MOVING HISTORY

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express's history is filled with fascinating stories and scandals. Oh, the stories these carriage walls could tell ...

- By Faye Bradley

The last 25 hours have played out like a vintage film—a sepia-toned reel spinning at an art deco cinema, set to the clink of crystal, gleaming marquetry and the gentle rhythm of wheels on rails.

I travelled from Venice into the heart of Italy, gliding through the Dolomites, past mirror-like lakes and quaint villages—all with a flute of champagne in hand. In Austria, tall, slender trees flanked the tracks like something out of a fairytale, as sunlight gave way to the gentle patter of rain, and then, by morning, returned in golden shafts through the mist. Through my window, I've watched Europe unspool in soft-focus splendour, waking this morning to the crisp air and rolling hills of rural France. And now, just past noon, I've arrived in its sparkling capital.

This is no ordinary commute. It's a pilgrimage of sorts—an opulent passage aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE), a rolling monument to heritage and grandeur, lovingly dubbed a “legend in motion” by the company.

“The journey itself is steeped in history,” says Bruno Janssens, a Belgian train manager who has worked on the VSOE for more than two decades. We're chatting over morning coffee in my suite as the train sweeps Through the golden fields and storybook towns of provincial France. “Between the world wars, it was a crucible of European intrigue.”

It is true: while the VSOE service is not to be confused with the