Prague - Gdansk - Warsaw

The Prague to Gdansk journey wasn't so bad.

Sometimes there'd have be a compromise made on the Polish trains, however - open the window to avoid being poached in your own sweat, or close it and be able to hear yourself think. I don't think Polish trains are the most up to date in the world, but then, they are incredibly cheap. They have the charm of a knackered old shed on wheels.

Onto Gdansk then..

Well, being brutally honest, I'm unsure if it was worth the 15 hour journey, but the Old Town was good to go around. After that, though, there was little else. I took a look at some of the places in The Tin Drum and that definitely added to the experience. I had a hearty meal of pork neck, boiled potatoes, and a salad for something approaching 4€ (with beer) in the covered market and just leisurely walked around without stress, taking a picture or two. 

The 'Lucky-Hostel' I stayed in was ok. I'm never overly keen on these places where you're staying in the cellar of a real, family home, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. It was quite funny being shown to your bed by the owner's son, who can't have been much more than 15. 

Also, the hostel was located miles away from anywhere, so unless you wanted more kebab as an evening meal, there was only the petrol station nearby. If, like me, you forget to buy food from the supermarket when it's actually open, sometimes you have to make do with a large bag of crisps until morning.

So, after a bit of thinking, I'd settled on heading to Kiev in the Ukraine. The general plan was to get an overnight train from Gdansk to Warsaw, then get a second night train direct to Kiev. In reality two night-trains in a row would've been too much, so I reconsidered and decided to spend a night in Warsaw.

That was until I bumped into a cool character called Graham on the platform to Warsaw. I was glad of the company on the train. It turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable train rides so far - 5 hours... stood up, with barely enough room to turn around, let alone swing some felines.

Hanging around with Graham, I've been in Warsaw since Friday, and I'm really glad I did. Because the 1655 to Kiev was full by the time I wanted to buy a ticket, I got to know a small portion of the 'real' Warsaw. Now my opinion of this city is much greater, it has many hidden gems that you'd never get a sniff of if you didn't have the local, insider knowledge. This, Graham had, because he knew a few people around the city.

We met up with some of his friends in the centre on the Friday, who all turned out to be really cool too. But, the really cool places were discovered when the group dwindled down. It's a shame they couldn't all come along, but some had to attend a wedding the next day.

We went round a few corners, which, unless you're really paying attention (or have some kind of GPS) you'd take forever to be able to retrace, and ended up at this surreal set of bars. It's difficult to describe how cool these tiny rooms were, but basically there were rows of seemingly lifeless doors and barred up windows. The place had no signs, and there were no names to any of the bars, but after opening one of said doors, it all started to become clear.

Behind each of the doors was a dark room (most had a downstairs aswell) decorated in its own unique style. One had a room full of vintage chairs, some leopard print, some leather, some wicker, some you'd maybe find in a skip. There was one with walls overloaded with mirrors, another with varieties of 1950's wallpaper, complete with some wireless radios and classic lamps, like a living room straight from that era. Another one had dildoes for door handles and a giant paper mache penis on the ceiling.

I couldn't have guessed there'd be somewhere like this, but I'm so glad it was shown to me. A good part of it was that there was pretty much no other tourists in this place, as with Warsaw itself (most apparently flock to Krakov). Here you won't find the massive tour groups, bus trips around the sights, or swarms photographing the same square inch. It's as if it's a city undiscovered or overlooked.

So anyway, after plenty of interesting little finds, including a tiny vegetarian restaurant, and free music bars in the Palace of Culture (apparently nothing at all to do with Lenin, as said in my previous post on Warsaw) and coming to understand how great Warsaw is when you look past the surface, I have my ticket to Kiev.

It's at 16:55 later on, so I'm going to kill a few hours and prepare for a very bumpy ride. I'll make a new post before too long, including a mention of the things you have to endure on the border of Poland / Ukraine.

Hamburg, Dresden, Prague

Hamburg was nice enough, though with the saving of money I wasn't upto much other than the usual wandering around. I ventured into the town and watched a bit of the Polizei(sp?) band playing some jumpy numbers before they packed it in when the rain started to sprinkle.

Dresden was beautiful. I enjoyed the Altstadt (old town) side of the bridge more than the Neustadt side, though the new town did have the golden horserider. Bet that's worth a pretty penny. Twas t-shirt-clingingly-hot again.

