Wagon Restaurant

“Where did the train come from with the dining car in Almaty?”

Dear guests, this story goes far in 1895. It was then that a grandiose event took place in Paris at the Grand Cafe on Boulevard des Capucines, which marked the beginning of the history of cinema - one of the first movie screenings took place. The founders of the film were shot by the Lumiere Brothers and the film “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” was shown to the first audience. This film caused a great resonance in society. So, during the show, the public was panic-stricken, the first viewers were not ready to psychologically perceive the “animated” image of a moving train and ran out of the hall with shouts of horror. The audience remembered this train forever. But it so happened that the glory of the Lumiere brothers and of the train itself went out with time. This train was remembered as early as 1904, when Kazhimukan Munaitpasov, a Kazakh athlete and wrestler, came to Paris for the then popular French wrestling championship. People applauded standing when a Kazakh wrestler previously unknown to anyone put all the famous champions on the shoulder blades and became the first native of Central Asia - the world champion in French wrestling. But perhaps the most spectacular event was the performance, during which Kazhimukan tore the very famous train off the ground, demonstrating a truly enormous powerful force. The French were struck by the strength, physical and mental beauty of the athlete, and by decision of the honorary citizens of Paris, this train was presented to Kazhimukan in memory. For a long time the train was not destiny, but gradually Kazhymukan had an idea to travel around the world. Having made a route, he offered to take part in this journey to his close friend the athlete Ivan Poddubny. And so in the early spring of 1915, Kazhimukan together with Ivan Poddubny set off on a world tour and traveled the world. Their path was full of adventures and difficulties, everywhere they were received with cordiality, they performed at festivals and championships, challenged the strongest people of different countries and won, moved on. This story left a lasting impression on us. When we discovered this train, the logbook and the diary of Kazhimukan in the south of Kazakhstan, we decided to tell our guests about these adventures. And today, in memory of all the heroes of this story, we will repeat the great journey of Kazhimukan Munaitpasov and Ivan Poddubny, and first of all we will go to Paris where this story began! We offer our guests to comfortably stay in the dining car, taste the famous French cuisine and learn about the unusual adventures of Kazhimukan and Ivan Poddubny in France.

To be continued