It's raining in Gdansk so I have a lot of time to catch up. I also missed a train this morning so I'm hanging out with French Canadiens, a couple of Aussies, two Americans, and a kiwi.
Krakow. It's the new Prague. The original Prague is amazing, but the new Prague has less tourists, and the shit weather finally broke. Every day except for one was warm and sunny. The main square in Krakow is the largest in all of europe, measuring in at 200 meters square.
After getting off the train from Budapest, we were shut down when it came to finding a place to stay. Iain, Adrian, and I hooked up with Pete from New Zealand and Elton from Canada and followed them to two hostels - Dizzy Daisy and Bling Bling. Both were full, but the girl at Bling Bling sent us to The Stranger. The first thing I thought about was Dave Chapelle.
Once we got our packs off we took a nap cause sleeping on the train sucks and carrying a thirty pound backpack around for an hour at six in the morning takes a little bit out of you. We woke up from disco naps around noon and went to check out the city.
Krakow survived the bombings of WWII intact so everything has a certain authenticity to it. It's also well maintained and the blue skies and sun added to the amazing scenery. We spent the day just wandering and ended up sitting by Wisla river as the sun went down. We went out for beers and I started to fall asleep the way I do when I have too much beer and went back to the hostel for the night.
The next day we were supposed to go to Auschwitz, but since the FA cup final was to be played between Arsenal and Manchester U we stayed to watch it. Adrian donned his Arsenal jersey and we were on our way to find a pub to watch it. Arsenal won in a shootout and Adrian was ready to celebrate. I was a bit trashed when we left the pub, picked up a kebab on the way back to the new hostel, and checked in to Bling Bling drunk as a skunk, skunk, skunk, skunk.
My stomach was fucked so I went to sleep until about six in the morning until Iain and Adrain came stumbling in with the Swedish girls from our room. The Swedish girls were birds of a different feather and I never got along with them the way the other two did, but if I can't say anything nice about them I won't say anything at all.
Considering Iain and Adiran went to sleep around seven in the morning we missed out on Auschwitz that day as well. Iain and I went to the salt mines instead and Adrain went on his own to figure out his travel plans. We met another Australian couple (Adain and Michelle) and hung out with them for the day.
Sorry I'm losing concentration so more later.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 30, 2005
The Train Story
First, a quick update. I'm in northern Poland in a town called Gdansk. Poland is a great country. Forget all the Polish jokes you know.
Iain, Adrian and I caught the night train to Krakow. So on the ride they both mention stories of people getting gassed on night trains in Poland and getting their bags ransacked. I thought they were full of shit, but a lot of the Poles we talked to were surprised nothing happened to us. Lonely Planet has a warning in theiur book about this as well. I guess we were lucky.
At the start of our journey there were five people in our compartment. By the second or third hour it was just the three of us. Adrian already had his towel and swim trunks out and drying since we didn't have time to air them out after the bath house. I followed suit and Iain did as well. That was when we figured out the smell in our room in Budapest was not sewage, but Iain's towel. He hadn't washed it in more than two weeks and it was beginning to sour a bit. I guess that helped keep others out of our cabin.
I got out a pack of cards and we started to play shithead to find out who the ultimate shithead between the three of us would be. We were lounging and playing cards when we reached the border of Hungary and Poland.
The Hungarian border guard grabbed my passport and said to me, "Your name is Tran, Viet Nam?" I told him yes and smiled cause I thought he was getting a kick out of my name. He was not amused.
"And you were born in Michigan, USA?"
"Yes."
He rubbed the passport to see if there were any faults, and flipped through the pages a few times and eyeballing me the whole time. He finally stamped my passport, in the middle of the page. Thanks, asshole.
Now on to the Polish guards. They took my passport and opened up this huge book that looked like some ragged spell book Gandalf might read through. I wasn't sure what the hell they were cross referencing in the book, but I was cleared and stamped and we were on our way again.
The grand tournament to find the ultimate shithead continued and as the night wore on Rick Astley possessed us and Never Gonna Give You Up became the theme for the night. It's a story to be told some other time and it's really not that interesting. Just one of those songs that happened to come on at an opportune moment. Around midnight Iain was crowned The Ultimate Shithead.
