Hmm. When I click in the circle, nothing happens. I have to click the green button to advance the page.

I'm starting to consider Rail Europe. I can buy tickets on there for $312 USD. With the exchange rate, I'd pay about $226 USD through SNCF and who know what on Trenitalia. How long should I wait before I bite the bullet and buy through RE? I don't want to get stuck without tickets but I also don't want to pay an unnecessary extra $100 just because I'm getting panicky.

Sorry I keep posting on this thread... I just got my response from SNCF though, thought others might be interested -

"We are sorry but this journey is not available on the internet.

When you try to book an international trip, once your booking request fulfilled, our server makes a request to the abroad server in order to display availability and fares. We can display results only if we receive an answer from the abroad server, and particularly concerning the fare criteria on the international trunk of your journey.

We feel sorry for the inconvenience and recommend you to call our information and booking service Ligne Directe at the following number +33 (0) 892 35 35 35 / 39 (EUR 0.34/min) or to go to a railway station to make your reservation."

Em Axo -- I recommend that, if you really have your heart set on doing the overnight train, you go ahead and call SNCF's number and book with them. One of two things will happen:

1) You will be required to pay the more expensive rate, but this rate is fully refundable in the event that the website ever starts working and you are able to book the lower rate there (this is what I am hoping will happen).

2) The operator will let you book the lower rate (this did not happen to me, but someone else in another thread said they were able to book the lower rate to Rome). If this happens to you, please let me know!!!

If you do book through the website, be prepared to receive no email or other confirmation -- I am actually planning to call in the next few days to verify date/time/seating arrangements. Also, there is a several day lag on seeing the charges on your credit card, so don't get too concerned if they aren't there within day 1 or 2 (as I did).

At this point, boyfriend and I have decided to keep trying the website in case it fixes itself (at which point we will of course book the lower fare), but otherwise just to eat the extra cost of booking by phone. We seriously considered flying instead, but in the end were dissuaded by the hassles of getting to/from the airport and taking hours out of time that we had earmarked for either Paris or Venice. As the boyfriend keeps telling me -- we are already spending so much money on our trip to Europe, and we probably won't take a trip like this for another several years, so what's another $60 each to make the trip smoother? I still bristle at having to pay the extra, but hearing the refrain repeatedly HAS made me a little less bitter. :-)

Just an update -- I called SNCF back today to confirm my reservation. I also asked the woman if it was possible to get a lower fare; she put me on hold and then came back and told me that I could indeed book the lower 270 euro fare I had seen online! So we cancelled the more expensive reservation and re-booked at the lower rate. Hooray!

So, em_axo, in light of this I would totally recommend that you call the SNCF line and book through them. You'll put your mind at ease without having to pay extra to go through Rail Europe.

Was it an English-speaking operator? I know some French but not much - that has been the main obstacle from me calling is that I won't be able to communicate well enough with them.

Is this the # you used? 08-92-35-35-37? or 8 92 35 35 39?

I used the -39 number. When the recorded message answers, it will be in French. Press 2, and it will switch to English and tell you what to push to reach an operator.

When you reach a live operator, they will initially answer in French. Just say, "Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?" and they immediately switch to English. Even though they will likely tell you they only speak "a little" English, don't be worried -- I found that all of them spoke quite well and, 99% of the time, they seemed to have no trouble understanding me (nor I them).

Just make sure you have a pen and paper handy to take down your confirmation code -- they don't seem to send confirmation emails, so you will definitely need it! :-)

This may be over-simplistic, but I cannot get SCNF site to work with anything other than Internet Explorer (it certainly does not work when I try Firefox browser).

I can get it to work with Firefox with no problems.

Well, for one thing it's SNCF not SCNF. Try this for the English site: http://www.sncf.com/indexe.htm

SNCF, SCNF....oh well....I still can't get the site to work in Firefox. I can't even get past choosing cities, just get this message:

"We offer several services to the town of departure and/or arrival that you have entered. You can consult the services we offer using this link or choose a town here."

And nothing else you click works...it says "transferring data" but then changed to "done" with no schedules showing.

Zut alors