i felt that it was about time for some change. new continent, new season - meaning a new wardrobe. ive had to do a fair bit of clothes shopping in Hamburg and Warsaw as the clothes i had in my backpack werent quite up for a european winter. As for the new song, I heard in on the radio in Ulanbattar [how funny does that sound] on the way to the train staion so i then had it stuck in my head all the way to moscow! And the new profile picture is me [very drunk] squeezed into the small metal storage bin under the seats on the trans siberian train. thats how we amused ourselves for 5 days.
Poland so far has been really nice. I had a few nights in warsaw, which although was ok, wasnt overly impressive. there were practically no origional buildings left because everything was destroyed in the war, so it all felt a bit "fake" in some ways.
One morning i went for a walk to the markets that were being held in a former sports stadium. the staium was built in the 1950s and was the "jewel in the communist sporting crown" now it's abandoned, with markets being held all around the top of a deserted stadium, overgrown with weeds and small trees. it was a pretty strange site. there were stalls selling everything from the usual clothing knockoffs to bath taps, lace curtains to power drills and women's jewlery to hardcore russian made porn.
One of the more interesting things i did was go to the warsaw rising museum, which was about the rebellion of the underground polish army in warsaw towards the end of the war, and how they managed to capture large parts of the city for over 2 months despite being poorly armed, supplied and supported. it was very eyeopening to see things from a polish perspective.
I'm meeting morgan in Krakow on the 25th and i didnt want to get there too early before her, so on my way down here I stopped for one night at the town of Lublin. It was probably one of my favourite places that i have been to so far, most proably because i didnt except anything from it.
I arrived on a beautiful sunny sunday afternoon and I was staying in a 200yrold building in the middle of the old town. When I got there i found that there was a festival in full swing. there were loads of people [locals, not tourists] music and displays ranging from CPR, oral care and types of apples all around the central square. [with some translation help from aleks back in sydney i discovered that it was the lublin festival of learning, which explained the oral care tent]. I even had some ladies try to set me up with a polish student bank account....
The old town was really beautiful as it small with narrow winding coddled streets and laneways and most of the buildings appeared to be originals. many of them have not even been restored yet and had a lot of character. some even had what looked like bullet holes in the masonry. It was nice to see somewhere that although somewhat touristy, hadnt become over-developed yet. the old city still had a real feeling of being the local square, not just a tourist attraction.
That afternoon there was even a army marching band with a 21 gun salute, followed by the polish flying roulettes flying overhead, spraying plumes of red and white smoke over the city and church bells ringing all around. It was quite an experience.
I also stopped by the church just down from the hostel. it was a massive grand church that was covered in beautiful frescos [the best in poland ive since learnt] and ornate decorations, which was in the middle of a packed sunday service.
I have now just arrived in Krakow and looking forward to spending a bit of time here and meeting morgan tomorrow. After here probably either heading south into slovakia and the mountains or maybe over to prauge. have to see what morgan wants to do.
