Train travels

The Germans must have been here....
Warsaw's train station cannot boast grandiose architecture as it's claim to fame.. Rather drab, huge, and efficient would be more apt words to describe it. The one interesting aspect of it, is that is surrounded by an underground network of tunnels and walkways that have literally hundreds of kiosks offering mini pizzas, pastries galore, coffee, tea, snack foods, newspapers magazines, groceries, alchohol, perfumes, books and just about any thing that a traveller would want. There are clocks everywhere around the huge station. Not the high teck digital clocks, but the low tech type that have numbers that flip down as they mark the progress of time.. From the top of the escalator looking down to the tracks I can see perhaps ten clocks all at the same time.. The amazing thing is that when one clock changes, they all simultaneously change. Easy for us to do with digital technology, but just a tad more difficult when we are dealing with mechanical functioning clocks. Not only that, but if a train is scheduled to leave at 7:25, the second the numbers flip to 7:25, the train begins to move.. I would blame that on the Germans. .

Generation Gap
I commented earlier on how so many of the people that I have run into, speak English and do offer some sense of friendliness. There is obviously a generation gap run amuck here. Unlike the rest of the world where the tickets are purchased from a main reception area, most tickets here are purchased in one of many many little kiosks in the labryinth of tunnels around the station. These kiosks are operated by the train company. The employees that work at these kiosks are all of the “older” generation. Obviously they have snagged a position with the train company that would probably pay fairly well by Polish standards, but would also come with job security and a pension. These positions are filled mostly with women in their 50's. There is an obvious generation gap between these folks and the younger people. These people speak no English, whatsoever.. If asked if they speak English, they say “no” and immediately go back to what they were doing. If asked if there is a ticket kiosk that does have an English speaker, they say “No” and go back to what they were doing. When I did the typical grunt, groan, point, and stumble out a few words, the shoulders were shrugged and nothing happened.. On to the next ticket kiosk..... The fourth time I was rudely told “no”, a young Polish girl was standing behind me and she asked, in English, if she could help. I explained that I wanted a ticket to Vilnius, Lithuania, She explained that request, in Polish to the kiosk agent. They babbled back and forth for a few minutes before she turned to me and said there was no train to Vilnius, and that I would have to take a bus. Strange, I thought, as I had read that there was indeed a train and it left from that station. A little bewildered I wandered around, trying to figure out my next course of action. I wandered up to the second floor of the station and there, tucked away in the corner was an International Kiosk. Operated by the same company downstairs.. I was relieved when I went up to the window and the woman behind the counter said she did speak a little English and told me the time and cost of the train. I must add, that her tone was anything but friendly, even borderline rude. From all this, I surmise that older generation developed an outlook on life, and strangers under the Communist regime.. They younger people, whether by television or internet or just plain human decency, have not yet developed that hardness. Obviously there is a huge change coming down the pipe for Poland as the new younger generation start replacing the old guard from the Communist regime.. A generation gap for sure..

Not well prepared...
I had read beforehand that although the train trip between Warsaw and Vilnius is a 11 hour trip, that one should come prepared as there is no services available on the train.. The train was scheduled to leave at 7:20 AM, Between wanting to be there early enough to buy a ticket, I knew that I would not be able to pick up any snacks that early in the morning. Armed with that information, I trundled into a little well stocked deli close to my hotel. I should note here that every neighbourhood seems to be peppered with these small convenience stores. Unlike the convenience stores in Canada that sell mostly junk food, pop and cigarrettes, these are little shops that sell real food. Everyone I visited had a meat and cheese cooler that was at least 15 feet long and stocked with bulk cured meats and cheeses from around the world. For any of you that know me and my eating habits, I thought this is heaven... I grabbed some nice fresh French buns, two different kinds of smoked sausages, and a little block of genuine gouda cheese.. Ok, I admit that I gave up principle and also bought a liter of Coca Cola. I was ready for the trip...... By 11:00 the passenger cubicle I was sitting in had cleared out, and I was feeling some pangs of hunger. I figured it was time to nibble on something... I thought of the food in my pack and my mouth started to water. Just as I was pulling it out of my pack, I realized that I do not have a knife with me.. My last jack knife had been nabbed by airport security, and I had not replaced it yet.. I pondered.. Hmm how to cut the cheese.. how to cut the sausage.. cut the bun? I did the typical Canadian self conscious thing of thinking about me chawing a big bite off a block of cheese just when somebody walked by... classy, eh? Try as I might I could not come up with an alternative other than that. I could resist it no longer.. I opened my pack, dug out a bun, a Polish sausage and the block of cheese.. I figured what the hell.. If somebody did walk by and saw me eating like this, they would probably understand....Damn it was delicious....... Me thinks this is heaven.. And on the shopping list.. a new jack knife...

