So my Journey started :)

So I started my journey in Leipzig in the evening of the 10th of May. It just took me 1 hour to get to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen where I was supposed to take the direct night train to Kyiv. It was a very interesting start. Up from the beginning I made acquaintance with a woman from Ukraine who lives and works for some years in Berlin as a nurse in a hospital. She invited me into her cabin for having a dinner and we spoke about lots of personal things, e.g. how her life in Germany is or what I will do in Ukraine. She was very kind and friendly as well as openly to all kind of questions and I really liked our deep conversation. She showed me in a pleasant way that she as Ukrainian is very hospitable and open minded. But unfortunately time was passing by very quickly and we reached border to Ukraine at around 12 pm the next day.

Here in Jagodin the train stopped for about 2 hours. It was not just because of rigorous check of the customs control, moreover it was because of changing the Chassis of the train. Maybe you know that at the border to Poland the chassis (running gear) of the train has to be changed because the tracks in Europe are narrower than in Ukraine and Russia. It is just a heritage of former times when Russians had been afraid that Western countries try to invade Russia by trains. So we waited a long time, were not allowed to leave the train when the work was done. But I just took the chance to take some photos and videos from the change of the chassis.

I also met two guys from Poland who entered the train and my cabin in Poznan. It was also quite interesting to speak with them and they offered me also some specialities from Poland to eat. I really appreciated it and took the great home-made pickled cucumbers. Together with some Ukrainian beer, which the conductor in my coach offered me for free (by the way also some tea or coffee was included in the price for the ticket) it is a great combination and I liked it very much.