For those interested, some logistic details of the northern trip, never know when they can be useful.

Accomodation

I stayed in hostels, with 2 exceptions, when I reserved lastminute and didnt find any beds in hostels. Most reservations were made through hostelworld.com, one through booking.com and one through hotels.com. I recommend reserving beforehand. If not possible due to spontaneous decisions, very helpful are the tourist offices in railway stations.

Here’s where I stayed:

Copenhagen: Danhostel Copenhagen City. Big building, lots of space. Simple, no frills. I recommend the one in the centre if you find a spot.

Reykjavik: Pavi Guest House – a clear recommendation, @ my friends Dani & Vero. Excellent location, close to the central street and to bus station. Huge bedroom with cubicles. Very good prices for Reykjavik, and romanian speaking staff – priceless.

Greenland: I didnt spend the night, but you could, at Kulusuk hotel, and then take a helicopter trip to Tassiilaq, and from there onwards on the ice. Or go to the other side, to Nuuk, the capital.

Oslo: Anker hostel, similar to Danhostel, big, “industrial”, good conditions. 10-15mins walk from the center.

Bergen: YMCA Hostel. Center of the center. Stayed in a 30 beds bedroom, like in the army. For the few hours spent there sleeping, was ok.

Stockholm: am avut privilegiul să stau la prieteni .

Helsinki: I strongly recommend the Stockholm-Helsinki overnight cruiser. It’s a nice experience, good conditions, good price. The next night I took the overnight train to Rovaniemi. When back I reserved a night locally, a last minute thing at Carlton hotel.

Rovaniemi: City Hotel. 3 stars, central. There si a hostel too, but not available on hostelworld.com, or I didnt find it. Ask in Helsinki.

Savonlinna: I didnt find anything on websites, people at tourist info in Rovaniemi helped me. I don’t remember the hostel name, it was FAR from the center. Not recommended. Ask @ information beforehand, for something central.

Tallinn: Old Town hostel. Excellent location, old town. 30 mins from the harbor where you get to from Helsinki, by boat.

Riga: Friendly Fun Franks. One of the best I’ve seen. Lots of character, perfect location, friendly people. Clear recommendation.

Vilnius: Old Town Vilnius. Very good location, close to the trainstation (10 mins) and center (5 mins). Personality, funny. I didnt sleep there, just left luggage, as I took the overnight bus to Warsaw. Very nice people, cute receptionist.

Warsaw: Hostel Helvetia. Very good. Like most hostels I found in Eastern Europe (!), with character, nice people, clean. A bit far from the train station, that’s its problem. 30 mins walking, 20 mins if you know the way, 15 mins if you know the way and are about to miss the train ;P. Very close to old town though.

Krakow: Hostel Flamingo. Hostelworld.com hostel of the year in 2007, Flamingo has them all – central location, personality, nice people, diversity.

Transport

Cheap airline tickets: kayak.com, germanwings.com. From Berlin to Copenhagen there’s a bus, 20 EUR, but I didnt know at the time and took germanwings.

I tooka sterling.dk flight to Iceland. Alternatively there is a ferry from Copenhagen, with a stop in Far Oer Islands, off the beaten path, if interested.

To Greenland u can fly from Copenhagen or Reykjavik. I did the one day trip from Reykjavik to Kulusuk, quite pricy for the 4 hours trip. Alternatively from Copenhaga to Nuuk.  Check Greenlandair and icelandexpress.com.

Sterling.dk took me from Copenhagen to Oslo, where I bought an Interrail Global Pass Rail ticket– 10 days out of the next 22. I should have done that in a DIFFERENT country from the one where I start traveling by train, you get better conditions (in my case, should have bought it in copenhagen airport, as i intended but was too lazy to).

Train took me everywhere from then on, having to do only seat reservation sometimes, at low prices. Baltic countries were an exception – they have very few rail tracks and cumbersome schedule. Eurolines buses rule in the Baltics.

Communication

Almost all hostels have free internet. Interestingly, all from Eastern Europe, not all from Western Europe (e.g., Denmark – I had to use the net cable, which was free, unlike wireless).

Public phones – very few, from Norway on I didnt find any with coins, just cards. There are “cards for acalling abroad”, but I was too lazy.

Finland is the easiests – there are no public phones at all.

