Daugavpils Railway Station
Thursday 23rd April
St Georges Day. Sent a text to Richard and Emma to wish them Happy Anniversary.
We had a leisurely drive through the countryside to Daugavpils, where Andrew met us to collect his Jetta. He stayed with us until the train arrived and helped us with our luggage. Our conversation with him revealed that he has three children a girl of 5 and twin 1 year old boys.
We boarded the train and found our sleeping compartment. We were sharing with an elderly couple, not sure whether they were Latvian or Russian. We had been allocated the top bunks and it was quite a struggle to reach them. We managed to store all our luggage and settled in. The attendant came with papers to fill in. After filling them in we realised that we had made mistakes (lower case, and I had crossed a date out) so Alan went to ask for replacements. Fortunately, she gave them without any hassle.
The train set off on time and we got settled in. At 12.00 midnight, the train pulled in to a station, all the lights were switched on and we were disturbed by border guards. They checked our passports and returned them to us. The train resumed its journey at about 12.30. Alan commented that perhaps that was just an exit check. He was correct because at 1.05a.m. the train stopped again and all the lights were switched on again. The young woman border guard wasn’t convinced that my passport photo was a good likeness but she eventually accepted it. She was very curt and slammed the unwanted papers on the bed. The passports and immigration papers were taken away but were finally returned to us at 1.45a.m. and the train was allowed to continue. This time the lights were extinguished fully so it was quite dark in the compartment.
Friday 24th April
6.00a.m. Our first sight of Russia, mile after mile of pine forest and occasional glimpses of frozen ponds and snow. We used the samovar to make a drink of coffee and tea. The sun is shining.
At the station we managed easily as there were some signs in English and we found a taxi straight outside the station. We gave the name and address of the hotel and the driver gave us a price of 500 rubles (ABOUT £10). We arrived at the hotel but couldn’t check in until 2.00p.m. We were able to leave our luggage and go to the 7th floor to the Raskolnikov Bar for a cup of coffee, very pleasant.
We checked in and were shown to our room on the 5th floor. A rest and a shower worked wonders so we set off for a wander up Nevsky Prospekt towards the Admiralty. This road is the most famous in all Russia and is very busy. We tried a Russian restaurant, Alan had Beef Stroganof and I had Chicken Kiev Sausage. Alan finished his meal with a typical Russian dessert of Guriev Kasha, which is a porridge pudding.
The weather is quite warm, and we had a pleasant evening walk by the river Neva.
St Georges Day. Sent a text to Richard and Emma to wish them Happy Anniversary.
We had a leisurely drive through the countryside to Daugavpils, where Andrew met us to collect his Jetta. He stayed with us until the train arrived and helped us with our luggage. Our conversation with him revealed that he has three children a girl of 5 and twin 1 year old boys.
We boarded the train and found our sleeping compartment. We were sharing with an elderly couple, not sure whether they were Latvian or Russian. We had been allocated the top bunks and it was quite a struggle to reach them. We managed to store all our luggage and settled in. The attendant came with papers to fill in. After filling them in we realised that we had made mistakes (lower case, and I had crossed a date out) so Alan went to ask for replacements. Fortunately, she gave them without any hassle.
The train set off on time and we got settled in. At 12.00 midnight, the train pulled in to a station, all the lights were switched on and we were disturbed by border guards. They checked our passports and returned them to us. The train resumed its journey at about 12.30. Alan commented that perhaps that was just an exit check. He was correct because at 1.05a.m. the train stopped again and all the lights were switched on again. The young woman border guard wasn’t convinced that my passport photo was a good likeness but she eventually accepted it. She was very curt and slammed the unwanted papers on the bed. The passports and immigration papers were taken away but were finally returned to us at 1.45a.m. and the train was allowed to continue. This time the lights were extinguished fully so it was quite dark in the compartment.
Friday 24th April
6.00a.m. Our first sight of Russia, mile after mile of pine forest and occasional glimpses of frozen ponds and snow. We used the samovar to make a drink of coffee and tea. The sun is shining.
At the station we managed easily as there were some signs in English and we found a taxi straight outside the station. We gave the name and address of the hotel and the driver gave us a price of 500 rubles (ABOUT £10). We arrived at the hotel but couldn’t check in until 2.00p.m. We were able to leave our luggage and go to the 7th floor to the Raskolnikov Bar for a cup of coffee, very pleasant.
We checked in and were shown to our room on the 5th floor. A rest and a shower worked wonders so we set off for a wander up Nevsky Prospekt towards the Admiralty. This road is the most famous in all Russia and is very busy. We tried a Russian restaurant, Alan had Beef Stroganof and I had Chicken Kiev Sausage. Alan finished his meal with a typical Russian dessert of Guriev Kasha, which is a porridge pudding.
The weather is quite warm, and we had a pleasant evening walk by the river Neva.