Quasi romantic...
One has to admit that there is a certain romanticism about train travel.. The train itself is a bit of blend. The locomotive diesel is very Soviet in looks... The cars are old, but in reasonable shape.. Even the windows have been cleaned this month. Each car is broken into little compartments, each sitting 8 people. There is a narrow hallway down one side of the car, and a door that slides to provide access to the compartment..Just like in the movies..... Outside the window, the land looks poor. I would say half farmland, and half bush. The farm land is mostly hay with the occassional grain field thrown in. The bush is scrub poplar and white birch, intermingled with some sort of pine that seems to lose it's bark like our arbutus trees back home. The sky is overcast, but there is no rain... As the train clacketly clacks comfortably along, it is very peaceful.. Leaning against the side of the car, chin resting in hand, looking at the forest slide by beside us...Wondering what life would be like here.. Wondering about the changes it has seen in the last hundred years.... Images of Dr. Zhivago and Zara riding out of the trees...I do believe that would be called a romantic moment..

Drama on the train...
When I boarded the train in Warsaw, it was moderately full. The train is laid out like a typical European rail car. Little compartments that seat eight people on one side, and a narrow hallway on the other. I found a compartment that was not crowded.. Three young men sat on one side, and an older gentleman on the other by the window.. Perfect, I thought.. Threw my bag up on the luggage rack about our heads and sat down. The older gentleman was a little heavy set, and appeared to be dozing in his seat. The three young men seemed to all freinds, and were talking away in a language that I had not heard before.. As the train was heading to Lithuania, and I had never heard Lithuanian, when there was a break in the conversation, I asked them if they spoke English.. The youngest one confirmed that they did in fact speak English. I enquired what language they had been speaking and he responded that they had been speaking Turkish... The older gentleman by know had started to snore.. Not just snore, but to snore loudly.. I knew it was a language I had not heard before... I queried them about what three Turks would be doing riding a train in northern Poland. It turns out that they are students at a polytechnical institute a couple of hours north of Warsaw. They had been down in Warsaw for the weekend to party, and were returning today (Sunday) for classes on Monday. When I heard that, I asked if they spoke Polish.. They responded that they did not understand Polish at all. This did not make sense to me so I queried further about what language they were being taught in, at the polytechnical school.. It turns out that the courses there were taught in English. They had studied mechanical engineering in Turkey for three years and then had decided to take their final year in Poland.. The loud snores from the older gentleman continued throughout..When queried about why they elected to do that, they unanimously agreed that it was because of the good looking Polish girls..Ok.. I could buy that..As we talked away, the conductor came into the compartment, asking for tickets.. I gave her mine, and she stamped it. She leaned over and tried to wake up the snoring gentleman, and he just grunted.. She nudged him again.. and again.. Finally she shook him awake. He pulled out his ticket and she was done with him. She turned to the Turkish students when they produced the tickets, she scowled... She talked them in Polish, but they did not understand a word..Nor did I. She took their tickets and went to the back of the train.. Moments later she returned with another conductor who knew a very very little bit of English. It seems that the tickets had been purchased with a student discount. In order to use these tickets, the owner of the ticket is supposed to carry a student card with them and produce that at the same time. The Turkish students tried to explain to the conductor that they had what they called a dormitory card, but had not yet been issued a student card.. Not good enough for the conductor.. Now both conductors are flabbergasted with what to do. They stand and jabber in Polish for a few minutes and try to explain to the Turkish students that they cannot travel on that discounted ticket, no matter what... The students plea their case but it is falling on deaf ears.. From the conductor's point of view there is only one option, and that is to buy a regular ticket. Most of this is getting lost in translation so the two conductors walk away and return a short time later with another passenger on the train who is going to act as interpreter...Apparently, somehow through all the bureacracy of Poland, the discounted tickets are issued by the government, and the normal tickets are issued by the train company, so simply paying the difference was just not going to work. By this time the Turkish students are getting a little worked up and flustered. The older gentleman has been trying to get back to sleep but there was just too much noise in the compartment, so he up and left.. It looks like the Turkish students had a good time in Warsaw, because between the three of them, they could only come up with 30 zlotes ($10.00 CDN) and the new tickets would cost in the range of 30 zlotes each... Hmmm a dilemna.. The conductor presented a second option. If they could produce a credit card he could use it to sell them three $300 zlote rail passes... They didn't want to tie up that much money in rail passes and they claimed not to have a credit card. Still they argued that they should be able to just pay the difference.. Voices were raised on all sides.. Finally the conductor asks if he can see thier passports. He inspects them and then tells them that he is going to take the passports to the back of the train for a while...The Turkish students start putting up a ruckus.. The cardinal rule of all travellers is to never give your passport to someone to take away. Needless to say he insisted it was going to be that way, and off he sauntered down the hallway. By this time the Turkish students are getting pretty worried. Chattering away to themselves, they expected to be hauled of by the police at the next station. Time dragged on for them. The unknowns in their futures were getting more immense by the moment. To top it off, I get a feeling they had been partying the night before and I doubt they were thinking that clearly. I could see the agitation in their movements that they were worried that this would impact both their pocket books deeply and maybe even their status in Poland. Time slowly passed... Finally the conductor shows up again with the passenger interpreter. The two parties argue the merits of their different perspectives on the situation. Finally the conductor brings forth another option. When they get to their station, he will hold their passports, and go inside the station with them, where they buy a standard ticket to Warsaw. He will then sort it out with the ticket agent that they can get a refund on the discounted tickets. They will still be out the difference between the discounted ticket and a normal ticket, but at this point they willing accept the offer. Drama over. Ah.. the life and times on Polish trains..

