Sleepers, snow, and sign language

You CAN change the wheels on a train

Leaving Amsterdam, I was pleased to find that I was in my compartment alone. I had anticipated having to share it. This was fine until 05:30 in Berlin, when the other occupant of the compartment got on, and I had to rearrange all my gear so two of us could fit in. The timing of the journey was such that I didn't see any of Germany, and very little of Poland. Over the border of Belarus they carried out an operation that I knew took place; but that I still found totally odd. They changed the bogies on the train from the standard European gauge, to the bigger Russian gauge. This involved separating out the carriages; removing the couplings; replacing the couplings with Russian ones; lifting the carriage off the bogie; wheeling the small bogies away and the larger ones in to position; lowering the carriage; and reassembling the train.

From the border of Belarus onwards, there was snow on the ground, and external temperatures were varying between 0 and 5 C during daylight. Most people left the train at Minsk, so the run from Minsk to Moscow was a much more relaxed process.

Moscow was mostly as I expected, for initial impressions. Though I knew the Russians use cyrillic script, I had not anticipated it acting as a "false friend" in terms of recognition. Anyway I got to my hotel using a combination of patience and perserverance - not speaking the language; not recognising the script; not knowing anything about Moscow or Russia. It just took about two and a half hours, rather than the 20 minutes it would take now I know where I am going and a slight idea of how the Moscow Metro works. The stations are as deep and as splendid as I had heard, and are very obviously the only form of travel suitable for a complete neophyte like myself.