Amazingness Happens on Trains

Whenever I'm in transit - on the move - mobile - things seem to happen that always inspire me. Sometimes I meet someone cool on a plane or bus or train, and sometimes I'm by myself and I just have good moments of thoughts and reflection. Either way, I do enjoy being on the move (obviously). So I jumped on the train from Prague heading to Berlin, which is about a 4-5 hour train ride, and it wasn't a very full train, so I happy to get my own seat. It's the type of train where there are two seats on either side of the isle, but then there are two seats facing front and two seats facing back - so it's a little section of four seats together. I've got the entire section to myself, which I'm loving, and then right before we take off a guy comes on and wants to sit across from me. Great. Not what I was hoping for in this ride, but oh well. At least he didn't sit DIRECTLY across from me, so at least I could still stretch out my legs. Also, I had the seat next to the window and facing forward, so I was still very content. As is normal for me, I pass out within 30 minutes into the train ride, and then I wake up and look out the window and listen to some music for a while. There is a group of English-speakers in the seats in front of us and they do not stop talking the entire time, so I'm a little annoyed by them and I put my earplugs in so I don't have to listen to them. A little over halfway into the train ride, the talkers get up and go to the food/drink cart, and the train pulls into the Dresden Station. My ticket actually says Prague to Dresden, so I'm not sure if this is the stop, so I ask the guy across from me if he knows and he says he's wondering the same thing. Obviously this guy isn't from Germany, so I ask his origin and he says Russia. Hm. He doesn't look like a Russian. He isn't wearing obnoxious clothes and acting like he's worth a billion dollars (like all the Russians I've seen traveling thus far). Interesting. I inquire a bit further and he tells me that he's from Moscow, where he used to be a banker for the last number of years, but he just quit and has decided to be a farmer. Wow. Really? That's random. I ask what type of farming, and he tells me that he's going to be growing asparagus. Ok. This is officially getting AWESOME. Guy is banker. Guy decides to quit banking to change careers. Guy goes into farming. Guy wants to grow asparagus. Amazing. Loving where this is going. So apparently this guy was working in finance but always liked farming, so as a hobby he grew things from time to time. Then one day he's watching a morning show, where they had a guest woman chef on who was preparing a healthy meal for people to try at home. She was using asparagus in the preparation, and apparently when she put the asparagus into the dish, she made a very strong point to say that Russian farmers are dumb for not producing any asparagus, which has a very short lifespan in its freshest form. DING! This guy then buys 1000 acres of farmland in this popular art/farm area about 120 miles from Moscow and starts growing asparagus. Classic. Love his energy. Then after about two years or so of doing this he decides that he's going to quit his job and go into farming full time. This is where I've caught up with him. He's traveling to different farms to learn more about organic asparagus farming techniques, so he was visiting one outside of Prague and is now heading to one outside of Berlin. The best part - apparently the guy outside of Prague was a bit of a vintage collector, and so Moscow-guy - who's name is Michael - decides to buy a vintage camper from him. Apparently Michael didn't have a house or anything on the farm land that he owns, so the camper will be perfect. And, as he says, the best part of the camper is that it has separate toilets for both uses (#1 and #2). Comedy. So he couldn't take the entire camper with him, but he brought the toilets, which he was carrying with him. I tried to take a pic but they were cut off in the below image. Oh, and we decided his farm needed a marketing hitch, so I said he should use ONLY little people (dwarves maybe?) to work the fields. Then they could setup a little person village and people from all over would love to come and visit. Ok - that was a joke but we laughed so hard we were crying. What a great train-buddy!! Also, the community he's farming in is very well known for sculptures and art, so he's going to be using his land as a music and art venue as well. Sooooo he told me that I need to come back next summer for his kickoff concert. Um - ok. Sounds like No Goodbye has a gig outside of Moscow in the summer of 2015. Get your tickets now!!!

Michael said he's going to find me on FB, so I really hope he does cause I wanna hear all about his progress. Absolutely unreal. I'm now in Berlin and about to pass out at my hostel, but had to relay that story. Big day tomorrow - gonna get up and do a big bike tour of the city and just get my bearings. 

Michael - the most amazing train-friend I've ever met