This week and a half was probably the most exciting so far. On August 1st, we left Poland and flew to Dusseldorf, Germany. Well, not exactly Dusseldorf, but pretty close. We settled with our friends in Wesel, a suburb about 50 minutes from Dusseldorf Center. So, here goes:
Day 1 (August 1st, Friday) After arriving, we decided to take a short drive to the Netherlands (Holland), to go to huge hot tub, from a natural underground source. It was one of the most relaxing moments of my life, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Day 2 (August 2nd, Saturday)
Today, we visited the town of Xanten, outside of Wesel, famous for its 2 lakes and Roman City ruins. All we really did was visit more friends there, and checked out the lake, where there was a lot of interesting things going on.
Day 3 (August 3rd, Sunday)
Today, we first drove to the actual city of Dusseldorf, for about an hour. It's funny because we asked a guy at a tourist info center what we could do in one hour, and he gave us a booklet and said "Page 23, "Dusseldorf in one Hour", the trail is marked on the map". How interesting. We saw the basics, the rathaus (town hall), the old town, and riverside. After that, we went to the Dusseldorf International Airport (Less than 15 minutes away from where we were), to fly to Paris! When we landed, the first advertisement I saw was this: Luis Vuitonn Handbag: €2,700, Lafayette Jacket: €3,570, Courir Pants: €5,000, Keeping Up With Fashion: Priceless. Probably the best Master Card commercial yet. Today we didn't visit Paris, instead we visited our friends in the town of L'isle Adam, which in French means, The Island of Adam, or Adam's Island. We just walked around the small town, and learned the history of the city. At their house, we just rested, and got ready for the next day.
Day 4 (August 4th, Monday)
Today, after waking up and having breakfast, we went to straight to Paris, only about 30 minutes away, we drove through its many tunnels, and finally arrived near the Eiffel Tower, where we were fighting for parking spots for almost half an hour. After finally getting a spot, quite close to the Tower, we went to it. The next few moments were simply just looking at all of the people in line, there were 5 lines, 4 for the elevator, and 1 for the stairs. The lines for each elevator were about 3 or more hours long, and the line for the stairs up was about an hour and a half up. That was only for the second floor, there were still two more floors above where I don't even know (and don't want to know) how long the lines were. We just decided not to to go on the tower, it wouldn't be worth it. So next after lunch, we took a boat taxi through Paris's Seine River. After arriving at Notre Dame station, we got off, and saw the Notre Dame, but we didn't go up the tower since the lines were ridiculously long. After walking around the area of Paris we were in, we saw many various attractions such as the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), Centre Pompidou, and the streets of Paris. After returning to the Eiffel Tower on the water taxi, we went to the car to go up the hill, Montmarte (427 feet tall), and saw an AMAZING view of Paris, and the church, Sacré Cœur (Meaning "Sacred Heart"). The inside of the church was just a large circular room with many side chapels. Before leaving Montmarte and Paris, we had dinner at a restaurant near the Sacré Cœur, with very fast service. At home we relaxed, for another exciting day to come.
Day 5 (August 5th, Tuesday)
Today, we first went to a small village called Auvers, where Van Gogh used to live and died, but the day we visited, the Museum was closed, so we visited Van Gogh's gravesite instead. After that, we went to Versailles, the Royal Palace of French Kings. Well, not anymore. Today it is a huge museum that you can visit, and see the rooms where French Royalty lived and worked. After the long line, we went in to see many of the various rooms, including the famed Hall Of Mirrors, and the King and Queen's Bedrooms. After the museum closed (We came late to avoid long lines), we decided to stop by the Gardens, which are larger than Central Park in New York City. They were HUGE, and you could see a long canal going right through the middle. What a backyard. I could just imagine living in Royalty in France. After Versailles, we drove to Paris, to see it by night. Before we did anything, we drove to Champs-Elysess (Paris's most famous street), and had dinner at a restaurant called George V. By the time we finished, it was already starting to get dark. We went to the Arc De Triomphe nearby, to take some pictures, and then took a stroll down Champs-Ulysess, passing by many big fashion stores, and seeing a €2,700 handbag (Almost $4,000). The coolest thing we saw, was in the Toyota store. There was a really nice prototype convertible car, which looked like this. After walking down far enough, and seeing enough stores (including 3 McDonalds'), we went back to the Arc De Triomphe, to get the view from the top. I have to say, it was incredible, and probably definetly better than the view from the Eiffel Tower. The half hour we were up there flew by quickly, and they pushed us out as the Arc De Triomphe began closing. One last thing before we left Paris, we drove through La Defense, Paris' Business District. It was quite interesting, with all of the highrises, and the whole district was on an elevated highway type road. It resembled downtown Boston at night. By the time we were back in L'isle Adam, it was almost Midnight, and we slept extra long to prepare for the next day in Paris.
