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We pulled into Beijingzhan with much relief — after nearly a week on a train, it was great to be able to walk and stretch and feel solid, steady ground beneath our sandalled feet. We walked out of the train — looooong platforms — and out into the heat and noise and crowds. In moments our …

Yesterday we boarded a night-train in Warsaw, bound for Moscow. It was a small cabin, but we had it to ourselves — the carriage attendant took one look at our backpacks (and generally shabby appearance) and pointed out this was “first class” — the benefit of buying our …

Just a quick note to let everyone know we made it to Moscow — a 23 hour train ride from Warsaw, but I think about 22 of those hours were taken up by passport checks, with another hour to change the wheels to the Russian gauge. Nobody here speaks english, so I better figure out some “survival …

Did a lot of writing on the train from Krakow to Warsawa, so as soon as we get Internet there’ll be a mass update. We sat in our first class cabin and relaxed with free coffee, juice, water and little ginger biscuits. It’s a short trip here, maybe three hours, but we left ourselves …

With only one day in Krakow, we decided it would be best to (temporarily) eschew our “independent travel” principles and join a guided tour of the Auschwitz complex — the Nazi concentration camp where over a million people were murdered in the name of “racial purity” …