Poland and Berlin

It seems to have been a while since I wrote.

Krakow was another great city, I don´t think we´ll go anywhere that we don´t love at this rate!!

It´s not too big and we stayed in a nice hostel in our own room with really nice helpful staff which was only a 10 minute walk from the centre so that was great. And it did a really nice free breakfast so that was a bonus!!

Krakow had its own unique style, which is hard to explain.  It had a really nice castle and cathedral and central square area and we enjoyed walking around the city.  It also had really nice food.  All day and evening there were street performers everywhere that were all really good, especially a group of breakdancers that we saw a few times.  We seem to be catching all the festivals that are on and there was a Memorial Day for an uprising in Warsaw during the war with bands and stalls selling lovely food etc.

There were also more nuns than I had ever seen in my life.  There are also pictures of the current Pope everywhere given that he is from Poland.

We went to Auschwitz one day.  I can´t even write in this bit of blog what it was like, what I felt there, what I realised and learnt or words to describe it.  I learnt a lot.  I was shocked, upset, angry, amazed at the work of the historians and staff at the museum who had kept such a collection of information and artefacts.  The museum opened in 1947, just two years after the end of the war and when they didn´t even have the full extent of the information of what had happened there.  Later photographs were found of what was going on.  It´s so amazing that we can now know exactly what was happening there and see pictures of it.  Disturbing but important to know what was going on.  I´ll have to write more another time about it.

We are in Berlin now and are leaving for Prague tomorrow.  We met up with my friend Max who I met in German exchange in school 8 years ago and haven´t seen since.  It was so good to see him again.  It was his first time in Berlin too but he had found out some inside information of places to go so we saw so much of the normal touristy places and backstreet places too.  There is still such a difference between the former East Berlin and West Berlin.  East Berlin has an alternative feel to it, with hidden away bars and cafes, graffitti everywhere and the feel of rebellion and anarchy.  We saw the Berlin Wall and where the checkpoints would have been and so many other places with so much history and it was really interesting.  I think I probably found it more interesting than Claire purely because I´d studied so much about it all in German class and could speak the language and had an old friend there too.  But it´s a great city that is absolutely huge!!!  Much bigger than Budapest!  But the transport is so good, the height of German efficiency!!

Anyway, my time on internet is almost up.  So is my time travelling unfortunately.  I´ll write again from Prague, but then we´re done!  Me and Claire have considered quitting our jobs before we´ve started and just keeping on travelling, but we´ve decided against it, for now anyway!

 

Overnight trains

We left Budapest yesterday with another great day in the city. We saw a LOT of that city and loved it. It’s got amazing architecture, great big city atmosphere with none of the rush and busy-ness of London. People are friendly, although we felt the need more than in some other countries to watch our bags. It was all fine though, we didn’t have any problems, except for a cashier short-changing us in our first transaction by FT2000 (about seven pounds). She just kept talking to us and directing us to the right platform for the metro that we didn’t check the change - mistake. But, we learnt our lesson!!

We got a night train last night to Krakow, it took about 10 hours, and after an hour’s delay in leaving Budapest, we set off and found our cabin - sharing with 4 other people in a cosy cabin. It was definitely an experience, quite fun, and we’ll be repeating it when we go to Berlin on Fri night!

Krakow is another great city, quite small, about the same size as Ljubljana and we walked around it today and feel like we know our way around quite well already. We’ve seen some great sights and there are so many street performers and musicians around all day and night so it’s got a great atmosphere as well. We just got a take away for dinner from a local stall and sat in the main square, listening to music and enjoying the evening sun, lovely

Tomorrow we’re going to Auschwitz which I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like. Then on Friday we’re going to the old Jewish quarter just south of the main centre of Krakow, where all the Jews fled to and it’s now pretty desolate. Then our train on Fri night. So, lots to fit in in the flat lands of Poland.

In Berlin we’re meeting two of my friends who I did an exchange with in Year 10, so haven’t seen them in about 8 years so that’ll be really good, I’m really looking forward to that. Then just Prague and we’re done. Feels like time is going to go really quickly from now, even though it feels like we’ve been away for months!

 

Croatia and Budapest

The sun came out in Croatia briefly.  We took a ferry to an island called Solta which is a really small quiet island, but the sun was shining so we sunbathed for a few hours on a lovely beach and got a bit of colour

When we came back we met a few coursefriends who were stopping off in Split and grabbed lunch with them - there seems to be international BAF reunions across the globe this summer!!

It then poured all afternoon - really poured.  So we sat in a cafe and watched the rain fall and got chatting to a few people.

The food we´ve been having has been so good, really really tasty.  Claire has been a bit sick, but only after eating seafood which she usually gets sick after eating, so its not been too bad.

On Saturday we travelled all day, via Zagreb where we had lunch in the sun again.  We went back to the same place for lunch as when we travelled down to Split, a nice wee bar that does nice wraps.

On our train to Budapest we chatted with some South Korean women who had already been to Budapest.  When we arrived in Budapest that night it was so warm, even though it was about 10pm. It took a bit of navigating to get to our hostel, but we made it and the hostel is spotless.  Its really new and theres a lovely living room with a huge widescreen LCD tv and the bathrooms are so clean.  The staff are really nice too, so its a tie with Venice with our favourite hostel.

Budapest is a great place.  Not really what we expected.  Its huge.  But so nice.  We wandered for miles and miles yesterday around the city, stopping for a bit to hang our feet in a fountain along with about 20 other people!  Its so hot here.  Today we´re going to the baths that Budapest is famous for, theres an outdoor pool as well as indoor thermal baths, saunas and massage area! Its going to be great!  The temp should be about 30 today, so a dip in the pool will be much needed!

