Berllin to Warsaw
I spent some time in Berlin. I had all morning really. I just walked around the new parliament building and the Brandenburg Gate. It was very cold but OK. Vaguely hot meal at the station (a paninni) but I still regard that as a glorified sandwich. At least I had Euros.
Train to Warsaw was a daytime train so didn't plan on stocking up with food and drink, but it did cross my mind... Berlin HBF is a glorious station that has soul and vibrancy. It reminds me of airports in its cosmopolitan feel (but I MUCH prefer stations to airports!). It is ful of shops and life and a warm sense of well-being. And an empathy to travelers. It wants travelers to be there. To want to come back. Germany is in fact passionate about its railways and wants them to succeed. And it shows. Makes a big difference to Britain where nobody could give a shit about the pathetic state of the railways.
Railway stations in Europe for example have bins. Its a small thing, but it means that there isn't rubbish stacked on every available horizontal surface, or lobbed onto the track. They also know that they have bins, and as a result, there were people emptying them (in Moscow this was at 00.15).
Passengers give off the aura that they know that they are going to get where they are going happily.
My compartment, not a sleeper remember, was a 6-seat affair a bit like a BR compartment in the 70s. But cleaner. Even the windows were clean. I shared the compartment with a glamour-puss who it emerged, down the track so to speak, had a small dog in a specially-made holdall.
One thing that I noticed in 'the east' is the propensity for tubes. I presume that they are carrying gas (water?). As the train trundled through east Berlin and eastern Germany, they were everywhere.
All of a sudden I seem to be in Poland. The police on the platform are dressed all in black. First stop was I think Rzepin. There were no border controls. Some police style men boarded the train but they didn't come and see me.
The train shuddered a bit and then I saw the red DB engine go back the way that it had come. So we now had a Polish engine.A consequence of the engine change is that the lights on the compartment have come on. I presume that the Polish engine has the right electrical connectors...
Poland is full of trees. And old black steam engines proudly displayed at stations. Why don't we do that in Britain?
Lots of disused railway lines and equipment. Lots of abandoned railway stations. Lots and lots of level crossings.
I got to Poznan at about 15.000. Lots of decaying industry near the railway line. More pipes. Lots and lots of blocks of flats. 18.30 coming into Warsaw. Yes, it's been a 6hr journey, but I'm coming into Warsaw. Not Glasgow.
In a seemingly clever move (it seemed so at the time) I noticed that the train was going to Warsaw Wschodnia which is where my Kiev sleeper was going from, so I decided to stay on the train until then rather than get off at Warsaw Central. This would prove to be a mistake. Quite a big one.
Train to Warsaw was a daytime train so didn't plan on stocking up with food and drink, but it did cross my mind... Berlin HBF is a glorious station that has soul and vibrancy. It reminds me of airports in its cosmopolitan feel (but I MUCH prefer stations to airports!). It is ful of shops and life and a warm sense of well-being. And an empathy to travelers. It wants travelers to be there. To want to come back. Germany is in fact passionate about its railways and wants them to succeed. And it shows. Makes a big difference to Britain where nobody could give a shit about the pathetic state of the railways.
Railway stations in Europe for example have bins. Its a small thing, but it means that there isn't rubbish stacked on every available horizontal surface, or lobbed onto the track. They also know that they have bins, and as a result, there were people emptying them (in Moscow this was at 00.15).
Passengers give off the aura that they know that they are going to get where they are going happily.
My compartment, not a sleeper remember, was a 6-seat affair a bit like a BR compartment in the 70s. But cleaner. Even the windows were clean. I shared the compartment with a glamour-puss who it emerged, down the track so to speak, had a small dog in a specially-made holdall.
One thing that I noticed in 'the east' is the propensity for tubes. I presume that they are carrying gas (water?). As the train trundled through east Berlin and eastern Germany, they were everywhere.
All of a sudden I seem to be in Poland. The police on the platform are dressed all in black. First stop was I think Rzepin. There were no border controls. Some police style men boarded the train but they didn't come and see me.
The train shuddered a bit and then I saw the red DB engine go back the way that it had come. So we now had a Polish engine.A consequence of the engine change is that the lights on the compartment have come on. I presume that the Polish engine has the right electrical connectors...
Poland is full of trees. And old black steam engines proudly displayed at stations. Why don't we do that in Britain?
Lots of disused railway lines and equipment. Lots of abandoned railway stations. Lots and lots of level crossings.
I got to Poznan at about 15.000. Lots of decaying industry near the railway line. More pipes. Lots and lots of blocks of flats. 18.30 coming into Warsaw. Yes, it's been a 6hr journey, but I'm coming into Warsaw. Not Glasgow.
In a seemingly clever move (it seemed so at the time) I noticed that the train was going to Warsaw Wschodnia which is where my Kiev sleeper was going from, so I decided to stay on the train until then rather than get off at Warsaw Central. This would prove to be a mistake. Quite a big one.
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