Poland.
[Sun Oct 5 22:15:09 2008]
Subject: I'm in a hostel in Wroclaw, having a quick spod before bed.
Poznan is well worth visiting, contrary to the opinions of our check-in woman
at Gatwick, who spotted our pink hen-party goodie bags and asked us why on
earth we were going to Poznan!
Flight was good, hotel rather posher than I'd normally choose, but we had
decent views from the eleventh floor. The girls I'd not met before were nice
(as obviously were the ones I know ;-)) and a mildly riotous time was had by
all.
The central square is lovely, though it has mostly been rebuilt since 1945, and
on the first night we had pancakes in a restaurant on the square. As soon as
we'd finished eating the power went off and the whole restaurant was in
darkness for about half an hour, but the staff were well prepared, so it seems
this is not too unusual. "Redds" raspberry beer is to be recommended.
Then we went on to a club, which we somehow managed to get into for free due to
us all wearing bright pink feather boas. We spent the entire weekend shedding
magenta feathers wherever we went... Above the dancefloor were several dozen
glitterballs of various sizes, which I thought was fab. Sadly the music wasn't
so glam, and it turns out that Poznan is the techno capital of Poland :-/ We
also bumped into the group of Norwegian business men we'd managed to shake off
on leaving the restaurant earlier, and one of our party was pursued a little
too relentlessly... But much fun and silliness was had all round, and sometime
around midnight we started flagging, so headed back to the hotel, stopping only
so that Ruth could film us singing lines from "It's Raining Men", which was the
offical hen weekend song. At some point she's going to splice together all the
snippets of us singing it in various places, whilst sober and less so, into
something she can embarras us with on Facebook...
Saturday I slept in past the arranged meeting time for breakfast, and instead
headed back to the main square to find the Musical Instruments museum. Which I
did find, but couldn't find a way in. So instead I took a walk eastwards to
Cathedral Island to see the Bassilica. It is a red brick building, again mostly
rebuilt since the war, but the trip was worth it as there was a chamber
orchestra rehearsing the Messiah... Instead of marching back to the hotel for
the massage we'd booked (we all had half our slots) I decided to brave the
tram. Wasn't too sucessful as I didn't have a ticket and there was no
conductor, but I managed to get away with it - oops! However I missed my stop
and ended up completely lost for a short time! Massage was pleasant enough,
then I went for a shop at the sparkling new shopping centre opposite the hotel,
which was housed in an old brewary of all things. Met up with the other girls,
then after coffee, some more chill out time, did some emergency shoe shopping,
then we reconvened in our glad rags, for the big night out.
Dinner was in an underground vaulted restaurant with a sort of rustic theme
going on. Don't think the waiting staff were too impressed with us making dogs
and less recognisable things out of balloons though... My salmon was THE best
salmon I've tasted in a long time, but other's meals were variable. Then we
headed onto another club, this time an intimate one playing cheesy 70/80/90s
music, which is exactly what the bride wanted. A much nicer atmosphere than the
one the previous night, and the DJ even played "It's Raining Men" for us :-) It
was a much later night too, and goodness knows when we got home.
This morning we packed up, went to watch the goats of the town clock
headbutting each other, then had a rather civilised brunch including tea and
cheesecake, before hte other girls caught taxis to the airport, and I made my
way to the train station.
(more to come later - someone else is hanging around wanting to use this
machine. I must figure out the wifi...)
[Mon Oct 6 21:25:50 2008]
Subject: I cannot get the wifi to work :-S
I'm on the only pc in the hostel, so this may get cut short again if someone
else wants on. For some bizarre reason there are several people here watching
English motorbike racing on Sky Sports, with voice over in Polish.
Anyway, right. The train I intended to catch from Poznan to Wroclaw didn't
actually exist, so I got the next one. Ancient trains, but 1st class had comfy
modern seats in compartments of six. 2.5 hour journey, during which I dozed
off. Landscape very flat and many miles of fields, intersperced with the
occasional uninspiring looking town. At Wroclaw station I managed to find the
tram stop, buy ticket, find tram, get off tram... then the instructions to the
hostel stopped making sense :-S About half an hour later I finally found it.
It's very modern, spotlessly clean, and quite civilised. I have a simple yet
adequate single room.
Today: walked to the Rynek (town square), watched film crew and actors who
appeared to be filming some sort of tv comedy, had tea and gorgeous cake in
cafe on the square, visted numourous churches, few of which I can remember the
names of, but can now spot on the skyline, climbed the tower of one for the
view, visited the main market building, had lunch of cabbage, rice and cream
cheese dumplings (delicious), took 0 line tram to the end of the line and back
again to see a bit of the outskirts of the city, then watched Mama Mia at the
cinema round the corner from the hostel with Polish subtitles. Meryl Streep is
fab, Pierce Brosnan can't sing.