Mobile roaming – for me it didnt work in Iceland, Greenland and Norway. Apparently SMS worked in Norway and Greenland, not in Iceland though.

…

Epilogue

I set foot in 11 countries in a month, in 9 for the first time, so inevitably i didnt do everyting “there is to do”, i saw only a fraction of all there is to see. But even so, I enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks Valentina for the last minute idea to go to Iceland, it was well worth it.

Before the trip, i saw “Nordic countries” with no clear differentiation between them. The trip introduced lots of nuances, they are quite different from another, each with its own particularities.

Bonus at the end was the pleasant surprise of the Baltic countries, about which I had had not a single concrete image in my head, and which made a strong positive impression.

The Polish experience added another touch of fun, making approaching home smooth and pleasant.

The End.

8/9 august

Maybe it’s better that I missed the train. It would have been an 18 hours ride, no sleeping wagon. Would have gone mad.

Nevertheless, at the moment I was very frustrated. Had thought the train is at 22:54, but it was 22:45. I checked on the way to the train station, at  22:44. Panic. Run. For nothing. I reached at 22:49, train had left.

Demolished, I go to the ticket counter. There’s one open. I start telling my story, she says – “NO. Counter number ten.” At least she could tell me that. Number ten was closed, of course, opening in the morning.

Back to the hostel – luckily they had a bed for me that night, so I didnt have to look further for accomodation. No mood for writing, just shower and go to sleep. Was passed midnight.

Next day, 9am, at the ticket counter. In front of me, an emo kid. She says – please, a ticket to Budapest for tomorrow, and then to Brasov.

Wait a minute.

I ask her how come Brasov. She says she read in a book it was nice. I tell her to go to Sighisoara too. She seems tempted. Next to her, another girl, “normal” kid, german. She asks her “so, where do you go?”.
“La Budapest, then Romania.”
“Romania?!? (Confused look). Where?”
“Braşov.”
“Bra- what?”
“Braşov”.
“Never heard of it. And from there?”
“Sighişoara.”
“What? (she’s increasingly disbelievingly surprised) Where’s that?”
“Not far from Braşov.”
“Never heard of it.”
Felt like kicking her butt.

Luckily I can buy a ticket, then back to the hostel for breakfast, where I meet two americans who had arrived the night before, when i was back from the disappointing railway station trip. I had barely noticed them, and that only because the girl was cute.

“Where are you from?”

“Romania”
“Romania? How exciting!”
“?!?” (I have NEVER witnessed such a reaction from a stranger when hearing the name of my country! Almost fell off the chair.)
“We are going to Romania too.”
“Cool. Where?”
“Braşov and Bucureşti.”
They were on a megatrip through Eastern Europe. Delighted, I share whatever insight I can remember on the spot, unfortunately I only later remember I should have told them to keep away from the shark-type taxi drivers at the railway station in Bucharest… I hope they will.

On the train to Budapest I had probably one of the most funny companionships for a long time. 4 british students, who seemed to have stepped down from a “friends”-type tv show. There was the smart one (history student, and my favorite), the talkative one (studies “property”, whatever that means), the beautiful one (communication and media, ex-actress and… Phoebe. I haven’t watched Friends, but I saw Phoebe in some scenes, and – yes. It was Phoebe alright. Was not making the smartest impression, but had some un-believablyl funny and “deep” lines. She said she would have liked to go to Transylvania, to see Dracula’s castle.

“Oh, have you read the book?” I asked.

“No, I played in a musical, “Dracula spectacula’”.

They were also making a marathon trip, Paris-Vienna-Prague-Krakow-Budapest-Zadar-Dubrovnik-Athens.
They had a Lonely Planet for Eastern Europe. I asked to have a look at the book, to see what is written about Romania. And my eyes probably tripled in surprise – i quote the opening phrase: “Romania is the most interesting country in Europe.” Nothing more, nothing less! It made my day.

The bunch was extremely funny to watch. They were speaking an absolutely p e r f e c t English, no accent, which enabled me to follow their conversation, very funny in its details.

Atmosphere changed in Budapest. Railway station pretty gloomy at that hour of the night, all grey. I had to wait 2 hours. The only interesting event was a group of turbulent football fans who were escorted onto a train by polite police force.

