In the Orient Express lounge at Ostiense station in Rome, my train leaves in an hour but the high living is already under way. There are glasses of iced Veuve Clicquot and Italian mid-morning snacks, alongside gorgeous marble bathrooms that invite one to linger over the artisan soaps, the soft towels, the fresh flowers. A trio of piano, saxophone and double bass serenades passengers with a medley of cool jazz standards, among which I recognize a Duke Ellington classic, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”
What I’m about to take is an A train in another sense altogether. Unveiled with great ceremony, La Dolce Vita is a new iteration of the Orient Express marque, raising the bar for rail travel to heights rarely scaled even in the splendiferous 140-year history of the brand.
