Orient Express: A slow train to Paris

Add to My Stories Share The passengers on the 11:21 to Brighton look like they have seen a ghost as they barrel past us at rather greater speed. In many ways they have. The sleek Pullman carriages that have attracted their attention are rolling phantoms, all iconic brown-and-cream livery glinting in the morning sunlight. And the name emblazoned on the sides completes the image. For here is the Orient Express, moving softly, on a warm April Thursday, towards Folkestone and the grand moments of Europe beyond as if the 1920s are still with us.

If speed isn't your master (and money is of little object) then there are few finer ways to travel to France than on the Orient ExpressOf course, the Orient Express is not a ghost train. But it is a sepia reminder that faster is not necessarily better. In an era where the Eurostar will whisk you to Paris in little more than two thrilling, high-velocity hours, this stately dame savours the journey, taking the best part of a day to glide through the 300 miles between London and the French capital.And this is my plan to travel to the home of chattering cafes and wide boulevards, of the Sacr Coeur and the Louvre, at a pace and in a style more suited to the 20th century.

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And so it proves. An hour after inching away from Platform Two at London Victoria, we are still meandering through the North Downs. Our passage is sedate enough that I can read the names of the stations outside East Malling, Bearsted, Hollingbourne while a breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, fruit bread and coffee is proffered within.

Tres tranquille: The journey from Calais to the French capital takes four hours...Rail aficionados might argue here that this is not the real, true Orient Express. And they would be right. The train that originally bore this noble title was an official timetabled service that ran, from 1883 to 2009, in various guises, between several of Europe's key cities most notably Paris and Istanbul. Its modern counterpart, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, is a commercial reimagining of this symbol of the golden age of travel.But for all this, there is plenty of the authentic about this new version of the Orient Express. As we coast through the lower reaches of Kent, I gaze around the carriage that is carrying me. 'Ibis' is a dark-wood relic that did time on the Milan-Venice leg of the route between 1925 and 1927. The 21st century has not seeped in here. There is no flat-screen TV spooling 24-hour news, no wifi internet access just that gentle clackety-clacking noisethat only trains of a particular vintage seem to make as they trundle on their way.The sole break in the mood occurs when we pull into Folkestone, and are transferred onto buses for the ride through the Eurotunnel. But once we emerge in Calais, another set of antique carriages these ones christened with the words 'Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits' is waiting. Here is further happy regression into the past, not least inthe three restaurant cars where food for 190 (produced, incredibly, in two tiny kitchens) will later be brought forth. Each bears a glamorous name L'Etoile Du Nord, L'Orientale, Cote D'Azur. But it is the latter that shines brightest, with its Art Deco lalique panels that show elegant ladies at play, all pearls and pale nudity. The obvious culturalreference is Agatha Christie's 1934 mystery Murder On The Orient Express, but the loudest echo here is of the chic Roaring-Twenties decadence of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night.

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This is the setting for dinner as the Gallic countryside flashes past. Viewed through the haze of late afternoon, there seems nothing dramatic about the flat landscape of northern France, or the urban pockets that dot it the unremarkable regional city of Lens, the grey commuter town of Creil. But perhaps this is simply a case of suffering by contrast with the Brittany lobster with Madras curry cream that arrives as starter, with the beef fillet with black truffle bearnaise that follows, with the pungent cheeses that finish the feast.

Continue the leisurely pace in Paris with a river tour on the Seine which bypasses the city's sightseeing highlights, including the Notre Dame (above)
Some four hours after Calais, the train finally sidles into Paris, and the less-seen Gare De L'Est terminus. But if it is initially a shock to stumble again into the 21st century to flickering departure boards, coffee franchises and ticket gates the French capital is a city where you can quickly retreat back into history. And to any era of your choosing.

Erstwhile glamour: Step back in time...and dress up for dinnerIn this case, it is the late 19th century. Although it opened as recently as December, the Shangri-La Paris keeps one eye on the 1890s. Pitched in the 16th arrondissement, on the north bank of the Seine but directly opposite the Eiffel Tower, the hotel is housed within a mansion that was built in 1896 for Roland Bonaparte, the grand-nephew of Napoleon.Even a century on from its construction, this palatial structure is a gorgeous exercise in nar! cissism. The initials 'RB' are found everywhere in stained-glass windows, and in the wrought ironwork of sweeping staircases. The bee the Bonaparte family emblem crops up repeatedly on walls and doors. And just in case you manage to miss the point that the Bonapartes had a lot of power and influence there are further flourishes in support: intricate carvings of Louis XIV, France's most flamboyant king, woven into the dcor; Grecian urns and Romanesque statues that throw in a dash of classical antiquity.All of it has been carefully restored in transforming the building into the type of top-end hotel that Paris does so well: 81 rooms and suites, some with views of the Eiffel Tower; a gourmet French restaurant, L'Abeille, whose windows peer onto a leafy courtyard garden.

But the hotel's biggest delight may be the extra that you can book through the front desk a cruise on the 'River Limousine', a Venetian-style water taxi that carries small parties along the Seine in unhurried fashion. Five hours before I'm due to catch the Eurostar home, I find myself floating down the river. And as we ease past the Musee D'Orsay on one side, Notre Dame on the other, it occurs to me again that slow often eclipses speedy.

Travel Facts

The 'Romance Of Paris' package a one-way journey on the Venice-Simplon Orient-Express from London to Paris (www.vsoe.com), two nights at the Shangri-La Hotel (www.shangri-la.com) with breakfast and transfers, and a ticket back to London on the Eurostar costs from 1265 per person (based on two travellers sharing), through Orient-Express (0845 077 2222, www.orient-express.com).A 75-minute Seine cruise (for six people) on the River Limousine (www.river-limousine.com) costs from 650, when booked through the hotel.