Midnight!
We are on the train! Well, the first train to get us to the train! We have just set off from St Petersburg to Moscow, it's just after midnight and we are settled in to our bunk beds. Sally is on the bottom and I am on the top. The bunk beds are not from IKEA, but our roommates sort of are!! We are sharing on this overnight train with a lovely young Swedish couple, who are also on the way to Asia via the Trans Mongolian Railway! I haven't asked their names yet so for the purpose of the blog they will be called Helga and Sven. (update Marcus and I think inessa)
It's all very surreal. The carriage woman, all decked out in cabin crew outfit complete with hat, has not smiled yet but seems nice enough, and certainly hasn't spoken any English to us. I think pointing and charades might be our method of communication if we need anything or she needs to tell us something! More likely she will just knock on door at 6am to wake us up and get us ready to get off the train!
The train is rattling along, and being on the top bunk, with nearly, and I mean nearly a guard rail, I am almost certain if if the train stopped suddenly I would be head first to the floor! I am sure Sally will nurse me back to health though!
It's all very cosy though, really warm and I am almost certain within the next 30mins Sally will be fast asleep, and I will be awake until we arrive in Moscow! We are treating this as our practice run for the main drag, so we can perfect how we manage to survive on the train. Helga is writing her blog ( or blög!) in her book, like Sally, while Marcus is tapping away on his iPhone! They are like a younger, more Swedish version of us!
I will continue this later with time stamps....
0040 - Sally is already asleep, as is Helga! It's going to be a long night!!