Day 6 (August 6th, Wednesdays)
Today we slowly woke up, and stayed on L'isle Adam for a while, but later in the day, at around noon, we went to the Louvre. There is too much to talk about the Louvre, because there are thousands, of pieces of art there (a book said 130,000 pieces of art inside the Louvre, and 35,000 are displayed), and each and every one of them had their own stories. All I can say is that in the Mona Lisa room, looking at the people in the room was more interesng than the painting itself. If you wanted to take a picture, you have to push through the crowd, and you have 5 seconds to take pictures, which will generally be blurred, and you'll be quickly be pulled by more people so they can see it. After leaving the Louvre, we took a short driving tour around Paris, but when rush hour traffic kicked in, we just drove back to L'isle Adam, where we spent the rest of the day, exhausted from the day.
Day 7 (August 7th, Thursday)
Today was our last day in Paris, so we first visited Auvers today to visit the Van Gogh Museum. It wasn't too exciting, but it was still interesting to visit the room where Van Gogh died. The small museum didn't have any Van Gogh Paintings yet, and they were planning to buy one, but just didn't have the money. Back in L'isle Adam, after saying our goodbyes, we went to the Airport to fly back to Dusseldorf. By the time we were in Wesel, it was around 10PM, so we decided to sleep.
Day 8 (August 8th, Friday)
Today, we just decided to relax, by staying in Wesel. For lunch w went to a small German fast food restaurant, and in the afternoon, we visited the hot tub complex in Holland again, for more relaxation. And after that, we just went back to Wesel and relaxed. Today was just the perfect day to relax.
Day 9 (August 9th, Saturday)
Today was another exciting day, because we visited the city of Amsterdam, on a german tour bus, after the 3 hour drive, we were in Amsterdam. We first went on a boat tour through Amsterdam's canal complex, and after that, we were on our own. We walked through the streets of Amsterdam. We saw many interesting things, most notably cannabis "coffee shops". Since Marijuana isn't illegal to sell in Holland, people buy it at these coffee shops and can smoke it there and only there. The streets with the Coffee shops smelled horrible, but we had to deal with it. At about 6 o' clock, we returned to the bus, to go back to Wesel. Back at Wesel, it was 8, so we just had dinner had talked about the day adventures.
Day 10 (August 10th, Sunday)
Today we first went to a chinese buffet in Xanten, and then visited Xanten's Roman Ruins. It was a quick day since the Ruins were basically empty. Today was just another day of relaxation.
Day 11 (August 11th, Monday)
Today, we simply just drove to the Airport, and flew back to Poland, where we spent the rest of the day in relaxation.
August 12th - 17th
This week was spent in Bydgoszcz relaxing. The only thing we did was watch a movie on Wednesday, and visit Gniezno (Poland's first capital), and friends in the country of Poland on Friday.
August 18th (Today)
Today, I'm just finishing up this blog entry, and getting ready to go to Warsaw, where we'll be spending the last day in Poland in a hotel, and tomorrow, I'll be flying back to the USA.
Once Again, sorry for no pictures.
I hope you enjoyed these blog entries and learned something new from tracking my trip. For now, I'm on a break.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A Long Time, Big Adventures
Well it's been a while since I last blogged, because of my busyness. Well now I'm back home, my Mom is gone, and I'm back onto normal routine. Well, sort of. I'll give a summary of what happened:
July 10: Today, we went to the dinosaur park again, this time with my little brother, and they had a new section of the park open, with all sorts of trampolines and bungee jumping stations, and slides, but all paid. After convincing the manager it was a good idea, we bought ourselves day passes which gave us unlimited access to every single attraction, all day. I bungee jumped, and trampoline jumped for hours, quickly paying off the day pass, and had a load of fun. We also visited the exhibits, but for a very short time since my little brother was very impatient. It was another great day.
July 11-12: This weekend, we visited Sopot again and visited the city of Gdansk, where we took a walk on the beach and had dinner at a great pizzeria.
July 13-14: Yesterday and Today, we visited a small town on the Vistula River, near it's end into the Baltic Sea, where we visited many locks, took a ferry across the river (with a great view of the mouth of the river), and walked to a beach on the Baltic Sea, where we had a great time excavating and searching the sand for amber. The most pieces were by the water where all of the trash that got washed onto shore was (since the amber comes from a buried forest under the sea), but the largest pieces were found on the beach under the sand where normally high tide waters go. We were on the beach during low tide, so we got a lot of Amber from picking them up by the water, and digging in the sandy area. On our way back, we visited the Malbork Castle, a HUGE castle complex with many rooms and museums. Since it was very late, almost closed, and we were an hour away from our destination, we only visited the rooms. These included an armory, chapel, treasury, and bathroom. The bathroom was basically a board of wood with a hole, that dropped directly into the moat, which eventually got to the river. The moat doesn't exist any more, and obviously the bathrooms are closed and no longer used. It was a great visit, and after that, we ended up at home at around 10 o'clock.
