Campanile - Szczecin

... room for luggage. This train had plenty of room in second class and first class but you never know. Our little first class compartment only has 8 seats and is just a small section in the second class car so we can see and hear everyone in the other part of the railway car. As we are getting close to our stop, a whole group of women come through our small compartment and stand at the door. We ...

... we had been.

Before we hit the coast we had driven to Gdansk, which surprised us as we thought it would be very industrial maybe a bit like Manchester but it was actually more like a Polish Edinburgh with lovely old buildings and a really nice feel to it. We visited the docks scenes of the Polish Solidarity uprisings, and after years of watching the struggles at home it was good to visit and see how important this place still is to the Poles.

Before Gdansk we got the ...

... mean that they were paved and had cars driving on them, but really they were as shabby and rundown as imaginable, not to mention all of the buildings were different shades of gray from what we assumed to be fifty plus years of soot. The front of the buildings looked like they were all connected, just had different colors of paint to separate one from the next, but there were also archways about fifty meters apart that led behind the front façade of the building to a ...

... 1085;и до Москв 99;, ни до Минск 72;... пришл 86;сь ехать в Калин 80;нград!

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From Szczecin we planned to go home, but... visa expires, and tickets to Moscow or Minsk was not... we went to Kaliningrad!

Здесь мы прове 83;и неско 83;ько дней... Ездил 80; к морю, гулял 80;, катал 80;сь н ...

... skies you get quite an eerie feeling. But one should never allow first impressions to fool you, because the city turned out to be quite nice with great architecture and friendly people. Laryssa's family, whom we stayed with, took me in as one of their own and treated me great. The moment we got their they pulled out this giant three foot tall cake thing that looked like a giant Christmas tree, telling me it was a traditional welcome gift ...

... the train station. After some initial greetings we headed to their place for some food before doing some sightseeing. I really love having this kind of local support when getting to places unfamiliar to me. As for the city itself, Sczecin was a great positive surprise to me. I was expecting something gray and dull with lots of these terrible soviet like residential compounds. What I found, actually, was a city very much alike German cities with nice historical buildings ...

... noemen. Maar het voordeel was wel dat we onderweg heel wat tijd hadden voor een picknick en het uitproberen van één van de bekendste Poolse nationale gerechten : Bigos...een zuurkoolschotel. 's Avonds kwamen we aan bij Anna en Tomek in Szczecin (heel moeilijk uit te spreken), en kregen heerlijke chocoladetaart en krieken op sterke drank voorgeschoteld. Daarna bezochten we de stad en dronken we een biertje in een filmcafé.

... pace also worked to our advantage : we could take a picknick and try one of the Polish national dishes : Bigos...a dish made with sauerkraut. In the evening we arrived at Anna and Tomek's in Szczecin (very difficult to pronounce - we are not responsible for any damage to your tongue), and they served us wonderful chocolate cake and cherries with alcohol. After that we visited the city and had a beer in a film café.

A daytrain trip to the Polan countryside. A round up of friends and other guests to the wedding. Installed us in the castle, at Maiwecko. Had a few beers. Got to see the area, the naighbouring town. Had a few beers Played some tennis. Had a few beers. Rowed on the lake Had some beers. And so on. Then there was the wedding. Bente was beautiful and Kjetil stylish. Party, drinks, dinner and speeches. Lovelly. Great time. Castle weddings rule !