I checked out of my hotel near Paveletsky Station on Thursday afternoon and rolled my large duffle bag the 7 blocks to the train station, a huge 19th century classic building with hundreds of people going in every direction---there are metro trains, commuter trains, and long distance trains from Russian Railways. You don't really want to take photos in train stations for sort of obvious reasons---sort of akin to the "suspicious Muslim'" taking pictures of the Brooklyn bridge. Russia has its own security issues that are believable and obvious---last year, while I was here, someone, perhaps militants from the Caucasus regions, blew up a bus and the main train station in Volgograd---a few hundred miles down the Volga River from Saratov.
So, you enter the station where there are police waiting, checking luggage, with metal detectors and such. The authorities are VERY vigilant in train stations, pacing everywhere.....soldiers, police of various kinds, and security guards.I must say they make you feel very safe. Much of their activity is scanning the crowd and prodding the poor souls who try to sleep in the chairs while waiting for their train.
I passed my time reading a book on the Chinese economy called "Age of Ambition" by Evan Osnos while waiting for my train. You learn the track your train is on by paying attention to a big board in the waiting area. At 5 pm, the board announced my train was on track 2, and I descended to the platform. Your ticket tells you what car(wagon) you are in......mine was #13. Most trains that go long distances in Russia leave in the evening---I was in a second class compartment with 4 bunks; I'd made sure to request a bottom bunk. I wrestled my bag in and was joined soon by my compartment mates, a young Russian couple---he was Sergei---his wife was not happy about something. There were some tears and it is very crowded with 3 people trying to maneuver(there are many interior train pictures on this blog from last year). I left the compartment for about 15 minutes to stand in the passageway to allow them to settle and change into something more comfortable. Russians usually change into track suits of some kind and wear slippers. When I return to the compartment I do the same.We soon settle in for the15 hour journey. We eat a small dinner provided by the train---chicken and porridge. Sergei and wife speak no English, but I can now get by in Russian. Soon he asks if I'd like to share a drink and we do a couple of vodka nips out of his flask. Around 8pm his wife climbs up to the top bunk and we all settle in for the night. Soon they are both softly snoring. I sleep fitfully but do get some rest. The bright lights of Moscow fade and we enter the dark and foreboding(at night) Russian steppes. In the morning I see an incredible scene before most are awake...an old lady is very near the tracks with a big pot of something, feeding a large group of dogs very near the tracks. Many are shaggy shepherd like puppies and look very healthy. There seem to be feral dogs all over Russia, but the elderly are very kind to them everywhere I go. Just this morning a few minutes ago, a great howling commenced outside my accommodations in Saratov-----it is just the dog population settling on a hierarchy for the day.
We roll into Saratov around 9am. Valentina from the office is there to meet me with a cab, none of my emails were received, and they had a had a bit of a scare waiting for me at the station when I was supposed to arrive yesterday.
So, you enter the station where there are police waiting, checking luggage, with metal detectors and such. The authorities are VERY vigilant in train stations, pacing everywhere.....soldiers, police of various kinds, and security guards.I must say they make you feel very safe. Much of their activity is scanning the crowd and prodding the poor souls who try to sleep in the chairs while waiting for their train.
I passed my time reading a book on the Chinese economy called "Age of Ambition" by Evan Osnos while waiting for my train. You learn the track your train is on by paying attention to a big board in the waiting area. At 5 pm, the board announced my train was on track 2, and I descended to the platform. Your ticket tells you what car(wagon) you are in......mine was #13. Most trains that go long distances in Russia leave in the evening---I was in a second class compartment with 4 bunks; I'd made sure to request a bottom bunk. I wrestled my bag in and was joined soon by my compartment mates, a young Russian couple---he was Sergei---his wife was not happy about something. There were some tears and it is very crowded with 3 people trying to maneuver(there are many interior train pictures on this blog from last year). I left the compartment for about 15 minutes to stand in the passageway to allow them to settle and change into something more comfortable. Russians usually change into track suits of some kind and wear slippers. When I return to the compartment I do the same.We soon settle in for the15 hour journey. We eat a small dinner provided by the train---chicken and porridge. Sergei and wife speak no English, but I can now get by in Russian. Soon he asks if I'd like to share a drink and we do a couple of vodka nips out of his flask. Around 8pm his wife climbs up to the top bunk and we all settle in for the night. Soon they are both softly snoring. I sleep fitfully but do get some rest. The bright lights of Moscow fade and we enter the dark and foreboding(at night) Russian steppes. In the morning I see an incredible scene before most are awake...an old lady is very near the tracks with a big pot of something, feeding a large group of dogs very near the tracks. Many are shaggy shepherd like puppies and look very healthy. There seem to be feral dogs all over Russia, but the elderly are very kind to them everywhere I go. Just this morning a few minutes ago, a great howling commenced outside my accommodations in Saratov-----it is just the dog population settling on a hierarchy for the day.
We roll into Saratov around 9am. Valentina from the office is there to meet me with a cab, none of my emails were received, and they had a had a bit of a scare waiting for me at the station when I was supposed to arrive yesterday.