The way home was long and cumbersome. Had a 6-bed sleeping wagon, put my luggage on the bed, so had to curl around it in various uneasy positions. The lady in the bed below was very unlikable, complaining all the time; in the morning she complained about my sneezing (i sneezed about 20 times because of allergy, she got annoyed, stormed out of the compartment and came back giving me some napkins, complaining that “microbs are travelling with 150km/h.” “Up yours”, i thought, and ignored her.

I tried to read “Independent People”, Halldor Laxness’ book, the nobel prize winning icelander. I don’t like it, it’s depressing, i bought it for its “brand”, not impressed, but it’s the only book i have.

Ultimately, train arrives where I need it to. Setting foot on homeland soil, I learn that the Olympic games have started yesterday. I think I arrived in time.

I had thought of various titles for this post, but after being there I felt there is no room for any metaphor, or any subtlety.

Yes, we all know the story. Nazis killed ~6 million Jews and other nationalities in concentration camps during world war 2. Problem is, we cannot think in numbers. Or actually, we cannot feel in numbers. It’s one thing to read that people have had their goods confiscated, and another thing to see bags, piles of bags with their names on them, shoes, clothes, children’s toys, eyeglasses, a huge pile of round-shaped glasses, like the ones from old movies, and… hair, human hair, cut from victims, tons of human hair.

Pictures and movies cannot make you unerstand, “internalize” what has been. Museums, like the one in Berlin, give you an idea, but nothing, nothing compares to being there, on site.

I used to consider myself having a decent deal of imagination. This is the first place where my imagination was surpassed.

I recommend to everyone a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau (Birkenau is close by, part of the same complex). I especially recommend it to those people who have the tiniest bit of racial superiority feeling. Who thought, at least once, that maybe “it would be better to move all those gypsies somewhere to the desert”.
I invite all to Auschwitz and Birkenau (Oświęcim and Brzezinka in Polish), to see what that actually means. What it means to “normal people”, like you and me. The individual dimension, the destiny of persons with name and picture, something you can visualize and relate to – that makes an infinitely greater impression than any number, any statistic.

Just for the context, a number: the guide told us that, o average, people resisted 2-3 months in Auschwitz. “How long does a guide resist?” I asked, wanting to be clever. No reaction. “Doesn’t it get depressing?” i insisted. “It does”, she said, “but for us it’s important. Most of the guides here had families in concentration camps. My great-grandma died in Ravensburg, my grandma survived Bergen-Belsen. She still lives with us, has 90+ years.”

My question wasn’t a joke, I really think I could not resist doing this job at length. I felt bad for asking, though.

In Auschwitz people don’t joke. Don’t laugh. And not because it is forbidden, but you simply don’t feel like it.

I asked her if anyone survived from the beginning to the end, she said yes, the father of one of the guides.

I won’t describe here what I saw, with numbers and statistics. For those interested, there are plenty of sources for that, for example here or here.

Today, Europe is small (still, while low-cost airlines are still holding on), Krakow has a low-cost airport, Katowice as well. I recommend visiting the city, it is special, and don’t miss a trip to Auschwitz. They say “vedi Napoli, e puoi muori” (see Napoli, then you can die). I’d say ““vedi Auschwitz, e poi vivi.” See Auschwitz, then live.

P.S. In my opinion, a huge problem with Auschwitz is not only that it happened, but that it is still happening today in the world.

P.S.2. We can talk about racism vs. prejudice. For example, now as I am writing I am sitting at a terrace in the big square in Krakow. A group of (probably) gypsies showed up, playing the accordeon and violin. One of them is walking among tables to collect change. Instinctively, I pulled my backpack closer.
Is this racism? Prejudice it is for sure. Where is the difference then?
I think the difference is that I want a person to be convicted for breaking the law and only if he/she breaks the law, and NOT because his skin color is darker and he plays the violin in some square.

Aug 7th, 2008

In the movie “The Terminal”, Tom Hanks plays a Polish man who gets blocked in an airport terminal because in his country a separatist group declares independence of the “Republic of Krakozhia”, with guns and turbulences. I still don’t get it. Is it a joke on the Polacks? If it is, I think it’s weak. If it’s not a joke, then it’s plain stupid. Especially considering how the city of Krakow (in Latin, Cracovia) looks like in reality.

