- Title: Soccer fans experience trans-Siberian express route
- Date: 20th June 2018
- Summary: VALLET, SAYING: (French): "GO FRANCE" WINDOW AND FRENCH FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE FANS, AKIM SNOUCI AND HERVE VALLET, SAYING: SNOUCI, TALKING ABOUT WHAT HE THINKS OF THE TRAIN, SAYING: "Not a dream come true, but a beautiful experience, a very, very beautiful experience. I expected not much comfort and all that. But everything is perfect. We had lunch, we ate very,
- Embargoed: 4th July 2018 20:11
- Keywords: FIFA World Cup Russia Trans Siberian train France Peru
- Location: BETWEEN YEKATERINBURG AND DRUZHININO, RUSSIA
- City: BETWEEN YEKATERINBURG AND DRUZHININO, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Sport,World Cup
- Reuters ID: LVA0028L44ZEN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At more than 9,000 km, it is the world's longest railway and arguably its greatest, connecting Moscow with remote parts of Russia, as well as branching off into China, North Korea and Mongolia.
Now soccer fans can travel along the path of the Trans-Siberian express as they attend games at the World Cup's furthest flung destination, Yekaterinburg.
Standing on the border of Europe and Asia, the Urals city has already hosted Egypt against Uruguay, while France play Peru on Thursday, Japan meet Senegal on Sunday and Sweden take on Mexico next Wednesday.
Russia's fourth largest conurbation, Yekaterinburg has long been a stopping point on the Trans-Siberian, which runs 9,289 km between Moscow and Vladivostock on the Pacific coast, taking more than six days to complete a non-stop journey.
Although flying into Yekaterinburg from the western parts of Russia is much quicker, many fans have opted to take the train because it is cheaper and offers a window - quite literally - on to urban, suburban and rural Russian life.
Some of the trains arriving from Moscow have carried hundreds of supporters travelling in either private cabins or communal carriages, the journey taking around 26 hours.
For French friends Herve Vallet and Akim Snouci taking the Trans-Siberian route on Tuesday - in their case from Kazan - was one highlight in a Russian World Cup adventure full of positive surprises.
"Not a dream come true, but a beautiful experience, a very, very beautiful experience," said Paris-based Snouci. "I expected not much comfort and all that. But everything is perfect. We had lunch, we ate very, very well. Everyone was taking care of us, when we had a problem. It's perfect, perfect."
Vallet said that many of his compatriots had been put off coming to Russia with their families because they were concerned for their safety, but the reality on the ground was very different.
"We Europeans, we think that in Russia, it's dangerous; we have a different idea," he explained. "But it's false, because the reality is - we eat good food, the people are very nice and very helpful. I will come back with my family to do tourism, for sure. It's exceptional," he said.
And the pair even suggested that France's national state-owned railway company, the SNCF, needed to take a few pointers from their Russian counterparts.
Further down the first class carriage, Luis Espinoza and Rocio Vera are two among tens of thousands of Peruvians who have come to Russia to watch their country in the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
They said they loved looking out of the window at the Russian countryside because it is so different from what they are used to in South America.
And, added Espinoza, those unable to make the trip to Russia were very keen to hear firsthand reports of what it is like rather than relying on pictures they were seeing on television.
"A lot of our friends and families in Lima are communicating with us and are very interested in what is happening," he said. "It is different what you see on TV when it is your family in the same place, it is very different." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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