Mind, they work hard at maintaining the
ambience of hundred year-old train travel, the waiting room all chandeliers and
clubby buttoned sofas, the luggage porters in gold braid and white gloves, morning tea
served on tiered cake-stands. And then there’s the train!
It’s gorgeous. All varnished mahogany,
plush furnishings, brass and leather, shutters and glass lamps. And surprisingly
spacious, in our Deluxe suite where the bed fills the entire width and there is
storage everywhere. It’s cosy and comfortable and full of thoughtful touches,
like the goggles for eye protection when leaning out of an open window. The
amenities kit even includes a couple of Rennies tablets in case of
over-indulgence in the dining car.
That, it appeared almost at once, will be a
theme. Lunch was four courses, wine-matched, and took almost two leisurely
hours to consume, the crystal glassware tinkling as we trundled along. When we
were moving, that was: we were stuck, stationary, in a station in Johannesburg
for a quite unconscionable time, watched impassively by commuters and vendors
on the platform outside as we indulged ourselves in olde-world splendour.
Awkward.
The pattern appears to be eat, relax,
repeat. So there was afternoon tea in the lounge car then drinks then dinner
then bed. There’s a dress code for dinner: jacket and tie, and smart dress,
which everyone stuck to. Bit of a nuisance, packing fancy outfits for just two
nights of a whole holiday, but it certainly did add to the ambience in the
dining car, everything, and everyone, sparkling and gleaming in the lamplight. And the food
was excellent: scallops and lamb shanks. So we hardly needed the soothing
rocking and rolling to send us to sleep in the artistically-arranged bed that our hostess Lebo had magicked for us while we ate.
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