After the air conditioning got going, we settled in for a very pleasant evening gliding through the Eastern German and Polish countryside. Although we shared no tongue in common with the conductor (save for some helpful vocab which Eve remembered from school days), he was really helpful and friendly.
The one thing out of his control was the timing of border crossings. We trundled out of Poland at about 2am (I thought it was the Belarussian border, so brandished my visa to some confused looking border guards). That visa however did come in handy when we encountered the Belarus border about 10 mins later. It has to be up there on the expensive visa scale. 50 quid for a two day transit visa. All went swimmingly (the customs guys gave up when they found out we don't really speak any Russian). Major works on the train followed. The old Soviet states have a slightly wider gauge on their train lines, so our train had to be duly adapted. That all sorted, it was time to head into Belarus
The one thing out of his control was the timing of border crossings. We trundled out of Poland at about 2am (I thought it was the Belarussian border, so brandished my visa to some confused looking border guards). That visa however did come in handy when we encountered the Belarus border about 10 mins later. It has to be up there on the expensive visa scale. 50 quid for a two day transit visa. All went swimmingly (the customs guys gave up when they found out we don't really speak any Russian). Major works on the train followed. The old Soviet states have a slightly wider gauge on their train lines, so our train had to be duly adapted. That all sorted, it was time to head into Belarus
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