Belarus Transit Visa

While it may look much like the old Soviet Union, Belarus still ACTS like the old Soviet Union did. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is known as "the last dictator in Europe" for his authoritarian government. Make sure you wade through the paperwork required....it's highly unlikely you'll be able to wing it. Unfortunately, it appears all trains (from Berlin, at least,) go through Belarus. And the travel time is pretty slow....between 26 and 30 hours.

If you want to see what the old Soviet Union looked like, you can find plenty of examples in many far less nasty places, including Russia. If you take a train through any part of the Russian interior, you'll see the remnants of massive state-owned industries peppering the countryside and the outskirts of the major cities. Beyond the tourist centers of the big cities, you'll also see mile after mile of Soviet-era apartment blocks frowning at you. Eastern Poland (particularly Bialystok) has a similar look and feel about it. I looked into travel through Belarus, and I quickly decided against it. Although Russia also requires a visa, Belarus requires you to pay a hefty transit fee merely to pass through the country. A colleague of mine states that the fee often surprisingly approximates how much money you happen to carry. So, if you really want to see a bit of "Ostalgia" (as the Germans call it), you can see it much less painlessly than going through Belarus.

By the way, you don't have to travel through Belarus to reach Russia. You can go through the Baltic republics or through Ukraine, both far friendlier countries than Belarus.

Thanks for the advice...especially the suggestions for other areas to visit. Belarus sounds like a lot more trouble than it will be worth and it sounds a lot easier to plan to go around it than through it.