City is fairly easy to get round, as it's small enough to walk round the
centre, and there are trams. Unfortunately there are about 15 tram routes, and
the map the tourist office gave me is handily a black and white print off. All
adds to the fun... Prices of things vary hugely here depending on where you
shop - I suspect the locals don't shop much round the main square.
Tomorrow to Krakow.
[Mon Oct 6 21:27:35 2008]
Subject: p.s. I miss my Gavin!
[Mon Oct 6 21:28:43 2008]
Subject: p.p.s. I realise this is mostly a list of what I've done, and isn't
particularly descriptive, but that's because it's more of an aide memoire for
me than anything else...
[Fri Oct 10 21:17:45 2008]
Subject: I've been unable to get online for a few days, annoyingly.
For some reason I can't get either of my phones to talk to anyone's wifi, the
computer at the last hostel wuldn't let me ssh, and the ones here are
permenantly in use.
In very brief: Krakow: main square is huge, though not as pretty as I'd been
led to believe, climbed tall thing in square, went to McDonalds (well, you've
got ot, haven't you?), went to the salt mine, visited the castle and cathedral,
failed to get into the picturesque church on the main square, ate pierogi, and
wandered round the old Jewish district at night. The room I rented was
basically one in a flat shared with other travellers. Nice place - reminded me
a lot of big student tenement flats in Edinburgh.
Train to Warsaw uneventful, apart from discovering THE world's best soup in the
buffet car - buckwheat, egg, sausage and bacon - delicious! Love the Palace of
Culture and Science - gorgeous building. Have been up to the 30th floor to see
the view. Spent this morning at the Warsaw Rising Museum, which was a sobering
experience, have spent much time wandering round the reconstructed old town and
it's many squares. Have taken very many photos. Also managed to negotiate the
bus and tram system, despite the tourist office's best efforts, and have this
evening been out for more pierogi... mmm... This is a proper hostel type
hostle. I feel a little too old to be here, but I'm not the oldest by far.
There is a lifely bar and a small common room. I'm in a dorm with three other
people, who are all very nice and, best of all, quiet.
I will be on the train at 9am tomorrow to go find my love in Gdansk. It's been
a strange week being on my own - it's actually very tiring filling all those
hours witout someone else there to rely on.
[Fri Oct 10 21:32:04 2008]
Subject: Apologies for crap typing - this keyboard is not the best.
I knew the Poles were a Catholic nation, but I hadn't realised just *quite* how
obsessed they were with JP2. He is everywhere. There is a film about him coming
out in about a fortnight and the posters are everywhere. There are statues of
him everywhere (complete with flowers and burning candles) and in one of the
squares here a photo montage thing of his life. In all the churches I've
visited there are always people, usually middle aged or older women, praying,
sometimes with their shopping bags by their side. You see many young nuns and
priests in the street too. And this evening as I passed the main cathedral here
this evening Mass was being said. I stood in the entrance and watched. Several
dozen people were there. There is something so peaceful about taking time out
in the day to just go sit in a church, to spend some time just sitting still
and thinking. Or not thinking. So much here revolves around religion - the
carvings in the salt mines started with the miners carving out chapels in which
to pray for safety in their work. Only when they realised there might be money
in it did they start carving Disney characters...
[Fri Oct 10 21:47:42 2008]
Subject: I've also collected a few helpful tips for the Polish tourist
agency...
1. If you actually put up street sign names (and not just on one corner of
every third street, and not in dark blue and in tiny lettering that can only
been see from three feet away) then you might save your tourists quite a lot of
wasted time.
2. It is a reasonable request that a tourist might want to get about by public
tranpsort and not by overpriced taxis. Therefore, please a) put diagramatic
maps at your bus and tram stops and b) produce some sort of map to hand out to
them - and not a monochrome version of a 20 line service... Oh, and some ticket
machines instead of kiosks that close at 5pm would be useful too.
3. I don't believe there is not a single concert happening in the whole of
Warsaw tonight - nope, not falling for that one.
On the upside, the public transport I've been able to use has been absolutely
bang on time every time. Even the bus I got on going the wrong way last
night...
[Wed Oct 15 01:12:44 2008]
Subject: Final installment...
Friday night there was a snorer in our dorm :-/ Early train to Gdansk, a 4.5
hour journey away. Dozed off and almost missed my stop! Found apartment, which
was *right* behind the main street - couldn't have had a better location.
Shortly afterwards Gavin turned up at the door. So so so SO good to have him
back :-) Wandered down the main street and through the square. Gdansk was the
most picturesque of all the cities I visited, so G chose well ;-) Wandered
about, discovered a wedding going on in the cathedral (I think I saw about six
weddings/brides whilst I was away!), introduced Gavin to pierogi, had quite an
early night. Next day we visited the amber museum, climbed the clock tower of
the town hall, wandered further, investigating other churches and the
riverside. Went home for a rest, and switched on the telly to find... a
program about JP2. Yesterday we took a boat trip to the shipyards, had a
gorgeous veggie lunch, then meandered our way to the airport. Flight home
unremarkable really, and had plenty time to unwind before bed.