Catch Up #3: Overnight Train to Kyiv

01/15/09: We decided it would be best to split the boys up given our experience the prior night. Ruslan wanted to sleep with me, so Colin, Ruslan, and I shared a cabin. Nancy, Claire, Natasha, and Valik shared the other.

Of course, sharing the cabin only applies to the actual sleeping time. At all other times, the boys were moving so fast between one cabin and the other that I think they actually bent the laws of time and space and coexisted in each simultaneously once or twice.

Ruslan and Valik wanted the upper berths down and moved up and down every 30 seconds, then back and forth to the other cabin. Meanwhile, Colin, Claire, and I would sneak bites of chips and sips of Coca Cola Light while the boys weren't looking (else there would have been constant begging for some for them). That may not be completely fair, but they are little, and I say Rank Has Its Privileges.

[As wild as our ride was, it was still tame compared to Natasha's New Year's Eve train to Kyiv. The festivities apparently went on long and hard to the extent that the woman who sells track in the cabins got extremely drunk and threw up. Glad we missed that one.]

We decided to try to get the boys to bed as early as possible, so we went at about 6pm to the dining car. Then the fun began.

The dining car was about 8 cars away from ours. That means we had to navigate through about 48 doors and cross 8 car junctions. That is a challenge as the little catwalk is narrow and the gaps at the side are big enough for the boys legs to slip through. And then, the cars turn opening and closing the gaps, and potentially crushing little legs. OSHA would have a field day.

We started off well for about 3 cars. But then Valik decided he no longer wanted to hold hands. He refused to do so, and then started yelling and flopped down on the floor of the car. We sent Colin, Claire, and Ruslan along with Natasha, while Nancy and I returned to our cabin with Valik screaming all the way.

Nancy held him tight for about 10 minutes. That calmed him down (though he hates it).

We returned and ate a very messy meal. I had a very good pork chop. Valik, as usual, would not eat at first, but eventually ate a few bites.

We split the boys up for the evening. Ruslan was in the bunk across from me. He kept playing with the volume on the radio and turning the lights on and off. However, after several admonishments, he hummed himself to sleep.

As before the train got horribly hot until about 1am. Probably over 90 degrees. Then they turned the heat off, so by the time we woke up at 6am, it was almost comfortable. Other than a few bathroom emergencies, it was pretty uneventful.

We arrived at Kyiv at about 8:30am, caught up with Yulia and Yuri and crammed our bags and us into 2 cars and made our way to our way to our flat.