it kicked off in the student town Poznan about 4 hours drive from berlin and on the way to warsaw, and what a night!!! talk about a big start to the post-berlin europe tour at under 1 euro per beer and supercool germans to party with!! i almost missed my bus the next day, there i was running to the polskibus terminal and my phone died before getting on board. i had to borrow a charger to show the bus driver that despite being a sweaty mess i had prebooked a ticket. sweaty, hung over, completely charged
off to warsaw where i had the good fortune to meet the frenchman charles who now lives and works in warsaw and speaks french, spanish, english, polish and chinese, extremely well travelled and impressive, as well as absolutely brilliant when it comes to nightlife! thank you buddy, i look forward to many fun adventures together. all four nights in warsaw ended at 6 or 7am, well worth it, fine fine times!!
in warsaw the postwar architecture rebuilds were done on the cheap which is a real pity. shopping is very affordble so picked up some nice new threads from zara. my hostel in warsaw was as spacious as a submarine though it didn't matter that much as i was out all the time. oh yes saw some polish football, now am an official member of warsazie, and have learnt the team song;
Sen o Warszawie
Mam tak samo jak ty,
Miasto moje a w nim:
Najpiękniejszy mój świat
Najpiękniejsze dni
Zostawiłem tam kolorowe sny
off to krakow... definitely the jewish quarter is my favourite place (thank you Vin for the tip) with great cafes and food which was all very affordable. again, fine nightlife though rather more touristy than warsaw, nevertheless had loads of fun
one of the most impactful experiences while in Krakow was a full day excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau. that was a life changing experrience, where there is a plaque;
'for ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly jews from various countries of europe'
visiting there made me realise times in my life where i lacked moral courage and to be mindful of the need to exercise it in the future
heading from krakow to Austria was via the polish town Katowice where i wanted to sample the friday nightlife even though i had to carry my pack into each bar, and two or three separate guys tried to start a fight with me because apparantly i looked at them. what can i say, rough town, made me feel quite vulnerable as a tourist for maybe the first time. also saw one homophobic bilboard which was surprising in this day and age, quite shocking actually. it made the place feel very very eastern, and stuck in some bygone soviet era. that anyhow was the worst of poland, as a bit rough and homophobic in places, but on the whole i loved the country to bits and would very much like to spend some extended time there in the future, eating those yummy dumplings of course. wroclaw and gdansk are on the hit list for next time!!!