I’m sitting at the “Arlekin” terrace in the main square, i just posted the previous story about Warsaw – that’s because this city seems to be “covered” by wireless internet. For free. Like Estonia. Sponsored by IBM, Intel, the local community and I donno who else.

It’s 8pm, sunny, warm. I just ordered a fruit ice cream cocktail, after I “liquidated” a creme cake – it’s the last night, i’m splurging. 3 hours from now my train is leaving, on the long way home, but before that, there is Krakow and then another story to be told.

Unfortunately, I’ll have to move inside soon, as battery runs out. But first, I’ll enjoy the ice cream, and then we’ll see.

…

8:30pm

I ate the ice cream, and took a stroll through the square. Feeling kinda nostalgic.

Yesterday, when losing my towel (will get back on that), i wanted to go home – it was clearly starting to fall apart, time to go. Now that i’m a few hours from leaving, it’s not that I regret, but i feel nostalgic. In the last 4 weeks, all these strangers i am watching now passing by, taking pictures of themselves with the towers, watching a ukrainian-polish concert (will get back to that), riding in horses carriages, sitting under the statue of their national poet, or simply getting on with their lives – all these people have been, in a way, part of my life in the last month. I will leave them behind in about 2 hours.

I’m back, sitting at another terrace, with electric lampions which drew me to it – means it HAS to have a power source – and I found it. So I can still sit outside and write. Unfortunately I can’t get back onto the public wireless network, and I can’t crack the password of the network from the hostel behind me, so I’ll just jot it down and load it later.

Meanwhile, the story about Kraków (pronounced “krah/coov”) starts in… Warsaw, yesterday morning. My train was at 5 past 8 am. I wake up in time around something-to-seven, but i waste time as usual and before I know it it’s 20 to 8. What options do i have? taxi, which is ~20 zloty, which i dont have. and no time to withdraw money. There’s a bus which takes ~10 mins, comes every 10 mins, costs – how much can it cost? i have maybe 7 zloty left, shd do. last option is to walk, for about 25 mins, with bags and all… no.

so i head for the bus station. approaching the main street, i hear noise, loudspeaker noise. I ignore it. until i see the people. i thought i dont see well – the hord of young religious people in uniforms i had seen yesterday hanging out in the city was marching now happily, occupying half of the street – the half where my bus was supposed to come. Police with them, everything, organized and all. i would have fainted, but i had no time to – obviously, no bus was circulating in “my” direction.

It took me a few seconds to internalize the information. for another few i acknowledged i just missed the train. then i sweared (in my mind) at these merry kids, before erupting (inside, of course): I’M NOT GIVING UP JUST YET.

So I started walking towards the train station. it was 12 to 8. After about 5 mins i calmed down and stopped swearing at the religious people, even asking for forgiveness. it was not their fault. had i started out at half past 7, as planned, i wd have had plenty of time to walk.

I focused on trying to walk most efficiently, the 200 kg of luggage pulling me down. ok, maybe they’re 25 kg, but feels like 200. I made it to the train at 3 to 8. Enough to hop in.

Insider tip: the magic towel. for the whole trip i carried a small towel in my backpack. does wonders after you chase a train and are dripping wet.

I slept like a log till krakow. first touristic tip: tourist info are on line 3 in the train station. why exactly, eludes me. people are very friendly and well-informed.

Hostelul Flamingo is not very visibly marked (they’re not allowed to put big signs on historic buildings), but was declared the best on hostelworld.com in 2007. Indeed.

Room’s not ready, so I leave luggage as usual, applying the “no backpack while strolling” scenario, just cameras to my belt, pockets full of maps, hands and back free.

I had reserved a walking tour ticket. Thought it’s a good way to get the pulse, given the short time. Till 2pm when tour was starting i had time on my hands, enough to satisfy the King Kong syndrome in the first tower that I saw. This one.

It offers a good view on the Big Square,

about which I had heard it’s the largest in Medieval Europe. Doesnt seem THAT large, but ok, if they say so. Further back, Wawel castle, a place I need to see.

I go down and start walking around the big building on the right, when I suddenly realize that I had seen only half of the square! There’s another half beyond the big building, which takes the centre! Aha, now you’re talkin!

It’s huge . The guide will tell us that it is in competition to Venice’s San Marco for the status of “largest in Europe”, de difference being minimal.