I went to use the disgusting toilet just before bed and thanked a higher power I wasn't born a girl as I left the toilet. On the way back I noticed the compartment next to ours was empty. I asked Iain if he wanted to sleep there cause he's 6'4" and there's a lot of space for him to stretch out. Both he and Adrian said no caused they were kind of scared of getting gassed and raped or something.
I said fuck it and went into the empty train car. The train was already hot, but whoever was in there before had the heat turned up, so I had to shut it off and open the window. I locked the door and laid down. Just as I was falling asleep the conductor banged on the door and checked my ticket. Afterwards I fell back asleep. THe next thing I remember was someone grabbing my ankle and pulling it. I snapped awake, but it was another conductor asking to check my ticket. It must have been four in the morning at this point.
I woke up around five in the morning because POland gets light out beginning at 4:30 and the sun is fully up by 5:00. We rolled into Krakow around 5:30 and started over again. New country, new money, new language.
Iain, Adrian and I caught the night train to Krakow. So on the ride they both mention stories of people getting gassed on night trains in Poland and getting their bags ransacked. I thought they were full of shit, but a lot of the Poles we talked to were surprised nothing happened to us. Lonely Planet has a warning in theiur book about this as well. I guess we were lucky.
At the start of our journey there were five people in our compartment. By the second or third hour it was just the three of us. Adrian already had his towel and swim trunks out and drying since we didn't have time to air them out after the bath house. I followed suit and Iain did as well. That was when we figured out the smell in our room in Budapest was not sewage, but Iain's towel. He hadn't washed it in more than two weeks and it was beginning to sour a bit. I guess that helped keep others out of our cabin.
I got out a pack of cards and we started to play shithead to find out who the ultimate shithead between the three of us would be. We were lounging and playing cards when we reached the border of Hungary and Poland.
The Hungarian border guard grabbed my passport and said to me, "Your name is Tran, Viet Nam?" I told him yes and smiled cause I thought he was getting a kick out of my name. He was not amused.
"And you were born in Michigan, USA?"
"Yes."
He rubbed the passport to see if there were any faults, and flipped through the pages a few times and eyeballing me the whole time. He finally stamped my passport, in the middle of the page. Thanks, asshole.
Now on to the Polish guards. They took my passport and opened up this huge book that looked like some ragged spell book Gandalf might read through. I wasn't sure what the hell they were cross referencing in the book, but I was cleared and stamped and we were on our way again.
The grand tournament to find the ultimate shithead continued and as the night wore on Rick Astley possessed us and Never Gonna Give You Up became the theme for the night. It's a story to be told some other time and it's really not that interesting. Just one of those songs that happened to come on at an opportune moment. Around midnight Iain was crowned The Ultimate Shithead.
I went to use the disgusting toilet just before bed and thanked a higher power I wasn't born a girl as I left the toilet. On the way back I noticed the compartment next to ours was empty. I asked Iain if he wanted to sleep there cause he's 6'4" and there's a lot of space for him to stretch out. Both he and Adrian said no caused they were kind of scared of getting gassed and raped or something.
I said fuck it and went into the empty train car. The train was already hot, but whoever was in there before had the heat turned up, so I had to shut it off and open the window. I locked the door and laid down. Just as I was falling asleep the conductor banged on the door and checked my ticket. Afterwards I fell back asleep. THe next thing I remember was someone grabbing my ankle and pulling it. I snapped awake, but it was another conductor asking to check my ticket. It must have been four in the morning at this point.
I woke up around five in the morning because POland gets light out beginning at 4:30 and the sun is fully up by 5:00. We rolled into Krakow around 5:30 and started over again. New country, new money, new language.
It's been a long time, which agrees with this watch of mine
Budapest. Hostel good, Pest not so good, Buda good. Budapest was once two cities, Buda and Pest, but now known as Budapest. We got in late at night because the scenery in Brataslava was jaw dropping. Getting into a foreign city at night is one of the worst things one can do.
First of all we were disoriented once we got off the bus. Second we didn't have any Hungarian Forints. Last but not least we had to urinate. We found an ATM and got out some cash. One US dollar equals about two hundred forints. The toilet cost .70 forints. So naturally asking the toilet guard to break a two thousand forint note didn't go over well. There's not much you can do when the cash machines hand out such large denominations.
