the moskva express

leave Berlin Sunday afternoon, arrive Moscow Mon night

love the train and have amazing good luck to be in a compartment with the lovely Larisa, Russian granny and english speaker, delighted to be able to practice on me

she also proves indispensable at 2am when we go through the Belarussian border and have to fill out forms from our beds while the train is also hoisted carriage-by-carriage to change its bogeys to the wide russian gauge

we spend today in our carriage, russian lessons for me and english practice for her. at one of the stations she gets off to get us some hot potatoes with dill and salted cucumber and insists on trying some of my bovril, poor her

there is a little kitchen at the end of each carriage with unlimited hot water and a broken fridge that is put to use as a storage for a broken hob, obviously. drink lots of tea from fancy cups.

think I'm well practiced in train-etiquette now so not feeling daunted about the big one tomorrow. have a packed itinerary (drawn up for me by Larisa) so plan to stomp around Moscow and wear myself out as much as possible before departure 9pm

so far so good, lots of love

cabaret style

bikes are brill. scooted around Belrin for an hour and came across this cafe in, very chilled lunch under the trees and then, popping inside, saw it was also a dance hall, proper old-Berlin style

just enough time for a quick lunch before back to the station and onto the train to Moscow, it's really easy getting around on the bike but wonder why there's a funny clicking sound at all the traffic lights, a bit like horse hooves, no time to solve mystery so over to you

a real treat and good note to leave europe 

berlinner

just written up Paris and now Berlin

got here this morning, Sunday, on overnighter from Paris, 6 in my carriage including 3 children but sleep fine on the top bunk

chatting to friendly old man Gerhardt this morning about outrageous journey and he draws me a little map of some things to see here, horrified I have nothing

rent a bike at the station and have been pootling around, it's really nice to not walk but get some excercise before the monster train to moscow this afternoon

it's a Sunday and a lot's shut so have come to the jewish quarter and found a nice cafe for a beer and geek-sesh with apple

train to moscow at 3 so just time for lunch, have sussed out a lush-looking courtyard place

into Moscow tomorrow night (Mon eve)

paris when it sizzles

paris is looking pretty good, all autumn sunshine and turning leaves

got here at 3, eurostar a bit late (on the french side), and headed straight down to the 5th and 6th, know it's cheating to only go the bits I know but figure I'll be in lots of unknown territory soon so feel justified in a bit of familiarity

realise with embarassment that all my geography is based on restaurants - the one-and-only l'ecurie by the Pantheon where rachel and I gorged on steaks to chic-but-quirky Fish in the 6th. oh well

I'm looking for a FNAC (like Borders) to find a movie to watch on apple - just because I'm training doesn't mean I'm slumming - but then I stumble across a shop only selling old dvds, perfect. find 'bon voyage' in the sale section, even better. it's french, it's on a train, it'd Gerard Dep (natch), perfect, and a bargain

meet the lovely Tommy K for a drink by Gare de l'Est, I'm still a bit nervy and talk too much but cheers TK for the beers and chat and hope your head heals soon....

off tomorrow

just a quick one - doubters (just me then) and supporters, the day has arrived, off tomorrow on the outrageous overland journey and will attempt to update you on progress via this blog

here's the idea, subject to change of course:

London - Paris

Paris - Berlin

Berlin - Moscow

Moscow - Beijing, via Mongolia

Beijing - Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi - Saigon

Saigon - Singapore

Singapore - Perth, Australia

Perth - Sydney

Sydney - Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland - Napier, home to the lovely Anna, AJ and Rusty and my new home for the winter, if I ever get there

so watch this space, apologies in advance if I keep things brief and even more apologies if I don't

it's all about the journey then but right now it's more about lunch, off to meet the lovely Lesley, tv chief, horsewoman and the best almost-godmother a girl ever had. Farewell noodles and a good chinwag are calling.

Starbucks (oh the shame), Camden Town, London, UK