April 19 – Pre-trip Update. All reservations, tickets and passes are in our hands. Well almost. When I received our train tickets there was a small problem. Our first train trip was in two parts, Homburg to Berlin, Germany by coach and then Berlin to Moscow by overnight train with a room. Problem was that Diana and I were in beds that are in different rooms! Not sure how that happened but there it was. To be honest, it’s difficult to know where you are assigned on European trains as the space numbers are not consecutive. For example, coach seats 11 and 15 are right next to each other, one is the window the other is the aisle. Don’t ask me why, it’s just one of those things that makes Europe so charming. I was not surprised that our bed numbers were not consecutive but the numbers were so far apart I had check. Sure enough, different rooms.
After a long time, between 1.5 and 2 hours on the phone, I had to reschedule the trip. It’s now Homburg to Berlin and then Berlin to Warsaw, Poland by coach. Then an overnight train from Warsaw to Moscow. We leave a lot earlier in the day but we get to Moscow just before noon rather than 10PM, much better. The two train transfers instead of one is a small inconvenience but preferable to the original tickets arrangements.
We leave for PA on Thursday and will stay several days with my relatives.