Aw fuck it. We decided find our way to the hostel. After finding the tram stop we realized yet again we needed coins to get a ticket. We hopped the tram without a ticket hoping not to get controlled, and luckily we didn't. The thing is I counted the stops wrong and we got off too early and went in the opposite direction of the hostel.
Once on the right track we were all grumbling about how sweaty and hot we were and how we hadn't had dinner yet. As we were approaching the hostel I said it better be a welcoming place. On the archway leading into the hostel the letters spelled out W-E-L-C-O-M-E. Ok maybe this place will be all right.
The super cute girl working the desk checked us in and showed us our room. She then told us to come down to the bar for a few beers once we got settled. No argument there. We knew before we checked into the hostel about the 24 hour bar.
We proceeded to get somewhat buzzed that night play pool on their nonstandard pool table and comment on Adrienne, the girl working the desk. Not to be confused with Adrian the Brit. By this time we also added a fourth member to our crew, Simon also from Australia.
The next day was kind of crap. Although we did see the huge synagogue and the tree monument. The day after we went to the bath house which was quite relaxing but old men in speedos and old women in thong bikinis kind of turned my stomach.
The next few days were a drunken haze as more people showed up at the hostel - Stella and Gabby from England, Todd and Ciaran from London, and other randoms from around Budapest coming to the hostel to party cause it was some holiday.
Inbetween beer we checked out the castle on the Buda side of the river and woke up one morning and found two Australian girls - Lydia and D'oh drawing a blank - in our room. So of course we proceed to party with them at the hostel.
The first morning after the new crew got there was rough on everyone. We decided we needed a hearty greasy breakfast. Eggs and bacon with some veggies mixed in was on the menu. The slabs of bacon we got cut at the store were at least an eighth of an inch thick and took forever to cook. Breakfast was served at three in the afternoon, but the consensus was it was the best breakfast we've ever had.
Honestly we didn't do very much except drink at the hostel. Although our last day together with the group we again went to the bath house and this time discovered the outdoor area. The inside of the bath house contained three pools of varying temperatures - 32, 34, and 36 degrees celcius - as well as a steam room and a sauna. The outdoor area is amazing and has a featured photo in Lonely Planet. All around are huge columns that remind you of the roman times and two huge pools, a 32 degree and a 36 degree pools. There was a lap pool as well, but a swim cap was required to Ciaran's disappointment.
The group went out for lunch and went our separate ways after that. The trio of Iain, Adrian and myself went off to Krakow after that. The train story will be told soon.
First of all we were disoriented once we got off the bus. Second we didn't have any Hungarian Forints. Last but not least we had to urinate. We found an ATM and got out some cash. One US dollar equals about two hundred forints. The toilet cost .70 forints. So naturally asking the toilet guard to break a two thousand forint note didn't go over well. There's not much you can do when the cash machines hand out such large denominations.
Aw fuck it. We decided find our way to the hostel. After finding the tram stop we realized yet again we needed coins to get a ticket. We hopped the tram without a ticket hoping not to get controlled, and luckily we didn't. The thing is I counted the stops wrong and we got off too early and went in the opposite direction of the hostel.
Once on the right track we were all grumbling about how sweaty and hot we were and how we hadn't had dinner yet. As we were approaching the hostel I said it better be a welcoming place. On the archway leading into the hostel the letters spelled out W-E-L-C-O-M-E. Ok maybe this place will be all right.
The super cute girl working the desk checked us in and showed us our room. She then told us to come down to the bar for a few beers once we got settled. No argument there. We knew before we checked into the hostel about the 24 hour bar.
We proceeded to get somewhat buzzed that night play pool on their nonstandard pool table and comment on Adrienne, the girl working the desk. Not to be confused with Adrian the Brit. By this time we also added a fourth member to our crew, Simon also from Australia.
The next day was kind of crap. Although we did see the huge synagogue and the tree monument. The day after we went to the bath house which was quite relaxing but old men in speedos and old women in thong bikinis kind of turned my stomach.