We)ve got all day tomorrow here too because we)re getting an overnight train to Krakow tomorrow night.  Then another overnight train to berlin a few days later and then on to Prague for the final few days.  Hoping to meet up with some German friends in Berlin and poss BAF friend Chris too.

Hope everyones keeping well, feel free to comment or email to let me know how ur summers r going!!

 

The sunny beaches…

Since the last we wrote, we finished our time in Venice and moved on to Ljubljana, then had a stopover in Zagreb on our way to Split, Croatia.  The festival in Venice was so good, we sat outside our hostel on the wall at the edge of the canal from 4.30pm til late night in the sunshine and chatted with other people from the hostel.  We met some really cool people from England, Australia, America and a French Canadian.

The fireworks were amazing, they lasted 45 minutes and were possibly the best fireworks I’ve ever seen.  They were spectacular!!  They did shapes which was the first time I’ve seen that in fireworks, except for Tiff’s pictures from Japan!!

We must’ve covered the whole of Venice walking around for the three days but it was such a great place.  Full of narrow alleys, more churches than I’ve ever seen in one place and beautiful architecture.  Claire and I stayed away from the main touristy areas and found the backstreets with hidden gems

Ljubljana was a great place as well.  Our hostel wasn’t in quite as good a location, we had to get a bus in and out and walk a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad.  We saw the city, on the banks of the river and ate in the best restaurants.  We had lunch - a 3 course meal with drinks for five pounds each (i have no idea where the pound symbol is…).  we sat in a bar on the river, and had dinner in this backstreet, hidden away place that served Bosnian food.  It was such a quiet wee place but the food was so good!  The next day we went to Lake Bled, a beautiful lake about 1hr 20mins from Ljubljana.  The sun shone all day so we managed to pick up a bit of colour  :)  We also hired a boat and did some rowing around the lake and over to a wee island with a church on it.  The area was so beautiful.

We have taken so many pictures of all the different places and they’re all completely different locations we’ve been to, its worked out great.

Yesterday we started travelling to Croatia.  We stopped over in Zagreb, the capital city, in the pouring rain!  We just sat in a bar and had lunch for 3 hours to avoid the rain and chatted with some really friendly staff.  Throughout the journey to Split it rained the whole time, but had stopped by the time we got there.  It was quite late so we went for dinner and then bed.  The hostel where we’re staying is just someone’s house which is a bit surreal!  Me and Claire have our own wee bedroom where we’re sharing a double bed, with proper bed covers and a sink and cupboard and a tv!  It’s a bit strange, but cool!

Unfortunately though today the clouds are out which is why we’re on the internet.  The weather forecast says rain for the next few days so we’ll take an island trip at some point and maybe head on to Budapest a bit earlier.  Split is really nice though, a proper beach holiday resort which is a nice change.  There’s lots of boats and the sea and we should get the sunset over the Adriatic!

Speaking of sunsets, caught the sunset and sunrise in Venice - beautiful.

For now, over and out.

 

Italy

The travelling has begun.  Claire arrived safely into Milan on Thursday night and we made our way to the hostel, which was basic but fine!  We then had the best, cheapest Milan dinner ever.  We found a wee restaurant and had beautiful Italian food and wine all for 20euros!!

The next day we made our way around Milan, trying to avoid the pouring rain in the morning!  We saw quite a few sights before getting the train to Venice.

We love Venice.

Our hostel is on an island just off the main area of Venice and from our window, we can see the canal.  Theres an area outside the hostel where we can sit by the canal and theres a boat (bus) service right from the hostel to all the different points in Venice.  We walked our socks off today and saw so many different beautiful buildings and all the back streets of Venice that were quiet, away from all the tourists.  Tonight theres a big firework display outside our hostel for Festa della Redentore - a celebration of the healing of many people with the plague in the 1600s, so that should be good.

We’re off to Ljubljana tomorrow for three nights before hitting the beaches of Croatia.

Update you soon…

 

It begins

So today the interrailing begins

Claire will soon be getting on her flight to meet me in Milan and I will soon be heading to the train station in Desenzano to use my interrail pass for the first time - and I dont really know how to use it. Ill work it out Im sure!

So tonight Milan and then well head to Venice tomorrow - apologies for lack of apostrophes, hard to work out these European computers

Well keep you updated - hope the weathers nice wherever you are!

x

 

The latest…

Tomorrow I leave for Italy for a nice relaxing week away with family and then Claire joins me next Thursday to begin the travelling.  We have accommodation sorted for Milan, Venice and Ljubljana so far.  I can’t wait to begin travelling and I’m sure that after Claire’s Ibiza, Kylie and T in the park excitement, she’ll be looking forward to the next exciting phase of her summer!

We’ll do our best to blog here and let you know where we’ve got to, things we’ve seen and done, and a few pics if we can get good enough internet connection.

Lou

 

The planning…

In July/August, Claire and I will be setting off on our travels around Eastern Europe.  The plan at the moment is start in Italy and then work our way through Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Czech Republic.  We’ll have little booked, but will have with us a Lonely Planet guide, our backpacks and each other.

 

This is a blog to keep people up to date with our progress, and to post a few photos as I’m not sure how much access we’ll get to load many photos on to the internet.

 

Any hints, tips, suggestions… feel free to leave a comment

 

Now, back to revision

 

Lou