Blogs from Pomerania, Poland, Europe - page 14

If you are ever lucky enough to be invited to spend Christmas in Poland - GO!!! I have been really blessed that people keep opening their homes to me and one family has been no exception. Magda who I met (yes again) in India invited me to visit with her family and as this is not the year to say no, I of course took her up on that. So at 2.40am on Monday 24 December I climbed out of bed to dress, catch the night bus to Stockwell, to wander the streets looking for (and finding) the National Express Gatwick Bus, waited, it came (wooo hooo), trundled out to Gatwick, all to catch the the 6.55am Sleazyjet to Gdansk, Poland. I am not unhappy to state that I remember the wheels leaving the tarmac (just) ... read more

Geo: 54.44, 18.56Breakfast was some pastries purchased on the way to the train station. A sausage patty-stuffed foccacia-like cheese bun - very good. This was probably the best pastry I have ever had in Eastern Europe - but in my extensive history of pastry-eating, it probably ranks no higher than 185th or so. The apple turnover was a little tough, but the filling was good. A chewy multi-grain cheese stick, and a burnt hot dog bun rounded out the meal. Mary Moment #54: Mary twisted her thumb this morning and asked me to kiss it better. I told her that I kiss, but only French-style. She quietly put her hand in her pocket and never said another word about it ... We arrived in Hel - we walked through town to a crappy little beach. We ... read more

Geo: 54.36, 18.64Surprisingly, I didn't have a crappy sleep on the bus! I probably got almost 5 hours. I forgot that we gain an hour crossing the border into Poland. It would have been nice to get a little more sleep, but it was getting a little uncomfortable. I just wanted to get off and walk around. We arrived in Gdansk and needed to kill 30 minutes until the accommodation rental agency opened. We walked a little bit to get the blood flowing and then just hung around the area. The apartment was pretty decent on the inside, despite being located inside a building with a dumpy and urine-drenched entrance (there was a puddle at the bottom of the steps and given the smell, we guessed it was urine). Though you require a code to enter ... read more

I wake early from a not very restful sleep, around 6am we are up. I get some coffee from the nearby petrol station while Hans takes down the tent, then we slowly make our way out of Kwidzyn. The town looked quite attractive last night, but neither of us are in the mood for sightseeing, we simply want to get out of here. The first 20km are a drag, the road constantly rising and falling, with the uphill stretches too steep for a loaded bike. After 25km, we find a lake with a beach, almost empty since we're early. We take a dive, relax for a bit, until more and more people arrive. By the time we leave, the beach is packed full of people trying to cool down from the hot day. The road leads ... read more

Those Taiwanese were very noisy early in the morning!!!! argh.. Woke up and headed off to Malbork, with the biggest red brick castle in the world... Very nice, tho no English tour....but the inside was cool and they had this weapon exhibition with weapons throughout European history! I love purssian swords!!! and saw this gun I really liked..haa...too bad I couldnt take pix inside.." The Castle...not only, but I mean all sightseeing points in Poland, are full of KIDS...OMG..its like every school has a field trip to somewhere....The whole castle was basically BLOCKED.....I followed the school tour to find my way and then these kids started making fun of me....first they say sth in English. then laugh and say sth in Polish! grrrr... wanted to kick their ass. Anyways, Malbork was that, the town was ... read more