Another ill prepared moment...
I caught myself a little unawares this time.. Normally, I travel with a map. So I know where I am, and where I am going. Perhaps it is the sailor in me that always wants to know where I am. I do have a map of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with me but I did not bother with one of Poland. I thought it would be a very simple matter of landing in Warsaw, spending a few days and then catching a bus or train on to Vilnius... It kind of is, but isn't. The Polish trains do not run into Lithuania. I must change trains at the border. No big deal apparently the two tracks run adjacent to each other and it is simply a matter of stepping off one train, walking ten feet and stepping onto the other. I am sure it will be that simple.. But along with not having a map, I do not have a schedule of this Polish train I am on. Nor is there one posted anywhere on board. We just pulled into a town called Suwatki.. At least that is what I think it is called. Some of the letters in the name are not in the alphabet that we use.. When the train pulled into the station it seems everybody that was onboard, got off. Now the train is just sitting here. The train has been slowly emptier and emptier the further we get away from Warsaw.. I just took a walk up the hallway on this car. I am the only person in this car now.. Is this where I am supposed to get off and wait for the Lithuanian train? The older generation Polish union railway workers do not speak a word of English and from the sounds of it could care less about me.. Damn I wish I had paid attention to the schedule and where it was that I was supposed to switch trains. In the back of my mind is the situation of ending up at the “end of the line”, and being stuck there overnight, no accomodations, and missing my train to Vilnius to boot.. Sheesh. I just checked the car ahead of me and the car behind me... nobody in either of those cars either... Right now, not a railway employee to be seen... The train platform is empty of people now, so there is no one to ask... Do I chance hopping off the train and running into the station to ask somebody? If I do that, should I take my pack with me, so that if the train leaves at least I have that with me? Do I leave my pack and take a quick run into the station, hoping that the train does not leave with my pack? I think I will just wait a few moment to see what happens.. Uh oh... the train has started moving.. but in the opposite direction that we came in. Am I heading back to Warsaw? Yuck! I am going to go find somebody somewhere on the train.....Ok, I am back. I found the conductor at the very back of the train, engaged in a vivid conversation with another passenger.. Apparently I am not the last known soul on a renegade run away train... I pulled out my ticket and pointed to the part that said Vilnius...He took the ticket, looked at it, turned it over, looked at it again, pulled out his glasses, and looked at me.. I pointed at the word Vilnius on the ticket and asked in English if this was where I changed stations.. He looked at me dumbly, and then he figured out what I was asking.. He said “Vilnius”, and I shook my head.. He did not say anything put just put his palm hand down in front of him, and moved it up and down. like he was patting a dog.. I took that to mean. :just wait:... I have never seen that hand signal before and quite honestly, I had no idea what it means. I hope I am right....I saunter back to my three empty cars.....Hmmmm the cleaners just moved through my car, sweeping the compartments and hallway as they went.. Not a good sign at all... Maybe another night in Warsaw will not be that bad after all. It was a nice day for a train trip... Fifteen minutes later and we are still travelling backwards. As far as I am concerned, this is a bad thing. Still no one to ask. On the plus side, the last bit of geography before the last stop was all forest, I thought. We are now in what looks like mediocre farm land. That is a good sign. The sound of the tracks has changed too. Before was the new high speed, long rail tracks wher the clacking of the wheels was not all that frequent.. The clacking on the rails is now very frequent.. That is a good sign.. And we are not travelling all that fast, so we may well have switched to a lower grade track and still be heading to the border..But I cannot imagine a train with the locomotive at the back of the train.. Something is amiss here.. I have my fingers crossed... I just had a brain wave.. I wonder if the Lithuania map that I have has this border area of Poland on it....I am going to check that out.. In the old days, road maps used to include the rail lines. Not any more.. That is not good news....I did find Suwalki on the map.. Spelled a little differently than the last station we were in, but close enough that I would call it that. It is close to the border, but I do not recognize any names.. My ticket is all in Polish but it does have a name on it Sestoka.. I cannot find that on the map... Hmmmm I just noticed another little country on the map. Between Poland and Lithuania is a contry called Rossija (Russland). Half the size of Lithuania, and all the names are in Cyrillic alphabet.. A province of Russia? Of Belarus? There is only a narrow strip of land that connects Poland to Lithuania. On one side, Belarus, on the other, this Russland.. There is so much geography to learn in this world! I will have to find out next time I can get online.. Now back to my dilemna.. The train is slowing down.. I am guessing we are coming into a station...I will open the window and stick my head out, and try not to get the top of my head whisked off by a sign or tree... Yuppers.. a station.. and we have not been here before.. The train actually changed directions in Suwalki. Interesting...The train is just going around a long bend in the tracks.. I stuck my head out the window to see if I could figure out which end the engine was on.. We are going forward, not backwards. They must have unhooked the engine in Suwalka and shuttled it around to the other end of the train. I guess if the system works, there is nothing wrong with it. It just seems like a strange thing to do.. Probably a bit stranger because I have no idea what is going on.. I feel like I am just along for the ride. Ah.. life is good.. The adventure continues...Nobody to talk to on the train.. It is a bit “lonely” having three rail cars to myself. Just me and my computer, sort of talking to you.. I wonder if people wrote diaries in the old days when they had nothing to do. I don't want to nap, as I may miss an important event, like maybe a cow in the field.. or low flying enemy aircraft... or my stop!!!

