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Mike's RTW Trip 06/07
Well its now been 4 days since I have started my year sabbatical and its very strange having no routine at all. While I'm still in Poland it still seems like I am on a short holiday break, but I think that will all change when I land in Moscow on Sunday evening. But let me not miss out on the first 4 days of travelling and rather let me take you back to the start of my trip.
LONDON
The last 2 weeks before I left London I spent house and dog sitting for Kevin and Nikki. It worked out very well as I had to move out of my flat and get all my soft furnishings into storage. I arrived back from the Transalp challenge on Wednesday 26th and spent the next 3 days packing and moving all my soft furnishings into storage. I then had to get the carpets cleaned and also cleaned the house from top to bottom myself. (Yes I was saving money for my trip!) I then got told by the agent that my new tenant had done a runner and that they would need to find someone else. Great!! I was leaving in two weeks and no tenant. I got another agent on the case and hoped that I would have a tenant soon. On the Friday before I left the agent said that I had tenants that had put a deposit down and they were doing a credit check on them. This was great news. I have now heard that they have in fact moved in and it takes a whole weight off my mind. All I need to worry about now is how good a tenant they are.
Can you believe it, I was still packing my bags at 00:15 on Tuesday morning. I think I was stalling for some or other reason. Anyway taxi picked me up at 05:00 and I got to Heathrow airport where it was pretty crowded. My taxi driver dropped me off at the arrivals hall instead of departures and that was a blessing in disguise as I bypassed the queues that were outside. They were only letting people on the flights in strict departure order. So I hung around inside waiting for my flight t get called. They called my flight to Warsaw and only after I had checked in and gone through security did I realise that there was a n early flight to Warsaw and that I had sneaked through. I guess I need to take that as a sign not to be British and queue every time there is queue.
POLAND WARSAW
After landing in Warsaw and collecting my luggage I met up with my friend Kasia. I would be staying with her for most of my time in Warsaw, although I had a trip planned to Krakow. More on that later on. My first impressions of Warsaw were not that good. It seems to be quite bland and there appears to be lots of repairs and building going on. There are also a lot of apartment blocks. Noticeably so the sheer amount of them. Kaia has a kitten who's name is Toby and he is the cutest British short hair. You can see a picture of him on my photo albums.
As it was a holiday, Kasia was able to take me around the old part of Warsaw. What I did not realise was that the city was literally flattened in the second world war and that everything had to be rebuilt. So my idea of seeing a typical old European city was very skewed. Anyway I go to eat some traditional Polish food which was stuffed dumplings. Its really nice. We also went out for Sushi and I was impressed with the Polish chefs ability to make good sushi.
POLAND KRAKOW
Kasia had suggested that I take a trip to Krakow which is 3 hours by train, south of Warsaw. Krakow was not damaged by WWII and as such has many old cathedrals, museums, etc. I caught the train down to Krakow and met up with 2 lovely Polish couples. Thomas & Magdelene and Carolina & Salvo. Thomas and I managed to hit it off quite well and he spent most of the trip giving me a Polish history lesson. I thought that this was very kind of him as I had neglected to read up on my WWII history and never did Eurpean history at school. Dingaan, Dutch settlers and the Boers was a little far removed from Europe. I spent most of my first afternoon visiting some of the cathedrals, churches, museums and colleges. It was pretty evident what Warsaw would of looked like if it had not been flattened. This was a European city that I was used to. The only thing that struck me was that the city was still a bit dirty. Not because of litter, but the buildings were covered in a black layer. I guess you need money to restore buildings to their former glory.
IMPRESSIONS
It was a real bonus meeting up with Thomas and Magda. Although Magda was not comfortable chatting in English, Thomas was, and we had some interesting conversations about his country. Thomas is 56 and so had been through the whole communist rule in Poland and was able to give me a real insight into what life was and is like in Poland. I must say that it has been an eye opener coming to Warsaw and I look forward to seeing Russia as I have had various people give me their impression of the country and its people. I hope to meet someone like Thomas in Russia who is willing to share their experiences of communist rule in Russia, then and now and be willing to discuss it openly with me.
Anyway that's all for now I hope to update my blog while travelling in Russia, but will see how that goes.
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