00.01 Ok, from now on our visas are valid. Would be so nice if someone also wanted to look on them. I can hear a walkie-talkie…..

00.09 Passports collected. They are due to be back here in about 5-10 minutes. I hope we haven’t made any mistakes. The young passport officer spoke English!

00.15 Passports are back with stamps on our visas. The customs officer visited us just before the passports returned. He just took a short glance at our backpacks. Our compartment neighbour has helped us with the men in uniforms.. He explained to them where we are from. We can finally sleep.

BELARUS

06.30 Awoken with a need to sleep more. We have to catch up with the sleeping at the hotel. It is time to gather our belongings before we enter Minsk.

07.55 We have reached the metro of Minsk. Next mission will be to choose the right train. By the way, how does one act to get a ticket here? We just have to study and repeat. Before we left our rolling night quarters our neighbours left the compartment and he signed at me to get dressed. What a nice man.

08.06 You pay in a booth, receive a "jetton"(plastic piece), put it in a slot, pass a turnstile and then just walk to the platform you wish to leave from. We did just this, went one station and then walked to find a new line to take us further. At this point something went wrong. We didn’t reach another platform. We got up above ground instead. While above ground we might as well have breakfast in this park we are seated in. We are close to president Lukashenko’s palace. Down under in the metro there is a monument with the hammer and the sickle. After breakfast we´ll just buy a new jetton and travel on to our home here in town. We will just have some of the breakfast now.

Breakfast in our room in Minsk.

09.05 We are on the 9th floor in room 909 in Hotel Orbita by the metro station Pusjkinskaja. Nice room with TV and a view over boulevards. All I want to do is to have my breakfast.

A view from Hotel Orbita down towards the metro station "Pusjkinskaja" which hides under the intersection.

12.18 I had just what I needed,, some sleep. Christer seems to need more of it and I guess I will join him and sleep a little more.

13.28 We gained enough strength to get outside and have lunch. I guess it is also a good idea to pass the reception and pick up or passports.

13.56 We are sitting on a train going somewhere. I am hungry

Christer at Pizzeria Il Patio, Minsk

14.49 At Pizzeria Il Patio on Prospekt Skoriny 22. Spaghetti Carbonara and beer are ordered. We are not so far from that park where we had a small breakfast, to be exact just a street from it.

16.03 Believe it or not. We are actually on a bench in a park. Park Im Janky Kopaly. Minsk sure is a clean city. Street sweepers and policemen both here and there.

17.11 We found a supermarket, Universam Tsentralnij . Here we have bought juice and beer. We are now pausing in front of the Bernardine church.

The Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk

17.55 Back home in the room. We left the central parts of the town via Njamiha metro station just below the Holy Spirit’s cathedral. Time for a shower before we get acquainted with our hotel. What can be found here and where can it be found? A place it could be nice to know where to find is the room where breakfast is served.

20.05 In the room again after that we have checked the premises in and around our the hotel. We now know where breakfast is served. Time to taste the local beer and the local cake that we bought.

22.41 Just had ourselves some Belorussian beers. They were really tasty as were the cake. It is time to go to bed.

Central Minsk. View along the main street "Prospekt Skoriny"

Friday 24th of June

08.04 The cars are awaken and moves outside the hotel. The sun has woken up and peeks in through the window. We are also awake and will soon get out of our beds. Happy Midsummer! "Midsummer in Minsk", sounds like the name of a novel.

09.45 Back after breakfast, buffet style. Lots of food to choose from both warm and cold. I had some problems with the samovar as I wanted some water for my instant coffee. It didn't help no matter how much I turned the handle. The problem was that it had so little water in it. I had to lean it forward to get some. My coffee moment was saved. They don’t sell any postcards in the hotel but they sell lots of other stuff.

10.22 A new habit is born, morning beer. We are sitting and looking out of the window to the street below as we make plans for this day.

12.33 Just passed the Dynamo Minsk football arena and we walked to the station to buy tickets for the trip to Kiev on Sunday. It took three attempts and counters before we got it right. We still had some problems with the language but got help by a nice lady who acted as interpreter.

A sign helping us remember where we are

12.57 We have walked a while but now it´s time to sit down and gather thoughts and strength. We are in need of a small lunch.

13.53 Just bought some postcards. There are plenty to choose from but few from Minsk. We are sorting our money before its lunch. The reason why it is necessary to sort the money is that there are many kinds of bills and no coins here. Paperwork for sure.

15.10 Just had lunch and wrote postcards at Café Vjasjolka in the Gorky park. Shish kebab and beer was just perfect. The menu only had Russian (Cyrillic) letters but we have learned the most important menu words, for example shish kebab, meat, chicken etc.

Kafé Vjasjolka in Gorkij Park.

16.59 We walked along parks and along boulevards. Filling up with fluids as of now. Just sent the postcards. If you pay for something here with bills of a low value you will use around one square metre of them. Here everyone drinks beer from a bottle, glass or plastic, rich man or poor man.

Break in the street Komsomolskaja. Here as in the rest of Minsk everything is clean and tidy.

17.13 Just saw the sparrow from Minsk. Well not Olga Korbut but a little bird. A little earlier a newly wed couple passed. The newly weds are with us this year as well.

18.02 A stop by Svislach, the river which runs through the city. We are back in Janky Kopaly- park. Here we see people picking up empty bottles. Are they friends of the environment or in the need to recycle them for money. Some of them are smoking, not good for the environment or your money.

18.54 We just sat down to have dinner. Pork, sausage, fried onions, sour cream sauce and pancakes. The place offering this feast is "Pechki Lavochki" just close to yesterday´s pizzeria.

