Russia' First Iron Road

In 1829, Alexander Pushkin, who had done a great deal of traveling across the Russian Empire, wrote a half-jocular, half-somber poem titled “Laments of the Road,” which began:

How long shall I ply the highways,
In a carriage, on a steed,
In a wagon tour the byways,
In a cart, or on my feet?

Far from the ancestral dwelling,
Far from my forefathers’ graves
On the open road, I’m sensing, 
God intends I’ll end my days.