Off on my holidays!

This was the scene in the Kazan station as my train, No. 136, from Moscow to Biisk in the Altai, pulls in, ready for us to board.

The destination is listed as Barnaul because that was where all the train barring two coaches was to terminate. The Altai region borders on western Mongolia. This was Saturday evening. I was scheduled to arrive in Biisk (founded as a garrison town by Peter the Great in 1709) at lunch-time on Tuesday.