A few more pix i shoot quickly before tour starts: a pregnant lady photographing,

a thinking statue,

the “small square” (well, a relative term in this case)

and a new breed of horsecarriagedriver…esses.

Then quickly 2 “sarmale” at one of the stands, when I realize there are no better sarmale in the world than those mad by my mama, not in Latvia, not in Poland. Sorry guys.

Tour starts. Highlights:

Jagellonian University,

2nd or 3rd old in the world,

University church, the only one wearing its original baroque,

a photo exhibition on Krakow 20 years ago vs today.

I asked the guide where did they get the money from for these massive restauration works. It’s UNESCO patrimony, then the EU, government, other partners. Still, I’m amazed – the city is huge, not fully refurbished, but still, to a large extent. Must have costed a fortune. We’d need to do that at home too… It probably makes a difference in your daily life mood to live in a city that looks like this.

People from Brasov and Sibiu should know.

From the 41 towers, 3 are left, the rest being demolished in the very pragmatic 19th century (“they stand in our way”). Today you see only where they used to be.

The episcopy building is important since this is where John Paul left from to go to Rome. To become a Pope.

Nowadays there seems to be an entire “cult” around “JP2″, every community wants a statue, big business there for sculptors. He is one of the 2 great personalities of Krakow, the other one being Kopernikus, who studied here 3 years, and, as an anecdote, apparently was not speaking Polish at all. During that time Poland was split between different empires, and in the North where he came from they were speaking German..

Further on down the street…lets,

up to the Wawel castle, with the Royal Cathedral, where all Polish kings were crowned, even after the capital was moved to Warsaw (of course, big rivalry between the two cities, Warsaw is the economic centre, Krakow the cultural/intellectual – i.e., warsawians are the “materialists”, krakowians the “lazy”).

The cathedral is a rare architectonic melting pot,

apparently whoever had enough money could build a chapel here. I find the crazy style mix cool, in its own way. They say long ago a dragon used to live around here. King Krak killed it, by feeding it a sheep filled with sulfur. It got thirsty, went to drink water from the river Wisla, but water with sulfur… it exploded.
What does it have to do with the church? At the entrance there are a few bones which they say are from the dragon (!). Scientists and non-romantics say they tested and they’re from a mammoth and a prehistoric whale, but who believes them anyway. What surprised me was catholic tolerance to pagan legends, putting dragon bones above the church entrance.

Next to the cathedral is the royal palace,

former royal headquarters, until austrian occupiers turned it into a garrison.

The bearded dude on the left is the guide, a funny latvian.

He speaks perfect british english (lived in london for a while); i asked him why they put an “s” at the end of almost every Latvian name. He said thats the way it is. Latvian and Lithuanian are a special breed of slavic languages, significantly different from all others, they don’t understand and are not understood by other slavs, which is unusual.

That’s where the tour ends. I went alone to Kazimierz, the Jewish neighborhood. Before WW2, 100000 Jews lived here. About 60 were left thereafter. In Poland, from 3.5 Million, around 20000 survived.

The “ghetto” is not as spectacular as the one from Vilnius, a bit more run down,

so i didnt spend much time and returned to the old city centre

and to the main square, only to witness a… bycicle race!

In the movie below, 2 cyclers panic as someone wants to cross the “track” in front of them.

Below’s a slideshow with some of the pix taken at the event:

I didn’t stay till the end, went ahead on Florianski street,

towards the gate with one of the square towers

and on to the barbican (=fortified tower).

Then back,

in the evening light

at this obscure bar

where the guide had told us there are good pancakes. I enter, dzien dobry (hello), they answer kindly, then – i’m stuck. The menu is in polish. The blonde lady, NOT A WORD in english. Not even “yes” or “no”. Not only that she wasn’t speaking, but she noticed I am struggling to figure out the menu – couldn’t care less. I asked her a few things – answered in polish, on a bored tone. Other people at tables didnt care either. She raised her shoulders and went to the back, to her business, leaving me pray to dilemmas. I wanted a salty pancake, for dinner. The first one on the list was with yogurtowy and orzechami. I figured out yogurtowy, but asked what is orzechami. She answered, I quote, ““orzechami”. Empty look, not hostile, not friendly, just sheepish. And then continued to clean the desk.

Annoyed, I decided to take the orzechami thing. It was walnut. And sweet. GRRRR. I ate gruntling, and then moved on to the lactobarul at the corner.

