Brussels to London St Pancras Train #9139

A couple of hours in Brussels and we could have gone to see the weeing boy fountain OR we could go through UK border patrol and luxuriate in the feeling of nearly being back home. We chose the latter and had a large glass of Stella Artois- even more reassuringly expensive in a train station lounge! The train was due to leave at 2:30pm and it was a bit of a crush to get out of the departure lounge. Once on the platform we found our carriage and watched the rain falling down. The Eurostar is as smooth as advertised and it was an easy two hours, apart from Harry demanding to know when we would be going under the sea. We had been preparing him for days that the tunnel might be less dramatic than he had imagined but to no avail. "Where are the fish? When are we going under the sea?" "We ARE under the sea, but remember, we are in a tunnel." "D'oh...this is BORING."

We arrived back into St Pancras by 3:30pm GMT and were greeted by Liz, Tony, Clive and Oliver. We were finally home! After a couple of days of decompression later, we packed our waterproofs and headed to the Tate Gallery. It was lovely to see everyone; a big thank you to everyone who made it and to all those who weren't able to, but wished they could! The rain

It was a wonderful experience and, despite the fact that the children have probably been put off train travel for life, one of those trips that take a long time to work through their long term effects. We spent five weeks crammed together in a small metal box and didn't actually fall out with each other too much, we saw some remarkable things and met some lovely people; you can't really ask for much more in life, can you?

Cologne to Brussels Train #9428

We arrived in Cologne just as the first commuters were arriving to work. The twin towers of the Cathedral rose above the train station, in fact towered over the entire city- vast gothic edifices with a sign that proudly proclaimed UNESCO world heritage status. We had a look round as we had a couple of hours to wait for the train to Brussels. Harry wanted to know how old it was and who lived there. The answers of ‘Eight Hundred Years’ and ‘God’ didn’t seem to impress him too much, and when the massive organ started playing some archaic fugue he proclaimed, “I know this song, but I forgot what it’s called.” We took a photo outside of Harry doing his best ‘Damien Omen’ impersonation. Scary...

Back in the station Marcelle had found a Wi Fi hotspot and was trawling Facebook for all she was worth. Being a German train station it obviously had a wonderful block for having a shower, so we took a piping hot one to wash away the last two days of wearing the same clothes from Moscow (who said train travel was glamourous?). It didn’t take long before Maisie and Harry discovered the numerous pretzel and cake shops in the station and tucked in. The ‘Currywurst Express’ bratwurst in a bun was a particular favourite.

The train arrived, and we piled on to our first non sleeper train in five weeks. The Thalys trains are plush, fast and boast Wi Fi. Harry didn’t like the lack of space, but Maisie loved her own personal shelf, and had soon arranged her ‘Littlest Pet Shop’ pets having a nice chat with a Playmobil Ghenghis Khan we had picked up. That should make for an interesting conversation.

Moscow to Belarus #11 & #449 Belarus to Cologne

We arrived nearly two hours early at the station which was enough time to grab something to eat and a couple of beers. It was still incredibly hot in Moscow and we were a little worried about the kind of train we would get after our last experience. We needn’t have worried, the train was very modern and had air con- only it didn’t come on until we left the station, which left us slow baking for half an hour. There were only five carriages and they were all bound for individual places, one for Basel and one for Amsterdam, and we gained carriages and lost them on our route. The other odd thing was that the compartments all slept three people. The beds were vertically stacked on top of one another and they were smaller than we were used to. One of us could have gone into a carriage with a young couple, but we thought it would have been unfair to leave them with Harry...

One night and a morning brought us to the Belarus/Poland border where once again, passport formalities were all done in the comfort of our own carriages. We also experienced the changing of the bogeys as the guage changes 10 centimetres as it had done in Mongolia. We barely felt any movement as the carriages were hoisted aloft in a big hangar and then lowered back on to different rolling stock like so much Lego! Harry and Maisie were particularly impressed and hung out of the carriage doors 10 feet in the air!

After this we had a three hour stopover in Warsaw where our train turned into the 449, but we didn’t change carriage. It’s a shame we were one stop out of Warsaw, as the city centre beckoned to us over rooftops. Instead we found a shop to buy some provisions for our train meals (everyone point blank refused to look at a packet of instant noodles- even Harry) and a park for the children to run around in. We feel most definitely in Europe now, and everything is starting to get that familiar look about it! 24 more hours!

