As I stood with other suited-and-booted passengers on the platform of Paris’s Gare de l’Est awaiting the call to board, the sight of blue-uniformed attendants hustling back and forth along the length of the painstakingly restored 18-carriage vintage train immediately evoked a bygone era of travel. At the same time, I cannot deny a feeling of excited anticipation, one that only increased as we were finally invited to step inside.
The is a spiritual successor to the original , a transcontinental service between Paris and Constantinople (Istanbul) created in 1883 by Belgian rail operator Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The name has since become synonymous with both intrigue and luxury train travel, a legacy revived almost 100 years later in 1982.
