Blogs from Poland, Europe - page 189

We left on the 0915 train to Warsaw. It was a relaxing journey down south, with a simple change at Warsaw Wschodnia (East). More tricky was negotiating our way out of Kraków’s main station which is chaotic with the rebuilding going on, buses and cars trying to squeeze there way onto the narrow streets. We got a fair share of particulates, Carbon Monoxide and polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons therefore as we made our way towards Warszawska street and our friend’s office - it’s much better if you go straight into the Old Town. We used to live in Kraków, we lived there 3 years until 1997. So a fair bit has changed since then. After visiting Wega (a vegetarian place on ul. Westerplatte - excellent salads!), we got a lift with our friend to her new flat ... read more

Rajsk - one of the least famous places in Poland, not in your Rough Guides, and therefore worthy of my blog. For some time we had wanted to go to Rajsk, to visit where the family on Kasia's Dad used to live. Rajsk's recent history (as happens in Eastern Poland) is pretty stark. We took the train to Rajsk on the surviving line to Bielsk Podlaski and Czeremcha. The train travels at a sedate 30km/h due to the condition of the track, the big SU45 locomtive somewhat under utilised. The story behind this is *huge* under investment into the railways in Poland over recent years, and it is a miracle this line has survived closure. We ambled along in bright sunshine, southwards into the Podlasian countryside. It truly is Podlasie ("by the forest") as the ... read more

We are so sorry we haven't posted in such a long time, there's so much to tell! We decided to split it all up into two entries. The first is our visit to Poland. For those of you who don't know the whole history of last summer here's the abridged version: Liz's parents picked up some Polish kids one night in the grocery store when they accidentally found out they were working in Colorado on the same program that we went to London on. We spent most of the summer with Wojtiech, Michael, and Kasia. Michael and Kasia are still working in California but Wojtiech decided to go back to Poland and we took the opportunity to go and visit him! We stepped off the train and were greeted by Wojtiech and his mom who gave ... read more

An unexspected special event It may be a carnival, a religious ceremony, a festival or a party: from the carnival of Rio to the Mongolian Nadaam to a Balinese funeral - visiting special events can be very rewarding. Flowers and festive dresses make colorful pictures, special activities or rituals are interesting to watch and often combined with one form of music or another and sometimes dance elements create a special ambience which might be difficult to catch in pictures but is always worth sucking in. Above all, people in a 'not-every-day mood' (be it excited, mourning, happy, in high spirits or just drunk) are mostly happy to share their special day with you. Of course, as a traveler one also learns to know the backside of special events in the form of crowded buses and trains ... read more

Kasha called us last night saying her car will not be ready tomorrow, so the three of us will have to ride the train from Krakow to Prague. "That’s fine," Nancy told her, "Bill and I know where the Orbitz Travel Agency is on Market Square. We will go there early in the morning and buy the tickets." Kasha explained there are three classes. One is for a seat only. The other two are for sleepers. "First class is more expensive, but really not that much better," Kasha said. "So buy the cheaper sleeper if it is available." Orbits opens at nine each morning. Breakfast at the hotel begins at eight. I checked the dining room at seven forty-five and it was open with food already set up. I walked back to the room and told ... read more