Fact and fiction on the fabled Orient Express

While Shirley was here, we attended a special exhibit on the Orient Express at the Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World). The exhibit was great fun, featuring little vignettes of authors and fictional characters who traveled on the storied train, which once traveled from Paris to Istanbul. 

One display showed a typewriter, along with other artifacts of the time, to depict the author Graham Greene and his novel Stamboul Train, while another showed a sleeping car for James Bond—a reference to Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love and the movie of the same name, which was partly filmed on the Orient Express.

The Graham Greene display.

Warned by our “conductor” that the next scene was a bit grisly, we laughed to see the sleeping car of Mr. Ratchett’s demise from Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Murder on the Orient Express! Do you remember who did it?

Mostly, we just enjoyed the ambiance of the luxurious rail cars. The interiors with their rich mahogany panels and art-deco glass were designed by René Lalique. I was somewhat surprised, however, by the muted brown-and-gold upholstery, having expected a rich, velvety red or something similar. (I guess I didn’t pay much attention to the upholstery when watching those popular films.)