Buffet car

Early start to be driven by my godson to the tube station. I swear he was a cute 6 year old just last week! Tube to St Pancras for chaotic Eurostar check in and the journey to Paris.

We had lunch at the fabulous Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon: a beautiful room, excellent food and impeccable service. They were even happy to fill L's coolbag with ice so our fizz (purchased in the UK) would be cold on the train - treating it like this was a daily request.

The train to Zurich was 50 minutes late (someone had left a bag on it, causing a security alert) which was dramatically eroding our transit time. And when we did finally get on, the two cat-allergic members of our group were not best pleased at a cat sitting next to us - but we secured cat-free seats and set off on several hours of snoozing, snacks and fizz

Our connection in Zurich went fine, and Gunther (not his real name) settled us in. We elected to use one cabin as a buffet room (including some illegally imported cheese) and the other for drinking and chatting. We may have overcatered.

Earlyish night lulled to sleep by the undulations of Swiss, Liechtenstein and Austrian railways.