The Nabokov family frequently rides in the elegant brown Nord-Express train from St. Petersburg to Paris, during which Vladimir plays cards with his mother and watches as Russian, and then German, towns glide by. The family rides in the first-class carriages, which feature leather-covered walls, large mirrors, and wide windows. Nabokov and Sergey have a sleeping compartment to themselves. Nabokov recalls two types of train motion, a slow, graceful glide that sweeps the train quietly through a city, and an almost-out-of-control rocketing through the landscape.
The Nord-Express arrives in Paris in the late afternoon, and the family dines and stays one night. In the morning, they board the Sud-Express and disembark at Biarritz late that night. There, the family spends most of its time on the beach, where aristocratic children don straw hats and.....
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