The next few days were a drunken haze as more people showed up at the hostel - Stella and Gabby from England, Todd and Ciaran from London, and other randoms from around Budapest coming to the hostel to party cause it was some holiday.
Inbetween beer we checked out the castle on the Buda side of the river and woke up one morning and found two Australian girls - Lydia and D'oh drawing a blank - in our room. So of course we proceed to party with them at the hostel.
The first morning after the new crew got there was rough on everyone. We decided we needed a hearty greasy breakfast. Eggs and bacon with some veggies mixed in was on the menu. The slabs of bacon we got cut at the store were at least an eighth of an inch thick and took forever to cook. Breakfast was served at three in the afternoon, but the consensus was it was the best breakfast we've ever had.
Honestly we didn't do very much except drink at the hostel. Although our last day together with the group we again went to the bath house and this time discovered the outdoor area. The inside of the bath house contained three pools of varying temperatures - 32, 34, and 36 degrees celcius - as well as a steam room and a sauna. The outdoor area is amazing and has a featured photo in Lonely Planet. All around are huge columns that remind you of the roman times and two huge pools, a 32 degree and a 36 degree pools. There was a lap pool as well, but a swim cap was required to Ciaran's disappointment.
The group went out for lunch and went our separate ways after that. The trio of Iain, Adrian and myself went off to Krakow after that. The train story will be told soon.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
I don't know what day it is anymore and I don't care
A lot has happened in the past week. I left Prague and went to a more chill town called Cesky Krumlov. The beer continued to flow like wine as more people from the hostel in Prague showed up. In hindsight we should have stayed in Krumlov Wednesday night because they bring in a keg of beer and everyone drinks for free, but we decided to head to Bratislava in Slovakia. It turned out to be quite an ordeal because we missed the early bus.
We left Krumlov at 11ish instead of 8. No big deal. We caught a train in Ceske Budejovice and saw the beautiful Czech countryside. When we got to Brno for the final connection to Bratislava, the shit hit the fan. Option one was to take the train to Bratislava. The train was delayed thirty minutes meaning we would miss the connection in the next town. Option two was to find the bus station. We found it but the bus never showed up. We spent nearly three hours in Brno walking back and forth between the bus and train station. The train was further delayed, two and a half hours now, so the bus was the only option. It got there at 7:40. Three hours to Bratislava and no place to stay yet.
We (Ian, Adrian, and I) rolled in to Bratislava and hated it. It was dark out. Nothing was open. We were tired, hungry, and cold. We found the hostel, and lucky for us they had rooms.
The next day we went to Vienna. It's only an hour away and what the hell. Why not? Adrian stayed the night in Vienna and as Ian and I made our way back to the bus station, we talked to a guy in the underground who was sporting a Finland jersey. Although Ian is Australian, he loves hockey and Finland even more.
We end up following the guy (I think his name is Rick) to the arena. They have a beer tent with a big screen TV set up and peolpe are partying. Ian and I score two tickets for the price of one from a scalper and head into the quarterfinals between Finland and Russia. The seats are great. Top level, seven rows back, right at center ice. And to Ian's enjoyment, we're surrounded by Fins, so he gets to practice his Finnish with everyone.
The Finns took an early 2-0 lead, but the Russians came back to tie it 2-2. THen the Finns scored a power play goal to make it 3-2. That was just the first period. Although I was cheering for the Finns, I cheered for the Russians when Datsyuk got free while Russia was short handed and scored for Russia to tie it 3-3. The game ended up in a shootout where Russia won (Datsyuk scored one of the goals during the shootout).
We missed the bus back to Bratislava and ended up staying in Vienna for the night. I spent yesterday and most of today wandering around Bratislava. It's sort of a cross between Krumlov and Prague. Tonight I leave for Budapest.
We left Krumlov at 11ish instead of 8. No big deal. We caught a train in Ceske Budejovice and saw the beautiful Czech countryside. When we got to Brno for the final connection to Bratislava, the shit hit the fan. Option one was to take the train to Bratislava. The train was delayed thirty minutes meaning we would miss the connection in the next town. Option two was to find the bus station. We found it but the bus never showed up. We spent nearly three hours in Brno walking back and forth between the bus and train station. The train was further delayed, two and a half hours now, so the bus was the only option. It got there at 7:40. Three hours to Bratislava and no place to stay yet.
