I woke to the smell of ham and fried eggs in my compartment. Unless I can now smell cooked breakfasts in my dreams, I think that Sergei must prepare his breakfast in the fire of our carriage samovar in the morning, well before I rise.
I had to work quite hard to get up today, but we were due to stop in Krasnoyarsk at around 09.00 am Moscow time. That meant a 22-minute window for resupply of my onboard larder and to take some exercise.
People often remark that they don’t sleep well on trains, but I think this might be based on the experience of just one night. If you live on a train for a few days you get very used to the movement and the noise. I slept really well last night.
For such a large station there wasn’t much for sale on the platform, but I managed to get what I needed. With the sun up, and clear blue sky, it felt warmer than it probably was. The river that runs through the city was steaming with thick clouds of warm air rising in the Siberian chill.
My caviar and blini diet continues to go well. The supply of onboard caviar seems inexhaustible. The restaurant manager is called Valerie. He explains to me that he lives in Krasnoyarsk and we manage a sign language chat about a range of subjects, from local churches to hydro-electricity. What a nice chap he is. Like so many Russian people I meet, this friendliness is hidden under a gruff surface when you first encounter them.
