Riding the Rails Again — Nov 17-18

The train to Moscow leaves around 11:30pm. We walked through the station, across the tracks, to the platform where our train was stopped. There was a crowd of people standing there. Olga led us through the crowd to near the front. Then the train whistle blew and everyone started walking forward. We stopped at the last car and everyone passed us. Customs agents were aboard the train, which had just crossed the Russian border from the Ukraine. Apparently the whistle was to let those in the forward cars know that they were cleared to board. But, Customs was still searching the sleeper cars, so we had to wait a few more minutes, then the OK was given.

Ours was an older car that Olga said had joined the train in Bulgaria. It had not been set up for sleeping yet, so we had to pull down the mattresses and bedding from the overhead storage and make the beds ourselves.

Soon the train left the station, we wrote in our journals a bit, and then fell asleep. Did not wake to see the stuffed-animal stop this trip. The temperature in the car was much cooler this time. Before we knew it we were nearing Moscow again. We got dressed, put our belongings in order and waited for Olga to lead us onward.

There was a couple from Bulgaria in the compartment next to us. They had a dog with them. As they were getting ready to leave, the dog was running back and forth in the hallway.

As the train came to a stop, we lugged our baggage down the narrow hallway toward the exit door. Vladimir was waiting and helped with the bags. We all walked through the large crowd to his car. Olga had a separate ride; so we said our farewells, then headed off on an early morning trek through Moscow towards the airport. It was time to head home.