Warsaw! The Big City!

19/8/12

2116 (local time)

Warsaw, Poland

Written in my dorm bunk bed listening to Sean Williams – Warsaw, Poland

Well Warsaw wasn’t all that bad to be honest with you… I liked the city. Its big, and there are loads of sky scrapers but it was ok. My first night was spent wandering around the city as per normal, I was fortunate enough to hear the loudest power chord as I walked past a building, and I realised there was a band getting setup to play. When I walked past they were only doing sound check. I asked the drummer what time they were on, in his broken English he said 9.30 then he corrected himself to say 8.30! Perfect, I’ll see you there.

So I was down there by 9pm, to realised I had walked into a Polish Metal Gig! ROCK ON SKI.

I listened until their set finished, it wasn’t my type of music, but its always nice to hear some local guys doing what they love!

It was an early night and I was asleep by 11. And early wake up the morning saw me out on the city walking around. I bumped into a girl from Adelaide that loved taking photos, so I walked with her for a bit. We got to a random street and bumped into this very strange but interesting 53 year old Australian guy who has been living in Poland with his wife for 7 years.

I didn’t have anything to do, and it looked like he wanted someone to talk to and I was happy to listen, so I hung out with him for the rest of the afternoon. We talked about Music and Politics and Religion most of the day – and even though I’m not all that knowledgeable about those topics (except Music) I was still able to keep up… Either I’m getting smarter, or am just a master bullshit artist.

Steve (the guys name) took me to the Jewish quarter of Warsaw, and even showed me where the Ghetto used to lie where the Jewish Prisoners used to live during WW2.

Poland is a beautiful but that place has had an absolutely horrible past… Most of Eastern European has…

Anyway, after our walked we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the hostel to chill out for a while, I got some stuff for dinner and breakfast and lunch for the next day, as I was having to get up at some STUPID time to catch a bus to Vilnius, Lithuania… the bus is leaving at 6.05am… meaning I have to get up at about 4am so I can get ready and walked to the bus station to catch the bus… LOVE TOO!

Anyway, ill end it there! Take care! Chat next time! Xx

one of the parks in Warsaw!

the Euros and their fountains!

Local junk food shop! - dinner!

one of the main chuches in Warsaw!

the main street in Warsaw!

a man and his balloons!

this is where there was a railway station, that took the War Prisoners to one of the many concentration camps! 

A beautiful tower, taken at like 5am!

its where the tourist info is... potentially a uni?

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT UPDATE!

Hello Krakow-ski! Lets Bring It Poland-ski!

18/8/12

1357 (localtime-ski

Krakow, Poland

Written on: a train from Krakow to Warsaw listening to Red Fang-ski

Ahh, I miss the mountains already! I miss waking up in the morning to clean air, putting on my hiking shoes and knowing that I was going to see some beautiful nature-ski

I’ve been sitting on the train from Krakow to Warsaw for about an hour now! I think I’m getting a cold, I’m so blocked up and I’ve got a sore throat! I think this is just the beginning, so I’m in for a pretty miserable next few days I think-ski

Right, so lets talk a little bit about Krakow. I got in to Krakow after a mammoth journey from Spisska Nova Ves, it wasn’t that bad just a lot of changes and connections! Never mind, I managed it!-ski

When I got in at Krakow, I had to find my hostel, called Hostel Orange. There was no problems there either! I dumped my bags, and went out to get lost in the city- ski

One thing that did surprise me about Krakow, it seemed a lot like Prague… or Prague looked a lot like Krakow. Who knows which was first… well google probably does…ski

Anyway, the city was nice. My first day/night was spent just getting a feel for the city and orientating myself with everything. I did manage to stumble across a bar called ‘King Lizard’ I was drawn to this place by its reference to Spiderman, who knows if it was accidental or not, but it drew me in. I asked the bar man if there was any live music, he told me that there was a band playing at 9pm-ski

Perfect, I knew where I was going to be tonight-ski

I wandered on back to the hostel, I wasn’t that hungry as I had been nibbling all day. I bought 3 beers and sat in the kitchen talking to all the other people that were staying there. I tried to round up a few people to go, but they were taking ages and I couldn’t be arsed waiting for them. So by 9.45 – 10 I left and walked to the Lizard King-ski

It was great, they played a great set of: Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and even Nirvana! -ski

I loved it… it was a pretty early night and I was asleep by 12-ski

The next day I was up at 9pm, had my shower and breakfast and was out on the streets by 10. Again I just wandered the streets trying to get lost. I came across nice churches, and buildings but what I did enjoy was walking through the old markets, watching the organised chaos as the old women went about their shopping speaking Polish. It was kinda cool-ski

I ate some weird local food, it was like a sausage roll thing for lunch then walked back to the main square where this is a type of festival going on where different bands and musicians are playing. It was nice, I sat there for over an hour listening to all the different types of music-ski

After this I went back to my hostel and booked my FLIGHT TO JAPAN! Looks like ill be leaving Helsinki, Finland on the 4^th of September and getting to Japan on the 6^th! I CANNOT WAIT! MT FUJI BRING IT ON-ski

After I booked my flight I walked around the Jewish quarter and whilst getting lost, came across another bar called Café Kalashnikov. I noticed they had a Reggae / Dancehall night tonight! I asked what time they were opening, 9pm! Perfect I knew where I was going that night J-ski

On the way back to the hostel , I bought 3 beers and again sat in the kitchen chatting to the guys! Eventually 11pm ticked on by, and I wandered off down to the bar! -ski

The Reggae band was cool, playing Bob Marley tracks! It was good fun dancing around! -ski

Anyway, that brings me to now – on this train! With a blocked nose and a sore throat! We shall see what happens! -ski

Bring it on Warsaw, no expectations but no mountains – we shall seeski

Cheers Krakow! -ski

Steve ski

stumbled across this band, with these sketchy polish guys dancing in the front!

Krakow City!

the BUSY streets of Krakow!

one of the markets in Krakow!

some Red Bull breakdancing!

very low cloud cover... its gonna rain!

lovely statue!

some local art in Krakow!

The euros love putting locks on stuff!

local polish food... tasty!