Travel tip, don't go to Odessa at end of long journey, or late October when tourist season has waned and it gets dark by six. Be prepared for power outages in some parts of the city, no one eager to speak English, and non-Western toilets. Keep sense of humour and try to impart it on the locals....or not..... Disclaimer: Do not judge any place by my experiences. I'm floating through Eastern Europe on a pilgrimage to see lands from where my grandparents came. I purposely have changed from in-charge professional to one who is floating around, getting lost, finding what I [View Full Entry]

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Got flight out of Odessa and returned to Warsaw. Have to admit, it was a relief going to a city that I was familiar with, and better infrastructure. The next day I took the train to Wroclaw (pronounced 'Fro-Sauve'....what IS it with stupid letters in English that give no indication as to how Polish people pronounce the name??....really tricky when trying to ask for a train ticket to this place...ha ha) I had a few hours before the train and decided to visit the Museum of Evolution. Never did find it, but I bought a ticket and found myself in an [View Full Entry]

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Wroclaw, home of 'the Red Baron' and lately over fifty gnomes are waiting for you to find them. This is my last stop in Poland. I'm in the German part of Poland and very few people speak English here. In fact, the international ticket agent at train station didn't speak English. Luckily a young customer understood that I was looking for day passes for trams and pointed me in direction of kiosks outside the building. I'm in a hostel with no washing machines, despite the fact that hostel-bookers advertised it as having free laundry. I couldn't get refund to move to [View Full Entry]

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Today I dedicated myself to finding Lviv, the one in the travelbooks. I searched for a park, found one, got lost, someone kindly escorted me back downtown. I took more photos of statues and building. I bought a Russain doll. I finally found a Ukranian restaurant (note: Lonely Planet book is out of date. One of their recommended restaurants is now a Greek bistro, and the other must have changed civic numbers) and had Ukranian borsh. The problem I have with Lviv is the air pollution. Ladas and Mercedes and buses and taxis roar through the streets in the old city [View Full Entry]

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I've been moving from south Poland to Slovakia to Lviv,Ukraine(here now). I haven't had access to computer long enough to upload photos,so will try to catch up tonight. Tricky using Ukrainian computers in Internet cafe, but someone in hostel had faster computer so I could download pics from camera to flashdrive. I'll describe places from last four days. One of the neat things about Europe is that you can cross most borders easily and enter a new country for the afternoon. Friends from Gorlice took me for a drive into Slovakia on Saturday afternoon. We went to Bardejov (not on [View Full Entry]

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Gorlice is near Jaslo. I drove through many towns on the bus heading towards the Ukraine, and one town was Jaslo. The choices of towns on this blog site is limited. Gorlice is situated near Slovakian border, in the high hills of southern Poland. I spent two days here and learned alot about displaced Ukrainians after the uprising in 1949. The Ukrainians wanted their own state, and when their uprising was over, they were sent to northern Poland. Many of their Greek Orthodox churches were converted to Roman Catholic. Eventually some Ukranians came back, and now live peacefully with Polish p [View Full Entry]

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I took the bus to Przemsyl (pronouced 'shamish'), which is 10 kms from Ukraine border. Then I took bus to cross into Ukraine and come to Lviv (Polish pronouce it 'leVolf') It was an adventure, the bus ride and three hour wait at the border. When we got to Lviv the bus station was in the suburbs. Luckily there was a minibus that takes people into the city, 7 kms of busy traffic. Lviv is suppose to be the new Prague. I've not been there, but have seen enough views in hollywood movies. Lviv did not have the wow factor that [View Full Entry]

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I'll post photos and you can see some of the highlights. I'd give the Salt Mine a miss unless it was a rainy day....it did rain ....hmmm, I'd put it near the bottom of the to-do list in Krakow. [View Full Entry]

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No photos tonight, camera is back at hostel flled with young Australians standing in line to book next leg of their journey, Prague or Berlin. UPDATED NOW Once I secured my clothes in the washing machine I returned to city centre. This is a lively city. Warsaw is the working person's city, and Krackow is the student/touist/happy person's town. The constrasts are stark, beginning with the railway station. Warsaw's station was built during Communist era, and has mono-coloured (black) walls around its platforms, and a maze of round halls above which disorientate any newcomers. Krackow's st [View Full Entry]

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There are lots of photos in this blog. When I tried to review them, I could only see half of them enlarged. Hope you have better luck. Here are some traveler tips for Warsaw. Don't arrive on Sunday because the tourist bureau closes early, and the train station is a confusing ant hill of round corriders underground. Go upstairs when you arrive. Don't buy the tourist travel card on Monday if you plan on visiting museums because most are closed. Don't go to the Palace on Tuesday because that is the day it is closed. Don't ask anyone over 25 for [View Full Entry]

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