On the Train

While I am fully stocked with lots of styrofoam noodle stuff, I wanted to eat in the dining car at least once. This is what 500 rubles gets me. (Thats about $15. ):  A breaded chicken filet, pan fried, some tomatoes, onion, etc. all mixed up, a side plate of boiled potatoes, and, of course, a beer. The food was good the setting was nice, cruising through what I guess are the steppes of Siberia (grasslands with occasional stretches of trees). One downside: I'm really not accustomed to people lighting up in a restaurant. And when I smelled smoke while eating, I did not like it. Surprise, surprise...it was the waiter. 

While i was back at dinner we had a twenty minute stop in a town named Barabinsk. We have these stops about every four hours. It is a chance for people to get off the train and get some fresh air. The train is comfortably air conditioned, with no openable windows. So people jump off to get some air. It is also where the smokers jump off to smoke. They are allowed to smoke between the wagons, and it really smells there. At any rate, while it is nice to get the air, one must be aware of the number of smokers. 

This is what the stop looked like Omsk. People milling around. People smoking. Lots of people buying food and drink for the train. They deliver some packages and do some train stuff and send us off again for another four hours. 

A few things of astronomical nature:

I saw the shadow of the earth at twilight last night. It was not like we see it at landers. At GMARS it seems to cover the whole horizon, a broad band. Last night it  was much more of a curved arc, much higher in altitude than in width. 

Secondly, the moon hung over what I assumed was a southwest horizon. But it may have been west. It is hard to get a reliable compass reading on a train. The funny thing is that the lit half was pointing down, not on my right as we usually see it. It was neatly midnight local time. But the sky was still bright. One could easily read outdoors in the light. 

Now, a note about time. It is always Moscow time on a Russian train. But Russia had something like seven time zones. For instance, I get off this train at 02:27 a couple of mornings from now. No, that is not the middle of the night, but 7:27 am. 

One more note. Last night at midnight, local time, we were looking out the window. It was light. Out. The sun had gone down officially some ninety minutes ago. But nautical twilight was so long that evening's  dusk merged right into dawn's. it never got dark. 

I had to put my hoodie on for a while today. We had drizzle on Omsk area. It had been hot in Moscow. I was in shorts the whole te except when the church made me zip the legs on. Now it is back to half clear/half clouds. P

I took a movie of the scenery. But this program won't let me post it. I'll get it to you later.