Orbis Hotel Reda Szczecin

... as we walk along it, it has no one in the engineer’s seat either so it’s not going anywhere.

The German ladies are all chattering and gesturing so we ask where they are going and they say Gdansk. Hurray! English speakers and moving in the same direction as us. They inform us that our train has been cancelled. We all crowd around the information board (finally found it) to ...

... 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 ...

We left for Poland the morning of Saturday September 20th. It was Dan, Eric, Mark, Dustin, Josh, Andrew, Bryan, Alonzo, and I who went. We all met in front of the dorms at around 7 before we left for the train station. Alonzo was a slow poke so we had to wait around for him (apparently some of the guys pulled an all-nighter, but instead of going to his room afterward to pack, Alonzo fell asleep). After getting everyone together for the walk to the bus station we headed ...

... 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!

... 1074;елос 80;педах, и всё бы хорош 86;, если б я не упала и не разби 83;а колен 82 ...

Laryssa's cousin, Ola, was graduating from university out in Szczecin, Poland; so we decided to make the short bus ride over the border into Poland. There were some minor difficulties trying to find the bus, such as them forgetting to pick us up, however we eventually made our way to Szczecin. The roadway differences between the two countries was astounding, driving through Germany they were relatively smooth but once you crossed the border ...

... after WW2), great parks and a spacious city center. I really had a good first impression about Poland. Day 4 After some late night partying the night before (and probably too much beer!) I was feeling more tired than ever and had a slight hang over. For that reason we didn't do any heavy sightseeing, instead we spent our time strolling around the park close to the city hall and finished our day visiting the cemetery (spooky!), the largest in Europe according to locals.

's Ochtends hebben we met Kinga een gezonde wandeling gemaakt door de bossen ten noorden van Gdansk. Ze leeft in een residentiële wijk, in één van die grijze woonblokken die we allemaal kennen uit de oude documentaires van tijdens de Koude Oorlog, maar op nauwelijks 5 minuten van haar huis beginnen de bossen. En als je uit het bos komt, sta je plots midden in de duinen en een eindje daarachter de Baltische Zee. Het was ...

In the morning Kinga took us for a healthy walk through the woods north of Gdansk. She lives in a residential area, in one of those grey block of flats which you may remember from the old documentaries during the Cold War, but the forest starts only 5 minutes from her house. And when we left the forest, we were in the middle of dunes and then the Baltic Sea ! Such a surprise, and it was beautiful. I took 10 copies ...

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 !