Sleeper train

Vilnius to Saint Petersburg

The train stood a clear 9ft tall and a million miles long as we climbed from the subterranean locker room to the platform at Vilnius station. This was the train I had been waiting for. Well, I mean, we’d waited for plenty of trains up till now but for me this was the kind of train which would make this whole experience. Making a carriage your home for however long you have to is a real skill on the transiberian. This relatively short stint, approximately 14 hours, would decide if I could enjoy this kind of ordeal or if we would wilt under the pressure of close confinement.

The silver and red colours made the train look like a sleak 50’s American relic. The roof of all the cars, stretching far off into the Lithuanian night as far as the eye could see, were snow capped and the walls plastered thick with ice. Each wagons chimney belching thick black soot into the purple evening sky as the deep roar of the diesel engines echoed around the empty station.

Each carriage has it’s own attendant and ours was a large cosy looking woman. She beckoned us forward and asked each of us our nationality in turn. She quickly scanned the tickets and passports and showed us aboard. Our backpacks barely fitted through the tiny train corridors as we brushed past the business end of the coach and fairly ran towards the seats assigned us for the night. After some initial excited wrong turns we found our places were the very first births as we entered the train.

On the left a four birth open cabin shared space with a slim corridor and two extra bunks aligned with the small passage way. We were lying in the corridor beds.

All the blankets for the wagon (grey and red heavy wool items ideal for the subzero climate) were piled on my bed. The upper bunk of the two corridor births. We had to wait for the other travelers to collect them before we could fully move in. Me and James sat hunched beneath the expertly engineered platform of my bed and slowly acclimatised our selves with our much anticipated surroundings.

The four birth cabin opposite housed a Lithuanian couple with enough luggage to fill a shop, we concluded they were either emigrating or off on an extended holiday in Russia. The boarder guards would enjoy quizzing them. Also here was a middle aged woman who seemed intent on sleeping the entire journey. We moved all the blankets obstructing our bunks onto the upper bed on the sleepy woman’s side of the four birth, and made up our beds. Crisp linen folded carefully over firm but fair benches and the luxurious wool blankets made for a very inviting bed.

Behind us the wagons offices and toilet were expertly nestled in the smallest possible spaces, allowing only a small private sleeping cabin for the original attendant. She never seemed to use this room, instead preferring to march the length of the carriage serving tea and coffee. In there was also a younger Russian version who would tend to  these duties beyond the boarder. She would display a very different, very Russian style of service, all scorn and annoyance.

Me and James walked the train, as we tend to do now once we get settled. We marvelled at everything; the WC’s at either end of our wagon, the smoking areas beyond both and the open link way at the very ends of each coach, with their noise and growing frost and disturbing view down to the speeding rails below. Our journey took us from our 2nd class cabin through the seated class and into first. The carriage housing the restaurant was small and filled with tables and chairs all and conversation. The whole train was buzzing with communication between strangers and it felt warm and homely. First class was quiet and sterile and we attracted some strange looks on our way back to our beds.

I watched the very nice and kind woman in the next compartment answer her grand daughters questions about the foreigners sleeping in the beds next door and was rocked to sleep by the motion of the train.

A boarder patrol guard woke me with a grab of my leg and asked for my passport. I handed it over and fell back to sleep. I had sat through long boarder crossings before and knew there was nothing to be done but enjoy the time in my warm bunk. I was woke again to receive my documents back and then again inside Russia where a guard would search all the baggage storage bins for stowaways using an ancient military lamp as a guide. The crossing wasn’t half as distressing as we had read it could be.

I love this train, the warmth, the sense of belonging, the smells and the adventure, the water boiler and the attendants (even the moody ones hvae their good points). 2nd sleeper class is defiantly a first class way to travel.

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Day 7

When did I get sick?

OUTLINE

• Lack of sleep, lack of food and negative temperatures combine in an irresistible tri-fector to give me a crazy Lithuanian illness
• If I was at home I would definitely stay in bed but today that is not an option. Check out at 12. Feeling groggy and sweaty and weak
• We trek our bag up to the train station and explore the futuristic electric lockers.
• Still loaning cash of Jay, I grab allot of medication and score some pizza ’studente’ for breakfast.
• The drugs kick in and we spend the rest of the day taking snaps of Vilnius.
• Sleeper train to St. Petersburg. The exotic train journeys begin.

Fancy Pod hostels should turn the heating on at night.

Vilnius is a pretty, pretty place in the snow especially when your full of flu meds.

I found a nice souvenier of the city with cool retro cred!

Attaching pad locks to a bridge means ‘I love you’ in Lithuanian

Our first Sleeper train demands extra special treatment. Information to follow…..

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Day 6

Chargers Win, Chargers Win

OUTLINE

• Everyone is up in plenty of time for our train but we still end up running late and only just making it to the platform in time
• Everyone sleeps on the train but me
• TopTrumps – I win
• We are asked to move carriages because we are sat at the wrong end of the train. This end stops at the Poland – Lithuanian boarder. The other end carries on to Vilnius. Thanks to Mr. Conductor
• We change at Sestokai by crossing the platform and boarding a Lithuanian ‘First Northwestern’ train to Vilnius
• Our hostel booking is wrong but the city is quiet and we get another easily, quickly and only a short walk away
• We drop our bags and head out for some food. Nationwide is not working again!
• Food is cheap in Vilnius, we order a three course meal at midnight. The first meal of the day
• Euros pay for my bed and I get to sleep for the first time in 48 hours

I.S.C. sweet Polish train station buns. Apple filling, score -1!!!

Sarah does not understand TopTrumps.

Polish – Lithuanian boarder is a white hut housing a small suited man and a green ping pong paddle.

Vilnius is small and beautiful especially in the snow.

Our fashionable pod style hostel is disorientating but a bed is a bed when you’ve been watching NFL all night.

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