Here we go

Well I finally did it, today is d-day and after a hectic few days of trying to organise last minute train tickets (you think after 6 months I would have my arse in gear).

I still left the flat in a bit of a state (sorry Kate) but I think it was 90% there, for those of you who don’t know the people I was going to rent out the flat to pulled out so if you know anybody who needs a one bed flat in Limehouse (recently redecorated with new kitchen) for about 310 a week then let me know.

The first step in my trip was Eurostar to Brussels, this was booked at the last minute and was shocked when they wanted 169 for a one way ticket, this was soon resolved though when I found that sticking on a return journey dropped the price by quite a lot, I’m sure someone could explain the logic of this but for the moment it escapes me.

I met Kate at Bank and we went up to St Pancras together, we arrived about 40 mins before the train and it was a quick task of getting the tickets and currency. Two things to note about this process, firstly don’t change currency in the terminal (pretty obvious I know) and secondly there are lots of e-ticket terminals right by the departure gates so don’t join the big queue by the ticket office.

Saying goodbye to Kate was very difficult, I wanted to convince myself that it was only a few months before I see her again (well four to be exact) but I don’t mind admitting that there was a slight dampness around they eyes.

The new eurostar terminal is OK, to be honest I didn’t really notice to much of a difference from Waterloo (cramped and lots of shops trying to rip you off) but maybe I missed something as I didn’t see the big statue thing either.

I managed to get a whole seat to myself so I spread out, Neil rang me and so he has rather crap claim that he was talking to me the exact moment my journey started, as the train pulled out.

Well the Eurostar was fast going through London though even if your ears do pop with annoying frequency when going in and out of tunnels and a mere 3 hours later I was in Brussels.

I didn’t have much time is Brussels so it was a quick few fags then straight to the Thayles train, I was concentrating so much on my ticket though I managed to walk up the escalator coming down from the platform rather than going up. After a rather girly ‘ooooohhhhhhh’ I regained my composure enough to laugh with the people giggling at me.

The journey from Brussels to Cologne was uneventful, although someone was in my reserved seat but a quick fist to the face sorted that out. Or was that a quick and very english ‘terribly sorry but I think your in my seat’. I’ll let you decide.

Once in Cologne I had three hours to kill, as it was getting quite late I decided to drop my bag off at left luggage and go to a restaurant. You have to admire the Germans, I have never seen a simpler left luggage in my life, it basically goes, insert 4 euros, place bag in box, get ticket. Getting it back was the same in reverse apart from paying the 4 euros of course.

Finding a restaurant wasn’t to difficult as I went to exactly the same one me and the lads when to when we came to Cologne last year, it was a Thai restaurant right on the river. I was a little perturbed to see a mouse run past my feet though just as I had finished my meal, maybe he wanted to ask what I thought of it after he added a special taste ( a bit like the disney movie Ratatouille). After a few cigarettes INSIDE the restaurant I headed back to the train station and then my platform.

Arriving on the platform there wasn’t that many people around, I thought that this would be a good sign for me getting a sleeper compartment to myself. It was then I notice that the car for Moscow was a certain zone so I wondered up and found that there was lots of people waiting to get on the same car. Most of them seem to be migrating with the entire belongings.

When the train arrived it was obvious that it was operated by the Russian railway rather than the German.
Well I got on the train and found my compartment and low and behold there was no-one else in it, ‘back of the net’. This was a godsend as the compartments are so small it’s not funny, They stack the beds three high with about 65 cm between each bed, I think that overall the compartments are about 1.5m by 2.2m, smaller than a prison cell and my home for the next 36hrs. Maybe all trains are like this though, having no experience of sleepers before.

I had just taken my shoes off when there was a knock at the door, it was the Russian train guard, sorry but there is a problem. There was a family who weren’t together and as a result I have to change compartment. So on went my shoes and off I went to another compartment that contained I middle aged lady and her 2 large bags and large suitcase. At least it wasn’t three people in there though, that would have been intolerable and really stinky.

After a rather intense effort to get some sheets I managed to make the bed (with Russian ladies help) and was brought a rather nice cup of tea by the guard it was in one of the fancy silver and glass mugs that you often see when you watch movies about power hungry officials in the Kremlin. The mug even had CCCP on it.

I also noticed that I am the only non Russian in my carriage so this might be quite a lonely journey. I have only found one person who speaks English (luckily it’s one of the guards but he’s not a conversationalist but seemed to like practicing his English every so often)

It was then about 1 am and time to go to sleep so up to my bed I climbed and after a quick read I fell asleep.

By the way if you ever want to get the practical details of my trip (costs etc) go to the rather excellent www.seat61.com.

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