Quite the Xmas present from The Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/busi ... stria.html
Fair Use:
On a recent morning, as Venice awakened to crisp November sunshine, a group of travelers appeared on the steps of Santa Lucia Station. They stood in awe of the Grand Canal just opposite, rummaging for sunglasses in their bags.
There were couples, like Natalia Goia, 28, and Maximiliano Amestoy, 33, from Uruguay. On a tour of Europe, they had left rainy Vienna the night before, slept in a compartment with reclining seats, and were up and ready to explore Venice before most visitors had even finished their breakfasts.
“We had lots of sleep,” Ms. Goia said, sitting on the steps of the modernist railway terminal, visibly pleased with the 11-hour journey that had led them through the Austrian Alps. They swapped a night in a pricey hotel in Venice for the cheapest fare on the train, she said
The Orient Express or Blue Train, it is not. All told, The Times is affirming my previously expressed thought that it appears they are pitching the product to the Econosnooze crowd.
Now what I know will "shock" Mr. Morris is that I actually have given some thought to an NJ joyride, if I "go over again" (ORD-MUC is a "very attractive" $2344 at the moment). The joyride would originate in Munich (after having gone to the Airport to store my bag and live out of a Tote Bag for the joyride) spend most of the day in Munich (haven't been in the "Stadtmitte" since '60), then board Nightjet to Rome (haven't been there also since '60). Spend day in Rome and then "reverse route" (wouldn't do it on Amtrak, but 4hr arrival to flight home should be safe). For exclusive occupancy of a room, the RT is €379 - definitely doable since the hotel in Salzburg at which I've stayed, is €320/ni.
But the flipside; I'm not much on the roughing it nowadays. The thought of "homeless in Munich" as well as Rome, is not too exciting. On an earlier '90 trip, I was "homeless in Berlin" for 12hrs; uh, "not my thing" even back then.