The Train to St. Petersburg

We took the metro to the train station where we caught a sleeper train leaving around 11 PM. This metro had huge mosaics of workers at one point on the wall. Another part had a beautiful ceiling, and the walls were lined with marble, probably originally from a church.
Kristen and her cousin Jessi

The train was going through to Helsinki with a stop at St. Petersburg. I had been warned that the bathrooms would be filthy and the sheets old and scratchy, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how clean and new it all was. The bathroom on the train ride home was also clean and well supplied, so it is likely an area which had been improved. The sleeper train had a narrow hall on the left when facing forward. Each room had a sliding door. The room itself slept 4. The two beds on top were already made up. Below those were sofas. Pushing a button on the wall brought down the two lower beds. A small table was in the middle between the two beds. I had just been reading Anna Karenina which mentioned a sleeper train from St. Petersburg to Moscow, so it was nice to be able to picture that scene better. As soon as the train started, we had tea and cookies and settled down to bed somewhat after midnight. Although the train didn't stop at any stations, the track was very bumpy, and we were vibrated awake quite frequently. We were up again by 5 so that we were ready before the station master opened the door on us to tell us it was time to pack up. Apparently Russians have less of a sense of privacy than Americans do.