Thanks to a reply to one of my posts, I’ve discovered a story about Vichy France’s Marshall Pétain and the Hotel Terminus Nord - and couldn’t resist adding it to www.seat61.com/stations/par... Maybe Mrs 61 and I were in his and Eugenie’s room..?

…and easy access to my favourite Brasserie Terminus Nord, an institution since 1925. Well worth a splurge on their oyster tasting platter!

…with station view.

It is of course the 25 Hours Hotel Terminus Nord. I must have stayed in hotels with stranger decor, I just can’t think of one at the mo. But it grew on me. Decent breakfast too. The room? It’s the 2 windows with balcony immediately left of the ‘2’ in ‘25 Hours Hotel’.

This weekend I have been mostly lying in bed next to the Gare du Nord…

Making a quick research sortie to Paris in a heatwave, as you do after superb pre-Eurostar seafood linguine at Carluccios. To my surprise, all A B & C zone EES kiosks *still* out of use. No fingerprinting OR stamping in operation. Check-in remarkably fast, no queues to speak of 👍

Today I am returning from the Netherlands to London via Hoek van Holland-Harwich, in a Stena Line Captain’s Suite. Ryanair? Never heard of them…

Unpopular opinion: For Stockholm to Helsinki ‘over the top’ it’s still better to walk/taxi Haparanda to Tornio Itaïnen & catch the 22:17 sleeper to Helsinki. 17-min connection in Tornio too risky. The Finnish Railways website wants you to change at Oulu, in bed at midnight!

The new Haparanda (Sweden) to Oulu (Finland) train service opens for booking today- starts 10 Aug, two per day.

West Coast Railways' 'Jacobite' leading the War on Singletons here. But I'm pleased to hear that they're allowed in second class.

The same workaround is good for London-Newcastle or Newcastle-London, too.

It makes buying a £95.40 flexible refundable Super OffPeak ticket from London to Edinburgh easier too! This fare still exists from Enfield Town, just board at Kings Cross. Click the link & buy, no faffing wit a journey planner to try & bring that fare up! brfares.com/!fares?orig=...

In other words, BRfares.com sells a FARE, unlike ALL OTHER online train ticket retailers it doesn't depend on finding a timetabled journey first. It'll only sell walk-up fares, not Advance ones. And you need to arrange the ferry reservation separately. But 🥳

I found out a thing: The beyond-Dublin fares (e.g. London-Galway) that exist in the fares system but no online retailer sells them (as they all INSIST on finding a timetable first, and TfW haven't input any Irish train times into the GB system). At brfares.com:

I've just added an Oslo Sentral station guide. It's desk research as I haven't been there for ages, so if you've anything I could usefully add, or any additional photos, I'd appreciate it! www.seat61.com/stations/osl.... Photo courtesy of Richard Alderton.

Also yesterday, Berlin-Hamburg trackwork ended, two direct Czech ComfortJet trains now link Prague, Dresden, Berlin & Copenhagen. I’m sure these will do well - and not just because they introduce the concept of restaurant cars to Danish travellers! www.seat61.com/internationa...

Last night, the Zurich-Vienna sleeper became a New-Generation Nightjet. After test-riding a Comfort sleeper earlier this year, I think they could just be Europe's best-designed sleeper compartment of any regular scheduled train. www.seat61.com/trains-and-r...

At last, from 14 June EC214/EC114 Zagreb-Munich should become a direct train (as it is eastbound) with no need to change in Villach. Oh wait...

Today’s cat-related drama: I’m pleased to report that Culprit the Kitten has now been rescued… 🥰

Open-access operator GoVolta has opened sales today for it's daily lo-cost Amsterdam-Paris train which starts from 14 December, fares from €19. Unusually, it'll be routed via Ghent, not Brussels. govolta.nl/nl

Yay! It appears that Trenitalia’s Paris-Milan Frecciarossa has finally joined the Eurail/Interrail network, as passholder reservations now bookable at partners.italiarail.com/default?forc.... Rail Planner app still needs the ‘not in pass network’ message removing.

The excellent RTT (Real Time Trains) website now has an app! It shows how any British train performed up to 2 weeks ago, shows planned rolling stock for any given train, and shows the *planned* platform so you can be positioned ready, ahead of the scrum (includes Eurostar).

A few changes will be made to the Brussels-Milan sleeper from the December timetable change: It won't now get an Amsterdam portion, but will pick up at Antwerp, Breda & Eindhoven. It will call at Aarau, but not Zurich. More about this train at seat61.com/trains-and-r...

European Sleeper have reached their initial fundraising target, and can now go ahead with their expansion plans, adding Brussels-Milan from September: mailchi.mp/faa0f204407f...

New page: El Alamein, the forgotten wayside halt that named a battle. www.seat61.com/places-of-in...

A shame, as Amsterdam-Hamburg was a new direct connection not offered by NS/DB, whereas Amsterdam-Berlin duplicates the existing direct NS/DB service. Did terminating at Hamburg-Harburg, 18km short of Hamburg itself, stifle demand?

Lo-cost open-access operator GoVolta is to end it's Amsterdam-Hamburg service after only 2 months, to increase its Amsterdam-Berlin service from 3 to 6 times a week: www.railwaygazette.com/passenger/20...

Behold the city walls of Old Cairo! They’ve spruced them up a bit since 1990…

A quick trip by metro to Giza station to check out this station for those who prefer to join the sleeper trains to Luxor & Aswan there rather than Cairo Bashtil. It’s 39 degrees Celsius and I am now pooped. Mad dogs and…