need info for Orient-Express
 

has anyone taken this supposedly THE ULTIMATE TRAIN? please share your experience(s)... thanks!

http://www.travelwaysusa.com/trains/...tm#Itineraries

Paris-Istanbul | Istanbul-Venice
Friday In the afternoon depart Paris Gare de l'Est, the original departure station
of the Orient Express. Dinner is served while the train passes under the snow capped
peaks of the Swiss and Austrian Alps.

Saturday Breakfast and lunch are served on board as the train passes through the
beautiful alpine scenery near Vienna and eastward to Budapest, Hungary through
the lands of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, disembarking for dinner at the
Marriott Hotel, your bed for our night in Budapest.

Sunday After breakfast explore Budapest, a city divided by the Danube but
connected by 7 bridges. Lunch is at the celebrated Gundel restaurant. Reboard the
train to journey through rural Hungary. Cross the Romanian border during dinner.

Monday During breakfast you will roll through Transylvania, almost untouched from
the past. Arrive in the mountain town of Sinaia and visit Peles Castle. Your tour of
the castle is followed by brunch before continuing to Bucharest for an afternoon
tour of the city known as the Paris of the East. Later relax and freshen up in
comfortable day rooms specially reserved at a local hotel before reboarding the
train for dinner, crossing the Danube Bridge into Bulgaria.

Tuesday Welcome to Turkey! During breakfast you will cross the Tharcian Plain.
Lunch is served as the train follows the graceful curves of the Sea of Marmara.
Today reach your fabled Byzantine destination: Istanbul.
http://www.orient-expresstrains.com/index.html

Have fun! Don't ask: "Do I get miles?"

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif that was my next question, what airline miles can i get travelling on the Orient Express? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

another question: any consolidator fares?

thanks for the info, sounds so exciting....

[This message has been edited by belle3388 (edited 09-07-2000).]

Sorry to tell you, belle, but next train is in two days time only on Sept 8, 2000. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

You have to wait till August 2001 to take this trip.

But of course, this is for Paris - Istanbul and Istanbul - Venice Route only. The other routes are available from May 2001, I believe

But what does "Orient Express" mean without visiting Istanbul???

Did you know that Agatha Christie wrote "Murder in Orient Express" after she took the same trip from Paris in Istanbul? You can still visit her room in Pera Palace Hotel.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

rozy, i am a huge Agatha Christie fan, still can not believe that little Hecule Poirot is not real!

thanks for the input, may first try the day/lunch trip from London... btw, are they ALL the same train?

I'd say a savings of about $7,000 for two!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I was hoping that you did not notice that small detail.

Pera Palas Hotel in Istanbul
http://www.perapalas.com

Agatha Christie in Pera Palas Hotel
Istanbul’s Pera Palas Hotel, a favorite haunt of the rich and famous since its opening in 1883, had a very special place in the life of best-selling author Agatha Christie. She stayed in the hotel many times between 1926 and 1932 and one of the best –known stories, Orient Express, was written there. Warner Brothers took the unusual course of contacting the famous Hollywood medium and clairvoyant, Tamara Rand to see is she could get in touch Christie’s spirit through a seance. Contact was made, it was claimed, with Christie’s spirit, which indicated that the key to the box containing her missing diary - the diary which would solve the mystery – was in room 411 at the Pera Palas Hotel In Istanbul, Turkey. The news exploded like a bomb in the world press. The Turkish press and the foreign journalists went to the Pera Palas, room 411, on March 7, 1979. A telephone connection with Los Angeles was established and under the direction of Tamara Rand, the floor of the room was taken to pieces, everything being shown by satellite on American television.

At the point where the wall joined the floor, right by the door, a rusty, eight centimeter-long key was found.

Tamara Rand said that, after she went into a trans, she began to write in a language she did not know. The words she wrote were the name of a street in Istanbul and the name of a hotel on that street. Afterwords she then saw the hotel and Agatha Christie. Agatha was in room 411 and was hiding the key to her diary under the floorboards.

To summarize her comments, Rand claimed Agatha Christie let her know that the key was hidden in a hotel room in Istanbul. She even scribbled Agatha’s own hand writing during her trans. She had a vision of Agatha Christie walking along an ancient paved street and read the sign Mesrutiyet Caddesi, then she saw Christie getting into a building called Pera Palas going up into room411. Once she closed the door, she hid a large key beneath the floorboards.

In January 1986, a second key numbered 411 was found in the Pera Palas Hotel, this time in room 511, and the mystery, some say, took on a new dimension.

[This message has been edited by rozy (edited 09-08-2000).]

wow, this gives me goose bumps!

what a story, thanks!