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Zane
Guten Morgen!
Okay, so that's German, but although I'm now in Poland my journey begins in Berlin...
I arrived in Berlin last week. My uncle's place where I was staying is huge with high ceilings and this grand marble staircase leading the way to the third floor. It's on the west side of the city very close to a station. As you know I'm traveling alone so I was a little worried that I'd spend the first few days struggling to understand anyone, but more realistically I'd just have to live without crapping on like usual! Luckily for me I met a few people on the plane who invited me to their friend's party (a French man named Frank). It was the opening night for Frank's bar and the place was packed, probably because their was an endless supply of free drinks! Thinking about it, I guess it was a bit surreal that I was invited by an English girl to a French man's German bar. Still, I wasn't complaining and I also met a few people that spoke English and offered to show me around, which had I stayed sober enough to keep their numbers, would have made things a little easier.
Berlin is a beautiful city and sight seeing feast! Everywhere you look their are gothic buildings, especially down the main strip which I spent over an hour following from Alexanderplatz station in the east to Zoologischer Garten station in the west. My chosen path ran directly through the central park called the Tiergarten (literally "animal garden", although there are no animals any more). It looked so thick and nothing like any park I've seen before, virtually a forrest. As I was walking through a small section I found it hard to believe that I was in the middle of Germany's capital city. This thought was probably magnified because the road was closed off and virtually deserted after the end of the Berlin Marathon.
My German is well beyond anything resembling rusty... it's useless!!! I can ask where the toilet is and that's about it! I wish I'd paid more attention in class and maybe continued studying until the end of high school. It would have been extremely handy to speak a little German, even in Poland where many people speak it better or instead of English. Anyway, my little european phrase book has come in very handy for understanding menus and ordering food, but when I tried asking anything and people jump into strings of German sentences which I can barely translate to gibberish, I realise that even the best translation book can't save me!
Now I'm in Poland with my friend Marcin. I didn't realise but he's quite wealthy. His family owns factories and other assorted businesses in the town of Swiebodzin. I'm staying at Marcins brother's place and I have an entire floor with a massive bathroom all to myself. I can't believe how well I'm being looked after. His family are wonderful and the most generous hosts. Marcin runs one of the factories but has taken the week off to show me around. He's already taken me to Zielona Gora and Poznan (where we are staying a couple of nights). It seems Marcin knows someone in every town and city which means he can arrange everything to be taken care of. To make things even more comfortable he's organised for me to spend time with all his english speaking friends, many of them gorgeous women. For the record, what everyone's told me about Polish women is absolutely true. They're stunning!!!
Marcin has a lot of great friends who are patiently trying to teach me some Polish words which of course I am desperately struggling with. I in turn, am teaching them some Australian slang like "what a ripper mate". It's so funny hearing this said with a strong Polish accent, but I shouldn't laugh because I know my feeble attempts at speaking Polish are far more embarrassing! My name is also causing some confusion. Both in Germany and Poland my introduction has been met with puzzled looks. I've decided it will just be easier to be called Zanek (a Polish name) and save the confusion. Besides, it's sort of the done thing for people in Europe to have an English version of their name so why not make it work both ways! :)
Tomorrow I head south to Krakow with a stop over in Wroclaw. Krakow survived both world wars virtually unscathed meaning that most of the 19th century architecture is still present. It is meant to be an amazing place to visit. Unfortunately I will be on my own again which means no Marcin to translate everything for me in shops and the like but I'll survive. He seems a little worried about me heading off by myself and feels that because this is his country he should be showing me everywhere. I think he's already done more than enough.
Auf wiedersehen... do widzenia... goodbye...
Zane (AKA Zanek)
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