Train time: 48 hours .. or so.. later

The OH and I have been on this train for some 48 hours now. I'm a bit confused about that exact calculation as we're crossing more time zones that I can keep track of.

From Vladivostok, we travelled north and have skirted the northern border of China and are working our way west towards Mongolia.

Just thinking about it all sounds so exotic. I'm travelling on a train that I had studied about in school. A mention in the Geography lesson that the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok was the longest railway line in the world. 

I used to think it would be wonderful to travel along that line and literally see a huge part of what was then the USSR and is just Russia today.

From 13°C when we left Vladivostok yesterday (or was it the day before?) it's now 0°C outside.

A trip from the comfort of our cabin to the loo feels like an arctic expedition.

The OH is fast asleep (and snoring, though he denied it) and I am enjoying a nice hot cup of tea. I was just standing in the corridor when our Provodnitsa, Tatyana, stepped out of her cabin. 

I asked for tea and was served some in this absolutely gorgeous glass holder.

Feels nice. Hot tea, some nice quiet me time... If only some vendor would walk by 'bisi bisi maddur vade'....

Note to self.. add this to the shopping list.

I'm watching the steppes go by and see that there're many patches of snow in the ground.

In case I had any doubts about the 0° temperature, this sorted me out.

Yesterday, when the train halted at a station called Belogorsk, Tatyana told us it was a 30 minute halt.

The two of us bundled up and went for a walk up and down the platform. Looks like almost everyone on the train got down to stretch their legs.

And there was a statue, so we stopped to say Dobrrye Utra to Vladimir Iliyich.

From the dates looks to be something to do with  WW II. 

In Cyrillic it reads .. Velikaya Pobeda.. I think. I am trying to learn the script. One way to constructively pass time.

A Provodnitsa herding passengers back into the train.

The engine's changed and we're all set to go.

And yes, we did get some travel essentials on the platform.

We spoke to Ilya, the cook on board, about something other than rice and boiled vegetables for lunch, and he whipped up this baked potato with onion and mushroom... With way more oil than absolutely necessary!!!

It was quite tasty. Oily but tasty.

At dinnertime we walked down a few wagons to the dining car. With the help of Google translate, Ilya and the OH decided that we'd have a version of macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Alexander, from the train's maintenance crew, who was watching the entire translation game, sat down and talked to us.

Or rather he talked a lot. When there was signal, we talked through the Google translate app.

He told us about his hometown in Southern Russia, that had a beautiful park which would talk to the soul. Yes, he sounded that poetic.

We talked about families. That's when he said that he last saw his son in October before he was deployed to Ukraine. And no word since. His voice broke as we wiped his eyes. His sorrow was overwhelming. 

A war that was halfway around the world suddenly became rather personal. Alexander's grief was heartbreaking.

Later in the night the train stopped at Skovorodino. We looked at the display which said 4° and decided to stay in. Quite a few people had stepped out to stretch their legs, as it was another long stop. 

One good thing about long stops is that we actually get a signal on our phones, and we used this time to have a video call with our kids.

 Looked out of the window this morning and saw that the temperature was 0°C. There was more snow on the sides of the tracks. And yes, even a little snowfall

We're in Siberia baby... It's official

More later...

From Russia... With Love