; a symbol of good living and a byword for luxury and elegance.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express was, and still is, the world's most famous
train. It is the King of trains and the train of Kings.
Murder ON the Orient-Express?
Agatha Christie, you got it wrong. It's murder getting OFF the
Orient-Express.
STEINBERG is
the winner of 43 national Travel Writer Awards. She is also a Travel Consultant
with The Travel Authority in Cincinnati, Ohio
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