The soulful tea of the railroad

“File:Podstakannik mit Gold.JPG”by Maiakinfo is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

One of my Google Plus friends reminded me of this wonderful part of my past – having tea with sugar cubes in Russian overnight trains. For some reason tea there tasted much better than at home. This is how it feels like:

Outside the blurry window, you see the wilderness of Eurasia -birch woods interchange the dark coniferous forests, as the train flies past old villages, overgrown cemeteries, making a deep, plangent hoot. Unstoppable – that’s what you are, sitting on a maroon leather seat, looking into the distance and discerning the creeping gloom of the night in the misty haze of unbridled fields.. The conductive metal of podstakannik, the tea glass holder, burns your fingers, so you only take small sips, before placing the crystal cut glass with amber colored liquid back on the small table next to the window. “Choo-choo”, the wheels say, the fresh breeze of air that is bursting into the cabin from the open window brings the familiar scent of native grasses, as the train heads east, and the sun waves it goodbye. Kind of like this: https://i.imgur.com/HDcTp69.jpg

Picture by unknown