Mark & Nicolette go to Venice...

...and get engaged on the Venice Simplon Orient Express!

  

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Nic had never been to Italy... 

We just had to put that right, of course, and I'd wanted to try out the Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE) for some time.  There were 25% reductions on end-of-season departures in October and November, and heck, if I took Nic I wouldn't have to pay the single supplement.  For those most romantic of reasons, I booked our outward journey on the VSOE...  But when we boarded the Pullmans at London Victoria, neither of us knew that we'd be engaged before we reached Italy...  

Click on the photos to see a larger image...

  
  We duly turned up at Victoria Station at 11:00 on 30 October 2003 to catch our train to Italy.  The VSOE is actually two trains, not one:  From London to Folkestone you travel in a daytime train of beautifully restored Pullman cars dating from the late 1920s, 1930s and 1950s.  Once you've crossed the Channel, a train of vintage Wagons-Lits takes you from Calais to Venice...    
         
      Normally, the London-Folkestone Pullmans consist of seating in an open saloon, but we had been allocated a private coupé at the end of 1930s Pullman car 'Minerva'...  
                 
  First, a glass of champagne, then lunch is served on the way to Folkestone through the pleasant Kent countryside...        
             
     

At Folkestone Harbour just after lunch, passengers leave the Pullman train and are bussed through the Channel Tunnel.

The 'real' train is waiting at Calais Ville station.  The famous blue-and-gold ex-Wagons-Lits Company sleeping-cars, dating from 1929, leave Calais at about 17:30 for Paris, Innsbruck, Verona and Venice.

  
                 
  On departure from Calais, each sleeper compartment is made up for daytime use, beds folded away, sofa and table folded out...

Far right:  Nic busy with her 'camping gaz' (hair curler) getting ready for dinner...

        
                 
        Dinner is a 5-course affair, and the food is excellent.  
             
 

After dinner, it's more wine in the bar-lounge, listening to Cole Porter tunes on the piano...

Then it's back to our compartment, now made up with upper and lower berths.

In the morning, coffee & croissants are delivered to our compartment...

     
                 
        We wake up in the Swiss Alps, heading into Austria via the Arlberg pass...  
             
      Leaving Innsbruck at about 12:00, lunch is served as the train climbs up to a snow-covered Brenner Pass into Italy.  After lunch, we wander along the corridor to have a look at some of the other sleeping-cars...  I'm still a bit hazy about who said what to whom - all I know is that we were single when we left Innsbruck and engaged before the train reached Verona...  
             
  We leave the train at Verona, our first port of call...      
                     
          In Verona we see Juliet's house (far left - the balcony was actually added in the 1920s) and the Roman amphitheatre.  
                 
 

Right:  We climb the tower in Verona's main square.

Far right:  Nic blends into the upholstery on the Verona to Venice 'Eurostar Italia' train.

 

        
                     
           
         
    We catch the overnight sleeper from Venice back to Paris for the Eurostar home...

Left:  Nic in our 'Excelsior' 2-berth sleeper with en suite shower and toilet.