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served on gleaming china, also with the VSOE logo, is artfully arranged, almost too pretty to eat. I saved the menu for my scrapbook— noting we dined on braised duck covered with a potato and apple puree. At our table, we met a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary and the other couple may have been honeymooning based on the amorous glances they exchanged. Heading back to the cabin, I decided to read and watch the scenery, which changed from Italian towns and villages with red roofs and campaniles to Austrian alpine type architecture as we approached Innsbruck. Afternoon Tea was served at 4 p.m. in each cabin—sandwiches, scones, clotted cream and the like—to hold us over until dinner time. And though dinner was also a memorable gastronomic experience, the scene in my mind that stands out the most was the post dinner gathering in the parlor car. Opening that door, haze in the air, one could imagine ladies in beaded fl apper dresses holding long cigarettes—and though smoking is not allowed today—the ambience of the car held me in a trance. Ice tinkled in glasses, lights were low, enhancing the artistry of the exquisite inlaid marquetry walls, to top it off, a handsome Italian man was playing a baby grand piano. Some couples, dressed in black PAST - PRESENT. Take a ride on the glamorous Venice Simplon-Orient- Express and step back in time to a bygone era, when rail travel was the height of luxury. tie attire, canoodled on sofas in the corner. The piano man, clad in a smoking jacket gazed at me. Apparently he noticed that I entered unescorted; so he patted the bench beckoning me to sit beside him. Which, of course, one does if a handsome Italian piano player on the Orient Express asks one to sit with him—I mean, I didn't want to be rude after all. When in Rome you know. Overnight, the clackity-clack of the rails lull some to sleep—or not, if you're a light sleeper, but this was a journey of a lifetime, so lack of sleep hardly mattered. Dawn broke and we were served a continental breakfast in our cabins, followed by a sumptuous brunch of scrambled eggs with truffl es and fresh lobster in the dining car. Our waiter informed us that local produce and provisions are loaded on board during one of the nighttime stops. Finally, it was time to get ready for our arrival in Paris. Some couples would be disembarking there and some continuing on to Calais for a motor coach crossing in the Eurotunnel, where, once in England, they would board a British Pullman train from Folkstone to Victoria station in London. This restored British train is also a component of the Orient Express brand, along with hotels and a riverboat. Recently the company name changed from Orient Express to Belmond— derived from the French phrase "Belle Monde," or, beautiful world. Oh yes, I agree, it is a very beautiful world indeed. Returning to the present, I opened my eyes on my bed amid the souvenirs, a tiny Limoges box, chocolates, fragrant soaps. I thought what a great thing it is that the romance of travel during its golden era can be relived today thanks to the investment of a painstaking restoration of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train, for it is a classic, altogether splendid and marvelous. Catherine Addé, is a native of Pasadena, a Certifi ed Travel Counselor affi liated with TravelStore and Signature Travel Network. She has a Master's Degree in Tourism Management and has held executive positions with Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Windstar and Cunard Line Ltd. 36 FEBRUARY 2016 the ESCAPES & GET AWAYS escapes_Feb16.indd 36 1/20/16 2:24 PM