Blogs from Anin, Warsaw, Masovia, Poland, Europe

The day started by hostel staff knocking on my door looking for the heater that was in there and 8:20 am. Why they couldn't wait till later I dont know. I was booked on to a tour of the salt mines for 10:15 so I thought I might as well get up. The trip was booked with the same company I went with yesterday so I knew it would be decent. It was a quick trip, only about 30 mins. The mine has been open for over 700 years and while the miners got bored on their lunch and stuff they would carve statues and chapels. the tour lasts for about 2 hours, but still only takes you into about 2% of the tunnels. Its really impressive all the stuff they've managed to make out of ... read more

well it turns out last night that there was only1 other person staying at the Hostel. So I've had a 6 bed room to myself. Its the same tonight but then theres a bit party arriving tomorrow night, although they might just all go in the 12 people rooms. So yesterday after I got here I went for a walk around the outside of the castle. It shuts at 4 so with the tours I'm going on I wont get to actually go in it. Then I came back up to the main square and went in St Mary's church. Its really nice in there and the audio guide had was interesting. Back at the hostel I cooked myself so pasta and had a shower. One of the advantages of being one of two people staying ... read more

So last night Im checking my facebook and stuff before heading to bed when a woman asks me to help her log on to the e-mail. She wanted to log on to the address she had at home, not a web based one. So after a lot of googling we finds the website. Then she tells me she cant remember her password. To recover your password you have to phone them, but that would have cost a fortune from Poland. So we decided to create her a new email address on hotmail, so she can email her friend. Gets to the hotmail page and is half way through creating a new email when she tells me that she does have a hotmail account, but she doesnt want to use it. Something to do with her partner ... read more

Just a quick message to let you know Im back in Krakow. The train was only 35 zlt compared to the 110 I paid to get to Warsaw so god knows what happened there. This train had compartments within the carriages, so I felt a bit like I was on the Hogwarts express. The hostel looks ok, reminds me a bit of a pub I've been to but cant put my finger on which one. I'm in a 6 people room, but so far no one else has checked in, so I might have my own personal room. Off out to do a bit of exploring. ... read more

I think I might have illegally got the tram to the zoo today. I put my ticket into the machine and it beeped and the light went red. But no one checked so I got away with it. The tram was harder to find that I thought. The website and guidebook said it was in a square, but in acctual fact its just around the corner. I got on tram 23, which made me happy. I was a bit early for opening so I went for a walk around the park its set in and saw lots of red squirrels. They have better ears but the grey ones have the best tails. First thing I saw at the zoo was some ducks sliding around on the frozen ice of their pond- very funny. The gibbons were ... read more

Yep, thats right-me. Nothing much of interest to report since yesterday. I hung out in the common room till about half 9 ish, then thought Id head to bed. BUt when I got to my room there were some people from Japan, poland, Austria and Germany sat around chatting, so I got changed into my PJ's but stayed up to chat with them. It was really interesting talking about how things were different in out countries. We also tried to decide what the national souviner of Poland was. It was tricker that you'd think. I think I must have turned in about half 10-ish when they left for the pub and woke up about half 8, so I got a good nights sleep. Im off to make some butties for breakfast and lunch-try to save the ... read more

well its almost half 5 here and Ive just finished my first proper day sight seeing in poland. Firstly I went to get a Warsaw card from the tourist information. Its about the size of a credit card and allows you discounted entry into museum etc and covers all your public transport. I was going to get a 3 day one to cover all the days I'm here for but the bloke in the tourist information told me that a lot of the museums are shut on a monday so there wasn't much point. So I just got a one day one, but what he also didnt tell me was that the museums are free on a sunday so I havent used it yet. So Im going to activate the transport one when I head to ... read more

well last night fairly early night ended about 2am. I went to the hostel's bar and had a few beers and several shots with a couple of people who worked there. I managed to have a fairly sensible conversation about footie with two americans. I managed to be up and ready to leave about 9ish. couldnt work out what tram to get so ended up walking to the station. next time i go away im getting a bag with wheels. I was a bit hungover, so was not at all a happy bunny. I ended up having to talk to 3 cashiers to get my ticket sorted. the trains over here are so comfy, you get loads of leg room. most of the polish countryside passed me by because I was asleep, but the bits I ... read more

we're in warsaw! and we have just spent about 2 hours booking and unbooking things when we realised that infact countries are quite far apart. Really, i think our lives would be much simpler if places would just move a little bit nearer to each other when we wanted to use the train. However, we have now managed to finalise (i use the term loosely) a hostel in prague, a campsite in vienna and a hostel in salzburg so at least the sound of music excursion is safe! so rant over and back to today... it was sunny today! we found the old town in warsaw (eventually) and wandered around the pretty buildings before eating pierogi (which is not pigeon but a polish thing like ravioli made of pastry or dumplings depending on what you have ... read more