September 11, 2016, 4pm, on the train to Moscow, somewhere east of Warsaw…

So what’s rolling right now are the wheels of the train that have been carrying us towards Moscow ever since eight this morning.

After bidding our farewells to our families yesterday, we took a train to Berlin and met with a friend of mine who kindly offered us a bed for the night. We spend the evening in Berlin, sitting in a park, having dinner and doing some shopping for the long train ride ahead, and after that we chatted away the night with our host, so that only five hours later we had to leave again for our next train.

We reached the Polish border at 10am and Warsaw at 3pm. It’s a beautiful summer day with temperatures over 30°C outside and a little lower inside. We have the two bottom beds in a 4-bed compartment. One other bed is occupied by an elderly gentlemen who hardly speaks any German and is going to visit his sister in Minsk. He kindly translates the announcements for us so that we know for how long the train stops at the stations, and if it is allowed to leave the train during those times. The other occupant is a German guy in his mid-forties who founded a political party that currently has three members including himself. He carries a giant poster featuring Ms. Merkel wearing a hijab so I’d rather not ask what his party is all about. Interestingly enough, he is going to Moscow to demonstrate for whatever obscure cause it is that his party supports, hoping that a TV channel will report about him. Also, the poster is so large that it is currently covering his entire bed and I’m not quite sure how he intends to sleep with that thing, but then again, it is really not our problem.

For those of us not carrying giant posters, the train is actually very comfortable. The beds are wide and comfy, and can be changed to benches so we can all sit on the lower beds. Each bed comes with a chip card that opens the compartment door hotel-style so that only the actual occupants have access. There even is a shower at the end of the wagon.

So far, the landscape hasn’t changed much. Fields after harvest, little villages, beech and pine forests. The train honks before each crossing.

We have spent the day reading, learning some basic Russian, talking to our fellow travellers, eating (turns out we have bought way too much food) and sleeping. Also looking out of the window.

I don’t really feel like we’re travelling the world yet. Maybe we are still too close to home – it’s only the neighbouring country after all, or maybe it’s the fact that we are travelling more slowly than by airplane. Ah well, if there is one thing we have plenty of, it is time, so I will just be patient, carry on looking out of the window and allow myself to be surprised. 🙂