There were others...
The train slowly pulls into another station and comes to a stop. The conductor actually comes up to my compartment and waves at me to let me know it is my stop. All my fears put to rest.. She points across the platform to a short red train sitting there. I get the message.. I clamber down from one train and up onto the other. The Polish train had ten cars, the Lithuanian train, only two and the engine.. I notice that indeed there were others on the Polish train with me. There about ten of us that climb onto the Lithuanian train. I made it.. I am in Lithuania. Gone are the forest once again.. Just very gently rolling farmland. It even looks fertile. Cows tethered around the fields. The sun is even trying to break through the clouds. A good omen? As I write this, I am getting jostled back and forth in my seat. The Lithuanian train is pretty spartan compared to the Polish train. This more resembles a wide transit bus with some very light duty upholstery over metal seats. I hope this is not a long ride..I can hear people speaking in the background.. But I cannot make out individual words. Does the language sound like Polish? Or is it completely different.. I am feeling a little bagged.. I was up this morning at 4:00 AM, because I crashed too early on Saturday evening.. There is not a comfortable position on this tran. Ok, I think the Poles win the contest between the two countries for comfortable trains... We stop every ten minutes and pick up new passengers.. It is actually starting to get crowded.

Three young girls sit down beside me. They are definitely speaking a different language, and it is not Polish, nor is it Russian.. I enquire, and sure enough it is Lithuanian They are students returning to classes after a weekend at home with their families.. The English is not bad. They volunteer that they learn it in school. From a first hearing of the language, I would describe Lithuanian as somewhere between Polish and Norwegian. All three girls claim that Lithuanian has nothing in common with German, Polish, nor Russian. They claim similarities between Lithuanian and Latvian, but native speakers of one tongue cannot understand the other. How does a small country of 3 million people maintain an independant and unique language? Espoecially considering that they have been occupied by foreign nations for the last 1000 years... Me thinks that Quebec could learn some lessons here. I will find out if there is a lot of legislation in place in order to maintain the language.. Things like books... How many books, would publishers actually bother to translate into Lithuanian, if there are only 3 million people?

Noses Again
I notice that for the passengers on this train, that the noses have changed.. No longer can you take one nose off one face and plant it on another, without causing a major change of looks..All these noses are different.. Back to the way life should be.. There are big noses, small noses, twisted noses, lumpy noses, noses with lumps. All sorts of noses... Is my imagination running rampant again...