11 June (ctd)
We boarded the train which was an enormous length. And of course, the lift to the platform disgorged us at wagon 15, so we had to walk the length of the train to wagon 5. Our (traditional I think) heritage buxom bleached blonde provenitza greeted us and directed us to our compartment. Our cabin-mates were again a quiet couple, so Minuk’s worst fears proved in the end, unfounded.
The train soon departed, providing a view of the Kremlin on the way out of the city. We ate our lunch of chicken sandwiches after departure. The next highlight was the crossing of the Volga river, after which we settled into the rhythm of the 1440km journey, watching the villages and the birches and the pines pass sedately by as the train tracked west, through Moscow in the dead of night, and onward to St Petersburg.
I managed to read 70% of ‘Death’s End’, and get some sleep on the top bunk during the brief period of darkness at night.
12 June
Woke about 6am, the train still steadily trundling along through small villages and pine and birch forests, green fields and swampy scrublands. The periodic ‘whoosh’ we’d heard during the night proved to be the sound of trains passing in the other direction. High speed train provided particularly loud ‘whooshes’.
The other couple in our compartment disembarked at the last stop before Saint Petersburg, at about 9am.
St Petersburg was grey and cool. Walked to apartment in 15 minutes, along grand Nevsky Prospekt. We were met by our host Irina. Her apartment is compact and comfortable.
I had planned a look about in the afternoon, but as I set out, the rain began, and only got heavier through the afternoon, so the expedition was truncated.
As it continued to rain through the evening, wet feet were the order of the day when walking out for dinner. We decided that Koreana had OK Korean food.
Supermarket shopping on way home completed the day's doings.