We (Ian, Adrian, and I) rolled in to Bratislava and hated it. It was dark out. Nothing was open. We were tired, hungry, and cold. We found the hostel, and lucky for us they had rooms.
The next day we went to Vienna. It's only an hour away and what the hell. Why not? Adrian stayed the night in Vienna and as Ian and I made our way back to the bus station, we talked to a guy in the underground who was sporting a Finland jersey. Although Ian is Australian, he loves hockey and Finland even more.
We end up following the guy (I think his name is Rick) to the arena. They have a beer tent with a big screen TV set up and peolpe are partying. Ian and I score two tickets for the price of one from a scalper and head into the quarterfinals between Finland and Russia. The seats are great. Top level, seven rows back, right at center ice. And to Ian's enjoyment, we're surrounded by Fins, so he gets to practice his Finnish with everyone.
The Finns took an early 2-0 lead, but the Russians came back to tie it 2-2. THen the Finns scored a power play goal to make it 3-2. That was just the first period. Although I was cheering for the Finns, I cheered for the Russians when Datsyuk got free while Russia was short handed and scored for Russia to tie it 3-3. The game ended up in a shootout where Russia won (Datsyuk scored one of the goals during the shootout).
We missed the bus back to Bratislava and ended up staying in Vienna for the night. I spent yesterday and most of today wandering around Bratislava. It's sort of a cross between Krumlov and Prague. Tonight I leave for Budapest.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Love and hockey
I met my future wife today. Unfortunately she had to go to Krakou before we could make the arrangements. D'oh!
I've missed hockey this year with the NHL being on strike. Fortunately for me the World championships are being played in Austria right now. Two nights ago I watched the US play Canada. A bunch of us from the hostel basically took over a bar and drank them dry - two and a half barrels of beer and all the absynthe. There were two Americans, including myself, two Aussies and about thirty five Canadians. The US lost 3-1 and the Canadians partied. I didn't really care so much since Draper's is wearing an 'A' and Maltby is on his line.
We watched the Czech vs Slovakia game (Czechs won 5-1) followed by Canada vs Sweden. I guess it was an upset since the Swedes came back from a 3-1 deficit to win 5-4. To top that Heinrich Zetterberg scored for the Swedes. I miss the Redwings.
I think I'm staying one more night in Prague before heading further south in the Czech Republic. I'll try to meet up with two Canadians in my room (Marty and Brock) somewhere.
Ciao
I've missed hockey this year with the NHL being on strike. Fortunately for me the World championships are being played in Austria right now. Two nights ago I watched the US play Canada. A bunch of us from the hostel basically took over a bar and drank them dry - two and a half barrels of beer and all the absynthe. There were two Americans, including myself, two Aussies and about thirty five Canadians. The US lost 3-1 and the Canadians partied. I didn't really care so much since Draper's is wearing an 'A' and Maltby is on his line.
We watched the Czech vs Slovakia game (Czechs won 5-1) followed by Canada vs Sweden. I guess it was an upset since the Swedes came back from a 3-1 deficit to win 5-4. To top that Heinrich Zetterberg scored for the Swedes. I miss the Redwings.
I think I'm staying one more night in Prague before heading further south in the Czech Republic. I'll try to meet up with two Canadians in my room (Marty and Brock) somewhere.
Ciao
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Praha
I got into Prague yesterday morning and the one of the first things I saw was a truck for Saltic shoes - the best climbing shoe in the world. Unfortunately I saw a McDonalds right after that.
Prague is an amazing city with tons of history. I went on a five hour walk with a German history professor today.
SOrry to keep this short, but it's three in the morning and I'm quite drunk on the twenty five Korun beers - which equals out to a little over a dollar. Oh did I mention Czech women make me drool :-p
Prague is an amazing city with tons of history. I went on a five hour walk with a German history professor today.
SOrry to keep this short, but it's three in the morning and I'm quite drunk on the twenty five Korun beers - which equals out to a little over a dollar. Oh did I mention Czech women make me drool :-p
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