Festivities On Board The Orient Express 6/24/18

The dress code at dinner on board the Orient Express is formal wear. Cocktails in the bar car served with delicious canapes are enjoyed first, with live piano and the vintage sounds of music from the 20s and 30s played by several talented musicians from Berlin. The food on board is of exceptional quality, and the master chef greets all diners at some point during the meal to insure that all was satisfactory. A nightcap in the bar car is followed by a return to one's sleeping compartment, where the steward has re-configured the interior into upper and lower beds. We spent the night traveling through Germany finally crossing the border into France during the early morning hours Sunday. We'll make a brief stop in Paris around 8 am, then continue on toward Calais for our Channel crossing. Once in the UK we'll board a special vintage Pullman car for the final leg of our rail trip destined for Victoria Station, London.

Traveling The Orient Express 6/23/18

We boarded our train Saturday morning in Berlin to begin our overnight adventure on the Orient Express destined for London. The train, pulled by a fast DB German railways electric locomotive includes three dining cars, a bar car, two service cars and several sleeping cars, all vintage rail cars built between the late 1920s and about 1940. All of the cars have been restored to their pristine original condition with beautiful heavily lacquered woodwork and shiny gilded fixtures throughout. The handsome dark blue Wagons Lits cars attract a lot of attention at stations along the route with many people taking photographs of the train. A delicious lunch was served in the dining cars in the early afternoon, preceded by refreshments in the bar car served with a three piece musical accompaniment. Tea tine will be served in our compartment around 4 pm and dinner in the dining cars at about 8 pm. This elegant mode of travel from days long gone is relaxing yet exciting, a rare opportunity to enjoy a real vintage experience.

Berlin 6/23/18

The smaller art museums of Berlin are located in Charlottenburg. First we saw the Berggruen Museum, notable for Picasso, but also featuring works by Matisse, Braque and the Swiss sculptor Giacometti. Across the way was the Brohan Museum with sterling examples of Jugendstil, Art-Nouveau and Art Deco. Less interesting were the minor Surrealist pieces at the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection. After vegetarian lunches at the very German "Schloss Garden" restaurant - where the owner was an American football fan - we headed to the immense and rewarding Schloss Charlottenberg. The Baroque and Rococo interiors have been lovingly re-created and the palace also has an important group of paintings by Watteau and his followers. Such rooms as the "Golden Gallery" and Chapel are stunning. We returned by subway to rest at the hotel before a final Berlin dinner in our favoritw locale, the Hackescher Courtyard. - Dan