London to Venice (with Eurostar and Thello)

Today I'm leaving London and travelling to Venice with Eurostar and Thello night train.

St. Pancras station

King's Cross station

Caledonian sleeper night train at King's Cross

Class 92 locomotive

The queue to platform 9¾, known from Harry Potter

Before my train departure, I have time to visit St. Paul's

From Wikipedia: "The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1967. The dome is among the highest in the world. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral."

The view from Millennium bridge

Time for departure

Again, the e320 train type

Ticket control outside the train

On another platform is the older Eurostar train type

Leaving UK

Light meal is served in Premier class

The tunnel

Arriving to Paris

Just before Paris Gare du Nord, the train was stuck in a traffic jam - there was no available platform

Everybody is leaving through the same small gate

Thalys

A short ride with RER train in Paris

And a short visit of la Defence area

Gare de Lyon

Thello train is departing to Venice at 19:15

Thello office at the station was closed

From Wikipedia: "Thello is an open-access train operator running international services between France and Italy. Founded in 2011, the company is owned by the Italian state owned railway company Trenitalia. Initially set up as a joint venture between Trenitalia and Transdev, the latter sold 33% holding in Thello to their Italian partner in 2016 giving Trenitalia full control."

The train has 12 coaches, of the type couchette and sleeper

There is also a restaurant coach

Sleeper premium cabin with 2 beds and private toilet/shower

Sleeper standard cabin

Here is the coach layout for Thello night train

From Wikipedia: "The locomotive is leased from Akiem by SNCF Geodis. The locomotives used are three-system SNCF Class BB 36000 electric locomotives uprated from 160 km/h to 200 km/h operation in France to the Italian border."

"The SNCF Class BB 36000 locomotives (named Astride) are a class of triple voltage 4 axle twin bogie electric locomotives built by GEC-Alsthom (later Alstom) between 1996 and 2001 for SNCF."

"The sleeping-cars are type MU, a design originally created for the Wagons-Lits Company, built 1964-1974 but refurbished by Trenitalia in the mid-2000s when LED lighting & corridor CCTV were fitted and carpets removed. Each sleeping-car has 12 compartments with washbasin, each usable as single, double, or triple. Couchette cars are of various types and can be used as 4 berth or 6 berth."

The shower in premium cabin

Complimentary prosecco in sleeper cabin

At Gare de Lyon, I purchased some hot food. It was a good idea, because later when visiting the restaurant coach, I saw a long queue there.

Thello train is taking the old railway, not the high speed one. There are no stops between Paris and Dijon, so the travelling was fast.

The restaurant coach was very busy

A stop at Dijon