The menu…

Of course the lady spoke no single word in any other language. I can not believe i am the ONLY tourist ever entering those locations. Impossible. Still, I asked her what the first item on the list meant, she raised her shoulders and… retreated frantically!! I couldnt believe it! What is it with former Communist Europe and services?!?

My personal hypothesis has to do with “culture of serfdom”. Working in services, anything that has to do with “serving others” was looked down upon in communism, where “all had to be equal”. People don’t respect “servants”, it is degrading. I have rarely seen people working in services and being happy about it. I guess they are not respected, and return the favor. Just a hypothesis.

I got mad and asked for ukrainian borsh, that I understood from the menu. In 20 words they explained “we’re out of that”. “Then what do you have?” “Žurek”. Sort of a borsh too, a sour soup not too sour, with… salami. Oh well. It was so-so.

(Paranthesis. Today I wanted to buy a t-shirt, from the railway station. Something written in polish on it. Anything, unless it’s something very stupid. At the first shop, I ask “excuse me, what is written here?”
“Size?” (pronounced “see-zay”) “XL, L?”
“No, not size, translation please, what does the WRITING mean?” (i show her)
“Aa.” She translates it, sighing.

Yet the one I want is not available in my size, so I go to the next store. Dzien dobry, dzien dobry. I call her out to show her, and ask the same question. Adding “translation, please”.

“Nie wie”, she answers, and with a short paniced shoulder raise she disappears before I can say anything. Nie wie = I don’t know.

I thought she entered to get a dictionary or something, to help the translation. But as she wasn’t coming out, I went in and… she was sitting down, continuing to read the newspaper. Didnt even look at me.

Infuriated, I went to the other shop and bought the XXL shirt. Apparently, it shrinks upon washing, she said in Polish. I was so annoyed, I understood.

Let’s get things straight: i dont mind people not speaking english. They didnt study it in school, fine, no problem. What annoyed me was that they didnt even bother to try to help. Saw me struggling, couldnt care less. Sort of “you don’t matter” kind of a message. “You want to buy from me? Your problem. It annoyed me very much.

Meanwhile, and with this paranthesis closed, after a while i almost find it cool, how this nation is so open, yet so closed.

Where was I? žurek. After žurek, back to the main square, where I found the 4 acordeonists. Battery went out, i’d have liked to tape them more:

Lots of things happen in the Big Square, many at the same time – there is room. On half of the square there was a polish-ukrainian festival goin on, on a stage where various people performed. At night there was a ukrainian music band, a teacher and a few teenagers, cymbalons, violines – beautiful. Slavic music has a touch of magic. Unfortunately, no more battery for filming, so all i have are pictures.

It was getting dark. One more stroll around the square

to see the fire dancers on the other side.

And with that, go to sleep. As an overall impression, Krakow (also) exceeded expectations. Although not fully refurbished like Prague – you can still find grey houses in the centre,

it has a special charm to it. Mainly driven by the formidable Big Square. As opposed to Warsaw, the city escaped destruction during the war! Maybe because this was the headquarters of the Nazi force in Poland. Apparently they mined the entire town, to tear it down when they were leaving, but the “button has never been pushed”. Still, this didn’t contribute much to saving the reputation of the respective nazi governor, and the next episode will show why.

Meanwhile, back at the hostel before going to bed, i noticed i cannot find my towel. shit, i remember putting it out to dry, but dont remember packing it in warsaw… oh, it’s falling apart, i’m starting to lose things – time to go home, i guess. i wrote to the warsaw hostel to please send me the towel home (it was a special travel towel i grew fond of, and what is a galaxy hitchhiker without his towel!) and went to sleep.

The next morning I randomly checked the bottom of the backpack and… found the towel. I don’t remember putting it there – maybe that’s still a sign to go home. Not before there’s something to today, but about that – in the next episode. To end the story on Krakow, upon return that afternoon from the thing i had to do, i climbed the church tower

to see the trumpet player play. I had heard him yesterday too, at every hour, didnt know what it was about, he is playing an interrupted tune in all 4 directions.

A real trumpet player.

The tune is also the hour signal on Radio Poland. it is interrupted because apparently while the trumpet player was announcing the Tartar invasion in 1241 he was killed in the middle of the tune.

