The “Friendship” Train of the Soviet Era

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An Internet vlogger named Noel posted a video of his trip on the “Prietenie” (Friendship) line, a Soviet era train, connecting from Bucuresti, Romania, to Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. He was excited to travel in the first class, Soviet-era style car, on a 13-hour overnight ride that involved changing the wheels on each train car before the Moldovan border, as their tracks were not the same size as the European ones, they were wider. He had hoped that wider train wheels would translate into a smoother ride across the border into Chisinau, but that was not the case. The vlogger is overly enthusiastic about the prospect of traveling in Soviet-era comfort, just as he was thrilled, in a previous video, about his stay in a five-star hotel in Moscow, hotel reserved for Soviet and world dignitaries, such as the dictator Stalin and the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He was so ecstatic about staying in such a historical place, that he propped up his socked feet on the desk where Stalin allegedly signed important documents. I cannot say that I share the vlogger’s enthusiasm about Stalin, a killer of his own people