My time in Warsaw passed far too quickly. After a day out with a local chap called Mariosh whizzing round the Praga district in a converted police van (that’s another story) I got back to my hotel to prepare for the journey to Moscow. Rather touchingly the general manager was there to wish me a safe trip and she kindly said that she would never ever forget me. I could pretend to you that this was because I had inspired her with my love of Warsaw, but the truth was rather more comical. When I checked in had to change […]
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Well I’m having an interesting day in the office. Things started out well, I managed to get myself onto platform 11 of Berlin Hbf with plenty of time to spare. The temperature is just warm enough to sit outside without getting too cold. Today I’m on the EC 43 service, destination Warsaw. The train is run by PKP – the Polish state owned railway company. Right on cue a weirdly pink locomotive pulled in to the platform. At the front of the train was carriage 272, my first class home for the day. I had a “fenster” again, thanks to the usual […]
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I’m on the D10 now. It leaves Warsaw at 16.08, arriving into Moscow Belorussky station at 12.15 the following day. I’m having some immediate communication problems with my new guard. It hasn’t been an been an ideal introduction to base our relationship on. First of all he seemed not to know where my compartment was – there are only 12 in the carriage, but I had to wonder if I was going to be sleeping in the toilet for a moment. It’s probably as my ticket is a Russian one, and it makes no sense to me either. Once I […]
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I have had a short but enjoyable stay in Warsaw as I prepare to hop on the train to Moscow. I have been staying at the Marriott, an enormous property just a stone’s throw from the central station. One reason that I’m here is that I’m a big fan of the 80’s TV black comedy “A Very Peculiar Practice”. The last ever (feature length) episode “A Very Polish Practice” was partly filmed in the hotel. I’m big fan of Dr Bob Buzzard, played by David Troughton – who, in case you had not realised, is the son of the late […]
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Getting some real sleep on a night train might be likened to your first ever proper engagement in combat – you need the experience to be able to function properly and make the best of things. But until you have this experience, settling down to a good night’s sleep can be rather challenging. The EN447 “Jan Kiepura” is a good train (note – seemingly now also being called the “Berlin – Warsaw Express”). It bashes through Germany in the middle of the night with the minimum of fuss and tooting. I have reviewed the journey on this blog before if […]
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ICE 3 – “The Most Civilised Train in Europe”? Image courtesy Wikipedia. Well, its official – the winter timetable is now out and Europe now has even fewer night time express trains. From my point of view the main loss is the brilliant “Jan Kiepura” (EN447) from Amsterdam. It seems that Holland is now literally “A Bridge Too Far” from Germany and Poland – so I will have to get a train to Oberhausen where my Warsaw train now originates from. Why Oberhausen I have no idea – its not even as far away as Cologne… It feels a bit […]
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I’m on the D10 “Polonez” en route to Moscow via Belarus. It’s my first time on this train, and a decision that I think pays off. More of this later. This morning I stocked up on cheese and wine (there is no restaurant carriage on this route as far as I am aware) and got my luggage down onto the platform without too much drama. Almost a drama though, in that the lift was broken, so I had to use the escalator, something that a health & safety person in the UK would be appalled at. One wrong move and […]
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I spent yesterday in Warsaw. I needed to keep moving as it would have been too easy to simply collapse at the hotel for the day after my experience the previous night. Warsaw seems to be pretty bleak place at this time of year. I can’t therefore work out why Polish people are generally so friendly.. I hadn’t eaten for a day, so I treated myself to a slap up lunch in the “old” town (I don’t think much of it dates much before 1945 though). It looks quaint, but is totally lacking in people and things going on to my […]
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Distance this leg: 1094km. Cumulative distance: 1495 km. Weather: 2 degrees C, foggy. Having left Amsterdam on time last night, I woke at about 8.00am today after a very poor night’s sleep on the EN447. Just as well, as the guard explained we were running about 40 minutes early. The timetable changes today, so this was the last ever train to sit in Berlin for an hour – in future it will go for another loop around suburban Germany. The train is a good one – spotlessly clean with all the key mod cons. My compartment is treated as first […]
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Euro Night 447 “Jan Kiepura” Distance so far: 1692km, GMT +1, -5 C, snow showers. Last night I picked up the EN447 from Amsterdam. It does a weird route around Germany (including Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, Berlin and Frankfurt) before heading to Poland, and terminating in Warsaw. I appreciate that you don’t really “pick up” a train like a woman in a bar, but it makes it sound like I do this all the time, which of course I don’t.. Until last month there was actually a carriage that went all the way to Moscow, but this has now been cut […]
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