Top 5 Moments & Worst Toilet

Harry
1. Eating a curry Pot Noodle
2. Making friends with Hannah, Siorcha & Sally
3. Going on a horsey ride in Mongolia
4. Catching grasshoppers!
5. Racing the UAZ vans in the desert
Worst Toilet: On the last train (The 339)







Maisie

1. Staying at the Sihe hotel
2. Sleeping in a ger
3. Driving through the Gobi Desert
4. Meeting Siorcha, Hannah & Sally
5. Eating freshly cooked Ormul fish after a bath in the ‘baina’
Worst Toilet: The train from Hanoi stuck together with tape- yuck!





Marcelle

1. Standing on top of the world in the mountains in Laos
2. Seeing Hanoi for a third time- like an old friend!
3. Beijing hutongs and the cool ‘Beijingites’
4. The Gobi desert through cool, hot and rain
5. Sitting in Moscow and looking at how far we have come on our trip!
Worst Toilet: In the Gobi the toilets were really stinky until I realised I was going to the men’s loos! The women’s were fine.





Matt

1. Eating desert fruits just picked by our mad driver racing over the Gobi too fast in our pimped UAZ listening to Black Sabbath too loudly
2. The wide, wide open steppes of Mongolia
3. UAZ vans (‘they break down where no other car would go’)
4. The unexpected weirdness of the Plain of Jars
5. That all the planning paid off- it worked!
Worst Toilet: On the road to Hanoi at a pit stop cafe- they reeked and were right by the cooking stove...

Square & Fair

The VDV Paratroopers had all disappeared and all the military vehicles and police that had been outside Red Square were now replaced with souvenir t-shirt and Russian doll sellers. The Square was as impressive as these things should be and was a lot more complicated than I had realised. As well as the Kremlin wall and Lenin’s mausoleum (which is actually a small, squat structure) along one side, there is a massive department store (GUM) facing it. The other two sides are taken up by St Basil’s Cathedral and another church. It was a hot and hazy day and walking across the square was like walking across a giant frying pan. St Basil’s spires were described by Harry and Maisie as reminding them of:

• spiky dragons tail
• christmas crackers
• buddhas head
• squeezed out toothpaste
• wizard’s hat
• durian fruit
• two pineapples
• jackfruit
• hot air balloon

All of those descriptions were very apt. The building is certainly iconic and is even a bit preposterous.

After being in the heat we escaped into the GUM department store. The initials stand for State Department Store, but I don’t think old Lenin opposite would find Versace and Louis Vuitton to be very stately. The building itself is lovely and looks like a bigger, posher Covent Garden with three main galleries over four floors, spanned with wrought iron bridges that are reminiscent of Venice. We had a meal on one of the bridges and looked down on the high end shops that were devoid of customers. Harry was particularly impressed with the vintage cars that were on display.

We are now back in the hotel, have checked out and waiting in the cafe for a taxi to take us to the train station. Two nights on the train should bring us to Cologne and then back home!

We Humbly Request

For those of you who can, you are cordially invited to our picnic to celebrate us crossing 10 borders, 7 capital cities, one desert, a great wall and 11,000 kms. We will be outside the Tate Modern, at 1pm Saturday 7th August. Bring a blanket, umbrella and some sandwiches! Can't wait to see you!

MMM&H

xxxxxxx

The Boys are Back in Town

I wasn’t sure if it was normal for Moscow, but I immediately began noticing lots of men wearing skin tight blue and white striped vests and powder blue berets at jaunty angles on their heads. At first, it was a job for the Fashion Police, then I wondered if it was a Moscow version of Gay Pride, and finally I settled on hopeful applicants for the latest Jean-Paul Gaultier advertising campaign. As we arrived at the closed gates of Red Square it all became apparent. ‘Why is Red Square closed?’ asked a fellow tourist. The guard on duty looked a bit uncomfortable and I asked Jane, our guide. She explained that these guys were not on their way to a Judy Garland festival, but that they were the VDV, the elite Russian paratrooper division. Today was their veterans day, and because they liked having such a good time, they had to lock up Red Square for it’s own good!

The VDV patron saint has his holy day on the 2nd of August and we had stumbled right into the middle of it! As we walked round you could hear chants of ‘VDV! VDV!” and I then spotted lots of groupies in skimpy striped tops being carried aloft by drunken partroopers. One of their traditions is to take a bath in Moscow fountains and it wasn’t long until we found what looked like a Roman orgy; piles of clothes everywhere, soldiers in tight CCCP undies in a fountain that was running red with wine (although I suspect it was actually red food colouring). A small table had been set up and there was an arm wrestling championship going on. I sidled up for a photo and one of the beefy troopers turned to me and lay a giant mit on my shoulder. Was he going to rope me in? Had I upset him? No, he actually asked me if I had a light. ‘N-n-no.’ I replied.

Elsewhere that afternoon we saw small groups of VDV, running through the Metro, climbing on things and generally being a menace to the status quo. It was kind of like  a camp freshers week on testosterone.