Following that I was out of Germany and into Prague to give it a proper once over this time, and it didn't disappoint.

Though obviously suffocated with tourists during most of the day, there is too much in Prague to pass on. Yesterday I spent a good 6 hours walking around the Old Town attractions including the Cathedral, the Old Town Hall, the Astronomnical Clock and of course Charles bridge (which was sadly half covered in scaffolding). The main square had a nice array of various food stands, from Jewish cuisine to chicken kebabs on a skewer... and of course pints of draught beer for less than a quid. Didn't take me too long to figure out the currency (1€ = 25Kc), can't wait until the denominations get ridiculous...

I've been gradually getting into meeting people in hostels again, though I was perhaps slightly indifferent at first (the conversations can tend to be a bit samey). Today a very talkative and upbeat chap introduced himself when I was sat alone like a plum, eating breakfast I'd bought, when unknown to me, it was provided free in the hostel. 

Anthony was another Couch Surfer and he spent a good amount of time showing me the ins and outs of the system. All I need to do now is pluck up some courage to give it a try, apparently at least 2 weeks in advance is a good time if you're looking for a couch to sleep on. 

Before rushing off to catch his plane back to London, Anthony showed an interest in meeting me in Turkey inbetween September 20th and October 20th, which would be cool.

After he he disappeared I got myself lost on the way into town. Might have had something to do with getting the tram in the wrong direction! This time amongst the beer drinking I caught the Jubilee Synagogue and Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle) and more pavement pounding. 

Tomorrow is going to contain at least 15 hours of trains, aswell as a disgusting 840 start from Nadrazi Holesovice train station so I treated myself to a nice meal this evening, totalling about 200Kc / 8€ / £7someting. I had a good old beef goulash with a side of grilled veg and a pint of cold Gambrinus lager.

I've come to understand that its only reading books that keeps me awake on long train journeys. Music, computer and view gazing all do little to prevent the inevitable slip into daydreaming some 20 or 30 minutes after departure. Little bit irritating to be fair.

Anyway I can't believe tomorrow it will be a week already since I left home... time flies. Going to short my clobber out then try and get a good night's sleep.

here we go again..

Well here I am again, after a very swift 4 weeks at home - I'm back travelling again. This time I could easily be away for upto 2 years, but I'm insured until November 2010, so we'll see how long I last.

Just a quick recap of my itinerary:-

Kicking off with two months in Europe, planning on spending a chunk of time in and around Romania and a solid month in Turkey.

From Istanbul I will be catching a plane to Sydney on October 20th, where I will see about fruitpicking for 6 months. If circumstances are good I could spend an extra 6 months in Australia, only I won't be working as my working visa will have expired*. In that time I will try my best to get to New Zealand, before then heading to South East Asia.

Meanwhile in the present..

I'm on my second day at the time of writing, arrived in Hamburg at about 9something o'clock and making use of the free wi-fi in the hostel lobby. Yesterday I was in the Belgian city of Brugges.

Brugges was a very pretty little city, the buildings reminded me of Munich architecture with the triangular-shaped roofs. All very cute and village-like. I'd like to go there again for a couple of weeks.

I was pretty knackered by the time I had arrived so after a small wander and grabbing some frites covered in a 'samurai' sauce, I returned to hostel, necked a cool beer, and turned in.

My first day had its share of stress. As a result of my outstanding organisational skills I was late for my train from Sheffield and had to fork out another £61 to get to London St. Pancras. Upon arriving I was lucky enough to be chosen to have my bag checked. So much fun having the entire contents of your bag emptied into a box, with less than ten minutes until your Eurostar is about to depart..

They didn't even confiscate the two penknives I've taken with me.

So, after shoving everything back into my bag with my fist and sprinting up the escalator to some tutting train attendants, I was safe.

It was a much better first day than that of my other trip, in Paris, but very tiring nevertheless.

Today has been more lengthy train rides, so I haven't seen much of anything apart from the insides of carriages. I'm staying in Hamburg for 2 nights though, so I'll see at least a few non-train related things. 

Everywhere is incredibly hot.

* Just a quick note on this. Though I won't be able to do anymore fruitpicking after my working visa has finished, I have read about doing things like cleaning in some hostels in order to get free board, which is completely legit.