Doubilet-Benson Orient Express Bike Trip 2014: A Champagne Ending to our First Day of Biking

The Orient Express train began in 1883 as a luxury train travelling from Paris to Istanbul. Over the years, there were a number of variants of that original route, but the advent of air travel and high-speed trains led to the demise of the line, which came to a final end in 2009. Its passengers included royalty, diplomats, and wealthy business magnates, especially during its first few decades. Because of its storied history, it has been featured in dozens of books, movies, and television shows, including Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (book and film) as well as From Russia with Love, where James Bond battled a spy on the train.

The idea of taking our annual long bike trip on a route approximating that of the original Orient Express intrigued us. We read up on the history of the train and put together a route fairly close to that of the 1883 train. Our route begins at the Gare de L'Est in Paris and travels through France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, with overnight stays in major cities along the train route: Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, and Istanbul.

Our bike ride began today (Sunday, August 17). We started the day by taking a short train ride from the Gare de L'Est to get out of Paris, then biked 58 miles through beautiful towns and countryside to our destination of Epernay. Epernay, a town of 24,000, is in the Champagne region of France, and plays a central role in the champagne wine industry. Numerous champagne wine companies are located in the town, where they bottle the wine and keep it aging in cellars built into the chalk rock on which the town is built. We ended the day as "real" tourists, with a champagne cellar tour and tasting.