Mark Smith, "The Man in Seat 61," describes the Orient Express (in its latter days) as perhaps "...the ultimate example of a knife that's had its blade and its handle replaced many times," but notes that even so it could still trace its history directly to its Wagons-Lits predecessor of 1883. By the time of the 21st century through service to Istanbul had long ended, and in the summer of 2001 the train would lose its through service from Paris to Budapest and Bucharest. As France continued to expand its TGV network, the historic Paris terminus of the Orient Express would be displaced to Strasbourg in June of 2007. Still, one could travel from Paris to Vienna overnight by taking the TGV to Strasbourg and connecting with the EuroNight train which still carried the proud name of the Orient Express. However, after the final departure on December 12, 2009 the train was struck from the timetable and the remarkable 126-year run of the Orient Express would come to an end.