Today there’s a team of trumpet players who play in turn. You can get an autograph from them .

The church itself is impressive too.

Sitting there i suddenly wondered: if the project of this church would have been presented to Jesus himself, what would He have said? Would he have approved it?…

In the evening it was only relaxing in the big square, strolling,

watching some polish rap,

sat down,

wrote (a part of this story), ate the ice cream mentioned above, strolled again, then went to the hotel, carefully arranged luggage, and then headed for the railway station, at a relaxed pace.

So relaxed that I missed the train.

Aug 5th, 2008

Expectations and “first contact” were pretty grey, but changed radically as soon as I left the hostel. I had no idea where I was, so I went to the right, where the Medias-fan at the hostel told me that i would find tourist info.

And up the street it was – wow.

Large, clean, shiny, old. This is no Warsaw Pact atmosphere. I entered the big church right upfront, refurbished, impressive. Later I found out that I was on one of the most important streets in Warsaw, Krakowska-something,

sort of a “Calea Victoriei” in Bucharest. Sort of.

The guy from tourist information was very friendly, told me how to chirp on polish a few things – it sounds really cool when you’re actually saying it .

On we go on Krakowska street,

which used to connect 2 palaces in the old times (well, that’s how they built the first streets everywhere anyway),

on the way being fascinated, as usual, by the organpipe in catholic churches.

One of the two palaces was the royal palace, the red one on the right

which marks the entrance to the old town.

I had no idea they have something like THIS in Warsaw.

This old square is enchanting, one can not stop taking pictures.

I didnt stay long tho, as I had no money, cash machines didnt want to give me, so I went to find a bank. For to do that I had to ask the following question to the lady at a tourist desk:“Przepraszam, gdzie jest jedena banka?” – and – victory! Although she spoke English, since she was working at a tourism info center, she answered in Polish! Of course I didnt understand a word, but at least it was my first <i>beginning</i> of a conversation in Polish.

Ladies at the bank didn’t speak English, and sent me to another bank, towards the “new” city center, where I ultimately managed to talk to someone who could help me. The guy let me call the bank at home and complain, they said – your card must be broken. You have to come home to fix it. Great. I’m in Poland, dude. Tough luck, dude. Take money from your credit card. Right, so you can charge me. Right. Shit. Right.

There’s no other option though, so I took 100 zloty off my credit card. Fortunately at least that worked.

Cost me a lot of time, since i chose to walk all the way, to get a feeling of the “non-touristic” side of the city, a quite familiar post-communist sight

with a modern touch.

I happened to pass by another area of interest, the “theatre street”, with national theatre, opera, city hall etc. lined up,

followed by New Warsaw

and the inevitable monument you find in nearly every former Communist country.

Then I had to go to the railway station twice. Once to book a seat for the next trip, and the second time because they didnt want to do it without seeing my interrail ticket, which of course I didnt have with me.

The Łazienki Królewskie park was not exactly on the way, but I made a detour to see it, down on Nowy Swiat,

(under some threatening clouds)

till i reached a park very similar to Herastrau,

with Chopin’s monument,

then a quick look at the “water castle”, sort of a Polish Sans-Souci,

and back. Quickly, to catch the last opening hour in the tower. Windddyyyyy and cooooold upstairs, quickly a few pix

And back down, to old-town,

to the famous and still gorgeous square,

on through the gate

towards the “newer” part of “old town”.

I noticed the very high number of monumental churches one next to the other, I wonder if they have full house on Sundays. I ask, and people say they do, it’s full, people are waiting outside and listening to the sermon on speakers…

Quick historical note: The old city centre is an UNESCO monument, and has been REBUILT ENTIRELY after WW2. That’s because after a riot in Warsaw, nazis decided to destroy the city systematically. They managed to blow 80% of the buildings up.

This street exhibition on Krakowska street shows some interesting beforeandafters.

In the entirely rebuilt old square, the Mermaid is a central figure, one of the symbols of the city,

they say she’s the sister of the one in Copenhagen .

It got cold, so I headed home, when I saw the royal palace in a strange light

and realized – it’s the sun! It was looking back. I looked back too, to see one of the sunsets with the most spectacular and diverse evolution:

Enchanted, I went back to the main square to see how it looks at night, and it was worth it – it was bathing in a very special light

Unfortunately, this is where battery ran out, completely. Good night.