19.20 The pancakes came on a plate. The rest of the stuff mixed with the sauce came in a small kettle.

20.22 Back at the hotel after we bought a little to drink and chew on. Feels so good to be back home. We walked for many hours today.

23.21 Looking at some music festival on TV. On the local channels as in the rest of the town is a slight fascination about World War II and especially the victory sixty years ago in this war. The most special we´ve seen on the TV was a program showing a film where they zoomed in George Bush, The White House and the Statue of Liberty and commentated it all with ...."Propaganda, Propaganda, Propaganda!"

Saturday 25th of June

08.10 Midsummer Day! Here you sleep great, really great. I had some of the juice I bought yesterday. It is another sunny day. Today we have to figure out how much money we will spend. Would be nice to know in case we visit an ATM.

10.11 We are in the room after breakfast resting on our beds wondering if we are able to as much as we did yesterday. Soon we walk/stroll/go towards the centre parts of town.

11.01 A car just came in a high speed. The driver did his best to stop the car. It slid and went into another car. After this lots of people have walked around the cars. All this has been seen from our window. Time to get down town.

11.30 We´ve just begun our walk towards the centre. We are resting in the shadow of some trees and a small statue of Mikhail Frunze.

12.10 Another pit stop we are resting and trying to find out where we are. It is getting warmer, 24-25 °. According to the map it isn’t that far to our first goal today.

Peter having a beer near River Svislach

12.53 Sitting in a beer tent near the renovated Old City and the river. We are having a beer and just enjoying it all.

13.56 Time for a new rest. At the opposite side, on the other side of river, is the park we visited yesterday.

Different kinds of boats just by the Gorky park.

The Ferris wheel in Gorky park

Christer in a very green picture taken in Gorkij Park.

14.23 Just walked through the Gorky park with lots of things to do and tents to buy stuff from. Our next goal is an Azerian restaurant where we might have a lunch or other later meal. We just met some newly wed that walked. She carried her wedding bouquet, he carried his mobile phone. We also watched a female team practising field hockey.

14.56 We skipped that Azerian place. But we still are hungry. I guess we used up all of the breakfast. We took aim at Rakovsky Brovar. A place that makes its own beer and if we are lucky also food.

15.28 Just reached Rakovsky Brovar, time to order. This will be a challenge. Everything in the menu is with Cyrillic letters.

Rakovsky Brovar

17.43 Once again in old 909. I just went and asked for a new toilet paper roll. After some hesitation and a little control the floor lady gave us a new roll. The food we had at Rakovsky Brovar reminded of what we had yesterday. This was served on a wooden plate with cow shaped stone plate on it. The homebrewed beer was excellent!

21.13 I´ve just been down in the cafe to get me a cup of coffee. It is warm in the room. At least 25°.

Sunday 26th of June

00.06 Christer has in his eager to wash his clothes also managed to wash his card to the hotel. This card not only let him get the room key in the reception but also allows him breakfast in the morning. What will happen now?

08.12 Once more back from slumber. A new day is here. This one is draped in rain clouds. This is the day of travel on. What shall we do before the train leaves?

10.26 All right, Christer was accepted to have breakfast. He just had to show them the room key. Time to put down the last things. We still have know clue what to do before we depart.

12.45 Checked out from Hotel Orbita. The metro brought us to the railway station where we left our backpack at the left-luggage office. We are making up schedules for the day as we sit and rest in a park.

14.08 Relaxing as a happy man in the Gorky park. Here we found what I´ve been looking for a little while, a small house with a toilet inside. We have also seen/met a squirrel.

Belarus squirrel

15.00 Back at Pizzeria Il Patio. I have ordered a pizza and Christer has ordered Fettuccini alla Bolognese.

16.02 In the Janka Kopaly park. We sit and just digest the food and wonder how we spend the rest of the time.

The Victory monument at Boulevard Skoriny. It is of course the victory in World War II that´s being noticed.

This funny little church is on an island in the Svislach river. We saw several newly wed couples here.

17.50 We have after a short walk passed the Victory monument and the reconstructed Old Town with its houses and a cool church returned to Janka Kopaly park, our oasis in Minsk.

View from Janka Kupaly Park towards River Svislach.

18.43 Time for another dinner at "Pechki Lavochki". We will get, if we understood the menu correct, meat dumplings in broth.

19.12 What is going on? It has been half an hour since we placed our orders. Shall it really takes this long to rap some meat in dough or have we ordered something completely different?

Soviet Union is still "alive" in Minsk.

20.27 Nothing wrong with that meal. It was, as in finally, as we predicted small packages of dough. As of now we are in our compartment. A lower bed each. There is a slight shortage of bed sheets here. I guess we can buy such.

21.38 Just to fill in the immigration card is tricky. To fill it in on a shaking train is impossible to say the least. But we try our best!

21.47 I just ordered coffee and cookies for two from the wagon host. The same man that earlier, as we thought, sold us some sheets. The train toilet in the wagon is something extra. If you put up that ring you are supposed to sit on there is foot marks carved out in the metal beneath.

22.03 The host brought coffee. Two big glasses with metal handles and with two packages of cookies.

22.35 Just stopped at the station in Osipovitji. Here we can hear ”Fûr Elise” in the loud speakers just before a messages is announced.

23.23 Time to get some sleep. We wish, if it is possible, to be brisk as we pass the border. I hope it will be easier to enter Ukraine this time (July 5th 2003).

Coffee and cookies on a Belarus night-train