Polska

Hey All! Yes that's right ..I'm in Poland now! Polska is Poland in Polish not to be mistaken with the polka, for all you Oktoberfest loving people who might have made that mistake.

Back tracking a bit, despite the terrorist bombing on the train tracks between Moscow and St. Petersburg last week, our train made it to the old capital in one piece. St. Petersburg was amazing. All the buildings are old, European and steeped with history. We got going right away with a walking tour of the city. Our local guide, Vera, gave us a rather cultural tour instead of the typical historical building view and I enjoyed it immensely. In this previously secret artist corner called Pushkinskaya there is actually a guy who for decades now has been raising money for his temple, "The Temple of Love, Peace and Music named after John Lennon". The height of his building has been named John Lennon St. and actually has an official (OK, maybe not so official) street sign. Catherine the Great...who's she?? hehe

One the second day we were let loose in The Hermitage. What a huge building! They say it would take a person a decade to actually glance at every work of art in the entire building. I spent a long 4 hours walking around and taking it in. The building was just incredible, and the most interesting part for me. When I was standing in one of the big state rooms, I just looked at the ceiling (to escape the views of tourists) and imagined being there for a ball, wearing one of the dresses I saw at the Kremlin, dancing with some Russian Prince. Just for one day...what a life!

I worked it out and I reckon I've been walking on average 12-15km a day. Not bad eh? Moscow and St Petersburg are two totally different cities, so I can't honestly compare, but St. Petersburg is easy to navigate on foot and I'd much prefer that.

Our tour ended on Saturday and I spent one more night there with an older Australian couple. We went to an Uzbek restaurant and drank vodka in the hotel bar, with 3 Russian prostitutes sitting behind us waiting for work. Gotta love Russia!!

So, now as my title suggests, I am in Poland. I arrived in Warsaw on Sunday afternoon and stayed at the Oki Doki Hostel for three nights. Funky hostel and friendly staff. I also met some really cool people. Yesterday I spent the day walking around with an Argentinian guy and a guy from the UK. I really enjoyed their company and after an exhausting weekend (ending the tour was emotional) it reaffirmed what I love about travelling. THE PEOPLE YOU MEET!! And I feel when I travel alone I actually meet more people because I am more approachable and I'm not just focused on having a good time with the one friend. Yeh for good hostels!

This morning I made my way to Krakow and as far as actual sights go, this is the place to be! Its an old, quaint city with lots of character. Today there was some kind of festival in the main old town square with local groups performing dances and skits and all around the square are hundreds of open air cafes.

I could go on but this is already a book and you probably had to come back the site three different times just to finish it all. Ive found a good Internet cafe now(you get dirty looks for taking a long time to write at the hostels), so hopefully I'll keep you all more informed of my comings and goings.

Do widzenia!