Philip of Staines

Screenshot from NS website 'No trains this morning'

Train at Harwich International

Sunrise over Essex

Train at country end of platform, Waterloo

While Dutch Railways is not having such a good day, the ever-reliable Stena Line and the usually more variable UK railway are whisking me home to Staines!
That's all for now - thank you and I hope you enjoyed the trip too!

View over the sea in the dark

Passing ship

Passenger bridge

Stena funnel

Sailing away...
With a fair wind I'll be back in time to do my 11.40 Mass at the secondary school, arriving from the east like a tired, bedraggled Magi. Bed ahoy!

As suggested, I decided to try the Stena Plus Lounge. Very nice...

Gangway to ferry

Ferry from outside

Cabin corridor

Cabin interior

Passports took a while (several passengers were from cancelled flights so had odd stamps from Schiphol), but once aboard, the ship felt like a familiar home.

Schiphol departures screenshot, lots of cancellations

Stena terminal entrance

With flights being cancelled all over the place, I was amazed to find availability via another route - and for a rather better price...

Rotterdam Centraal exterior

Departures screen

At Rotterdam my last chance to get to Brussels (and therefore London today) evaporated. With five Masses tomorrow (it is the Epiphany), I found cover for the first two. But to make the others, I'll have to take a more expensive option. And it won't be flying...

Haarlem station - sun shining in under the overall roof.

Crowd waiting to board.

Crowd around a double decker train.

Entrance to a train, empty.

At Haarlem at half-hourly service heads to Vlissingen. But I'm not the only one with that idea. After letting the first train go, I caught the second.

Train to Zandvoort am Zee

A train in the platform is worth two in the timetable. Let's go.
Even if I'm not going to, er, Zandvoort am Zee.

Nightjet arrived at Amsterdam

Foggy snowy view across harbour

Foggy snowy view across harbour

Departures board showing cancelled trains

Everything is looking pretty in Amsterdam. Except the rail service...

Snowy side street

Corridor

ICE and snow

Station throat

We're off, having picked up some local passengers!

Playing on snowing platform

Everything is stopped!

Noticed a train for Utrecht on the screen, so ran to platform 2, only to find it didn't exist. Now we have an ICE for company. So back on board to sit it out. Nice day to play in the snow, mind.

Amsterdam would be handy, but it's London I'm aiming for!

Snowy window view

Snowy Hilversum platform

Snowy residential street outside train window

Snowy platform viewed from my bed

It appears that the weather in Netherlands has not improved and apparently there is in the Amsterdam and Utrecht areas 'a very big problem'. So we will wait here at Hilversum for 'better times'.

Shower wand

Shower wand in hand

Shower wand on wall

Floor

There is of course a shower, provided by this wand. It was pretty effective, with good pressure. The floor also dries very quick. Only issue - no hot water.

Snowy window view

Nightjet breakfast

Snowy window view

Snowy Amersfoort platform

Goedemorgen! A snowy morning in the Netherlands - there seems to be more snow than there was in the Carpathians!

Classic feet picture, with station outside.

Time to sleep, but what's this "The German police are conducting entry checks"?
Guess we were spoiled on the Romanian border.

Timetable info showing one minute late departure.

Oh, so that's it. MAV take away my sleeping car without so much as an excuse-me. OeBB text me about rebooking because we left a minute late!

An ominous text? Either it's a typical OeBB notification, like a one minute later arrival into Amsterdam - or we're all getting chucked out in the middle of the night.
I guess with OeBB you'll never know...

Menu

Noodles with paprika chicken

It's not the Corona, but the menu was decent and so was the food. Oh, and, my sleeping car was attached.

Red light

Blue light

Soft orange light

White light

There's lighting to fit your every mood...

Train in platform

Sleeping car

Corridor

Cozy compartment

Tonight I am travelling on the Nightjet to Amsterdam - a well trodden route. But because it's Christmas, I'm in the sleeping car!

Church exterior

Church interior

Nativity scene

Station concourse

In Vienna I hot-footed to the nearby-ish St. John the Evangelist for Sunday Mass, conveniently timed for the overnight train to Rome.
But I'm not going to Rome.

Arrived in Vienna only to find EC146 Tisza already there - with a restaurant. I saw the coaches at Keleti when we left - with no dining car! My only guess is that the 'real Tisza' was late arriving from Zahony and skipped Keleti entirely, with the 'dodgy set' running a relief!

Beer and view out of window

Wiener schnitzel

Apple strudel in custard

Sitting on floor in vestibule

It's not Utasellátó but the food was nice. Staff are not as proactive at keeping seats & tables free for those wanting to eat - on the CD Comfortjet they were rather less comproming. Still, with the train full and standing in both classes they'd have their job cut out.

Railjet

Buffet

Right, so the first class car (in the middle) will be detached, so we might never leave. So I'll go for the following Railjet. And this time (and with reserved seats unmarked) I'm taking no chances on the catering...

Electric shunting loco

Train in platform

Corridor

Restaurant car sign illuminated!

Eurocity 'Tisza' to Wien is backed in. Twenty minutes after departure time it is still here, due to a technical problem. But if that 'technical problem' is the mysterious disappearance of the restaurant car, no amount of men in uniform banging around in an cupboard will fix it.

Keleti station frontage

Keleti station interior

Snack in the lounge - capuccino and cheese scones

Wide view of Keleti station

Time to head back to the station. The scones will be a nice starter before lunch on the train.

Paskal Baths exterior

After a night in a couchette, a visit to the modern Paskal Baths was a great way to relax.

Snowy view out of dining car

Cold breakfast on train

Budapest Keleti station

Coffee and croissant in business lounge

Breakfast was neither hot nor complimentary, but I made up for it in Budapest Keleti's 'Business Lounge'.

Couchette interior

Couchette messy bed

Snowy field view

Snowy view behind couchette ladder

Well, it may not have been quite the luxury I had dreamed of, but MAV clearly put better cushioning in these old German couchettes. I slept pretty well...