Orient Express

* * In Europe, a few Orient Express is in a hurry by train. So the French named the new train, which runs along the Moscow -Nanitsa route since September 23. The path from the capital of Russia to the azure bank takes 52 hours. The pleasure is quite expensive - twice as much as the aircraft. But there is a rare opportunity to comfortably drive through seven countries along the favorite route of the pre -revolutionary Russian nobility. Who and why in the 21st century travels through the whole of Europe by train - recognized The New Times
Now every Thursday from the Belarusian station leaves a train to Nice. The Russian Railways assures that he is in great demand, but on October 7, the New Times correspondents who came to hold the composition counted only 15 passengers (136 seats in the express). On the first train - he hit the road on September 23 - almost all passengers were invited. “Railway workers, French journalists, employees of tourist agencies were driving,” Irina Golovkova, producer of the France 2 television company, told The New Times. “Their presence is understandable: it was necessary to make sure that the trip along the new route complies with international standards.”

Traveling in the new eastern express is no less refined pleasure than wine

Cheburechny - Nice
The New Times assured the Russian Railways: the train should return romance to passenger transportation, and in Nice it is not met as a regular composition, but as a symbol of cultural Russia. The advertising campaign, accompanied by the launch of the express, was already subsided, although at the Belorussian station, you can still find ads to go to Italy in the most unexpected places. The posters hang on the door of the Cheburechny, in the toy store, even in the forecaster.

Express conductors are selected with French and French charm

On October 7, the numbers of Komsomolskaya Pravda were waiting for the luxury compartment in the luxury compartment in the first lane. On the table is the Essentuki mineral water. TV, toilet, shower - everything is available. In the restaurant, The New Times Correspondents got acquainted with the menu: it has ten types of wines, you can order breakfast for 300 rubles, consisting of porridge, pancakes, sandwich with salmon and juice. On hot, they offer a “hidden chicken” of fillet stuffed with cheese. In the evenings, live music should sound in the evenings.

A restaurant wagon on the train does not cancel boiled chicken and eggs in a suitcase

“A great fear of flying, so they choose a train,” - Express chief Igor Yakushev explains why people are ready to buy tickets worth from € 300. “I am aerophobic and generally prefer to travel to Milan by train,” confirms the pumped up shaved man in the Russian tracksuit.

Europe begins at the bar

“We love to travel on the ground,” admitted passengers traveling in the first grade. The family in the pope, mother and daughter went to enjoy the views of Europe. Plus boiled eggs and potatoes - where on the train without them. “We hope that we will help you warm up the chicken in the foil in the restaurant,” they shared with The New Times to the road.

Lux class rest
The businessman George and his civil wife Svetlana, who had already accommodated along the new route, did not regret that the idea came to mind to go to Nice by train. They used to be on the Cote d'Azur, flew by plane. But two days in the luxury compartment seemed to them a real vacation. The cost of one place in such a compartment is? 1050. In essence - a hotel on wheels. Choosing this train, George and Svetlana took into account that they would not have to stand in traffic jams on the way to the airport. It is enough to get to the center of Moscow - and you are in the carriage. Two days of the way for the spouses flew quickly: we watched DVD prudently taken with them, played the board game “Find out Russia” and went to the restaurant car.
In Brest, the restaurant car was unhooked, and in Warsaw another was attached-Polish. Irina Golovkova says that travelers were happy to visit the restaurant car: on the occasion of the launch of the first train, the Russian Railways company treated for free passengers with wine and champagne. There was even live music - two accordions and a clarinet.

Compartment - with a TV, gender - with heating, riding - with comfort

With Shakespeare in the mind
A resident of Ulyanovsk Maya chose a Moscow-Nanitsa train, because otherwise she could not leave Russia with her beloved native dog. Maya not so long ago married a Frenchman and moves to him in Paris. I really did not want to fly by plane, because then I would have to put my favorite in a cage and be with her in separation all the time of the flight - four hours. Maya preferred to buy two tickets * * “Adult” ticket in the 1st grade? 459 in one direction. A ticket in the 2nd grade costs? 306 in one direction. In the coupe of the first class and twenty times during the journey (so much on the stop route) to walk your Rottweiler. In Nice, Maya with a dog was met by her husband, and in Paris the couple rinked already in a car.

How important it is to be serious even on the way to Nice

The fellow travelers of Maya in the first class car were two intelligent women. One was heading for a wedding to her daughter, spoke beautifully in French. Doctors did not advise flying on an airplane for health reasons. But in the train she really liked: the listeners asked with interest about the history of the cities through which they passed. When they stopped in Verona, the tireless passenger quoted Shakespeare. Innsbruck drove through - talked about Austria. In the next compartment, Natalia, her same age, rode. The daughter of Natalia has been living on the Cote d'Azur with her husband-French for several years. Natalia had already been to her daughter, but now she decided to get to know her granddaughter.

Enjoyment of rest
“A beautiful landscape begins after Belarus,” says Irina Golovkova. - The fact that you drive through seven countries is very cool: Russia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France. At the stops you can go out, walk along the platform. Feel the atmosphere. Local residents both in Eastern Europe and West treat this train as a curiosity. They take pictures. It seems that for them it is also symbolic - now, the Russian train travels around Europe. ”
Irina says that the beauty itself begins after Genoa. First, a string of tunnels, then the road slowly goes along the sea. And it is very beautiful. “If you psychologically be prepared for the fact that this is a long journey, you can get pleasure from it,” says Irina Golovkova. - Some passengers admitted that this is not at all tiring. On the contrary, such a journey is like an anticipation of rest. ”

Cracking happiness also happens on rails

Among those who went on September 23 from Moscow to Nice, there were several businessmen who preferred a four -hour flight of 52 hours in the express. And they do not regret - it was possible to combine the vacation with work, and just get enough sleep. For them, this is already a vacation: when a mobile phone works with interruptions, and there is no Internet at all. And for once you can simply relax.
“In the 90s of the last century,“ night ”trains cruised in France,” Alban Mikozi told The New Times. - Of course, they were not as “luxury” as this one, although they were considered quite comfortable. There was, for example, the train of Paris - the Nynitsa, and Paris - Biarritz. When high -speed expresses appeared, night trains almost stopped walking. There is no need for them. Today, express overcomes the distance from Paris to Marseille in four hours. True, such trains still drive along some routes. The Paris -Madrid train has not been canceled, the famous "East Express" - Paris -Stambul runs. "