Lviv to Prague Express - it was a long night.

John demonstrates the space and luxury aboard the Lviv - Prauge Train

Our departure from Lviv was well organized and un-stressed. Victor picked us up on time, we were on the right platform on time, and we got into the right "vagon" because it was one of two labelled "Lviv to Prague" in roman script. The first clue that it was not going to be the same kind of ride we are accustomed to was the fact that there was no smartly dressed train attendant waiting at the steps to take our tickets. As we got on a woman loomed out of the first compartment and said "billet". I handed her the tickets. She said "passports". I opened my purse. She said "German" I said "Canada". She said "huh" and waved us down the corridor.

It was certainly the oldest rolling stock we've been on, and not in a nostalgic "what a cool old train" way. There were three bunks on one side of the car, the middle bunk, folded down, formed the back rest for the seat. Except, it slanted into the wall at the bottom, so there was no back rest at all, really. A blanket, wedged along the gap, helped a bit. The photos above show what it was like when the bunk was made up --- no one could sit up because there was no more than a couple of feet between bunks. And there was NO ladder to get to the top...John had to be a monkey. Our compartment was the last one in the car, next to the WC, which was not a good thing, as you will learn.

We left the station on time at 6:10 a.m. and within an hour and a half we were at the border crossing. The customs police got on and began to search....and search. They took the covers of the baseboard heaters, they took the panels off the roof, they dismantled the storage lockers in the space between cars and...voila! 40 or 50 packs of cigarettes! After some more searching they left the rubble in the c orridor, took the cigarettes and we moved along to the boogie changing yard. You remember, soviet style trains have wider wheels than the rest of the world, so we have to change. Suddenly a train worker rushed into our compartment "Up, UP, hurry" We jumped up and he lifted the seat, arranged some piece of equipment and ran out. Up we went on the lifts, banging and clanging. Down again. In ran the train worker, "Up UP..." and we were on the way again. While that was going on a man in jeans and a sweatshirt appeared from the first car and began putting the parts of the train that the customs officers had tossed onto the floor back together. Next stop was for Polish border guards, who checked and stamped our passports on the train, bless their hearts, rather than taking them off into some distant office and holding us up for another hour.

On to Crakow....Crakow? I thought we were going south. Oh well, let's check the schedule. It's in cyrillic, but we can make out the place names and times. Does that say we are stopping in Crakow for SEVEN hours? Not possible! Oh, well, we'll get off and have dinner somewhere. We rolled into the Crakow Glowney. The train stopped. No one got on or off. The doors were locked. Nelson and I entertained ourselves watching the people get on and off the other trains. Suddenly we began to move again and we thought we were really on our way, clickity clack along the track. But no, it was the train yard. The two cars labeled "Lviv-Prague" were dropped off and left on the track. We could watch the cleaning crews in the nice, new, modern trains around us. For SEVEN hours! After an hour or two we began to notice the traffic to and from the WC next door. It's a dump-on-the-tracks toilet and we are not supposed to use it in the station, but SEVEN hours is a long time to wait. Down at the other end of the car, far from the WC, the train attendants were in their cabins watching movies. They had comfortable beds.

The smell from below began to permiate our space. It seeped up from the yard and it swirled in from the hallway everytime someone opened the door of the WC. Imagine your worst experience in a BC Parks pit toilet, multiply it by several degrees and maintian it for SEVEN hours. That's about right. It's lucky we had a bottle of Ukrainian brandy to support us during our time of trial.

We finally got underway at about 10 pm (all sense of time was lost by then) and slept a little before waking at the Polish-Cech border crossing in the early morning. We did not know if there would be a passport check. There wasn't, but we were awake anyway. We got into Prague at 6 a..m. and off the train as fast as possible. The first thing I wanted to do was use a toilet....

Up the corridor, down the corridor, it's a lovely modern train station. The WC signs were appearing and disappearing in front of me. Back around again...it's a pay toilet...back to a bancomat...(the wait was killing me, and I was almost killing Nelson and John in the process). The bancomat gave us Cech crowns, 100 crown bills. Fine. Off to the WC, I handed the attendent the money. It's 20 cents, she said (I could read that, I just didn't have 20 cents in Cech). I was desperate by then, so I pulled out a handful of Ukrainian small bills and coins. You would think I had offered her Monopoly money. She started to laugh, she called over her collegue from the men's side of the WC to look at it. She kept saying "Ukrainia, Ukrainia..." I was sending her mental messages that cannot be translated into any language if this blog is being read by children! Finally she took my 100 crown note, and made change, and explained how I could use my 20 cent coin to get through the turnstyle. Whee. Whew.

It was a long night!