July 15-18: For a few days, we stayed in our home city for a little more, and accidentally went to a party on Friday that was scheduled for Saturday, and went to a world heritage music festival, but the rest of the week was just rest and in-city sightseeing.
July 19: Today, we went to a quite boring party for about 5 hours, but there were some interesting people there from Norway. After that, we went to Beatles Copycat Band concert. They were actually pretty good, and we had a good time.
July 20: We began our major trip around Poland today by going on a 2-hour to Olsztyn, and meeting my uncle and his fiancee. We went to a really great restaurant, the one they had their wedding at one week later, and they had a great free trampoline there too, and that was the majority of my entertainment for the day, including a small trip to downtown Olsztyn.
July 21: Today, we drove to a small village where my family was, had a great dinner, met the pigs and cows of their farm, and had a good game of Monopoly with the kids there.
July 22: Today was probably the most exciting day of the entire trip to Europe so far. We drove from the area around Suwalki , Poland, to Lithuania. First, we drove an hour to the ancient city of Trakai to visit the famous Island Castle there. The castle consisted of a main courtyard area with a wide open area and lots of royal rooms. The next part of the castle was the palace area, which we had to cross a drawbridge to get to (no water anymore though). This part had a church, armory, library, and treasury for the castle, and was very interesting. After Trakai, we drove to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. First, we walked to a decent pancake restaurant, and then we walked through a famous street with a church that has one of the most famous and miraculous portraits of the Virgin Mary, where people go to from around the world to pray. Next, we visited several famous famous churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, and even stayed for a part of a mass, but we didn't understand the Lithuanian they were speaking in. After that, we visited Vilnius's famous hill, and had an amazing view of the entire city and the Neris River, and visited a small armory inside the tower we had the view at. Lastly, we went to a small restaurant to have some Ice Cream and Coffee. After that, we made our way to Poland. We stopped by Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas, to shop at a supermall. There was a cool aquarium there with sharks and other animals, but it was 9 o'clock in Lithuania, and still 2 hours away from Poland so we couldn't participate in Shark Feeding. After experiencing a beautiful sunset near the Poland-Lithuania Border, we were back at our temporary "house", where we had a short dinner, and went to bed.
July 23: Today, we left the small village to go to another small village, but on our way, we stopped by the famous "Cisowa Gora", or Cisowa Hill, topped with a holy cross. After walking up, we saw an amazing view of the Suwalki landscape park, with a view of a dozen or so lakes, including the one I went fishing at later. So after arriving at the village, we were there for dinner, and also decided to go fishing. After nearly an hour of setting up, we were finally ready to go. The lake we chose was basically a mud bank, so we were fishing submerged maybe 6 inches into the muddy shore water, after fishing for 2 hours, there was no catch, but the people around us were hauling in a ton. I decided to move to a new spot where I thought I would have some luck. Wrong. After walking closer to the water, I accidentally stepped on very loose ground and fell right into the cold, muddy, dirty water. The water was up to my chest, but I quickly got out, my pants all dirty and wet, my boots filled with water, and my socks useless. Luckily, the friend I was with was smart and was wearing 2 pairs of pants, so he lent me one of his to replace my now brown pants. I had nothing to change on, but a plank submerged an inch into the water, while squeezing my socks, I accidentaly threw them far away, but luckily got them back with the help of my new friends. So after changing into new clothes, and emptying my boots of water, I was very cold and uncomfortable, but still continued fishing, without luck. My friend caught a huge fish but quickly lost it, and then it started raining, we were about to go, but it quickly cleared, with a beautiful rainbow and sunset combination, where I wished I had a camera. We continued fishing (losing a floater in the water) until it started getting dark out and we started to leave. It was a long walk, and nothing to bring home (No promised dinner). Getting home, my parents were relieved (They were about to arrange a rescue team because it was so late). I told them about the fall into the water, and I quickly got into the shower to clean all of the black on me. I even found a beetle crawling on me, and was glad to get it off. Atfer that, it was goodnight for me.
July 24: Today was nothing more than almost getting a virus on our computer, and leaving the small village and returning to Olsztyn, this time going to a small hotel near the restaurant with the trampoline, thus having umlimited access to it. Today was more of a break from all of the week's busyness.
July 25: Today, after going on the trampoline again, we first went kayaking on the lake our hotel was near (Lake Ukiel), and it was a blast, but very difficult. It was my first time though. After kayaking, we went to my Uncle's wedding and party, which lasted nearly 8 hours. I only stayed until about 11 o' clock, but my parents stayed until about 4 or 5 AM. I had a great dinner complete with soup, chicken, and fries, and unlimited access to the trampoline and candy bowl. What a day.
July 26: Today was probably the day that probably was the fastest so far. We basically visited the beach on Lake Ukiel with the newlyweds, had great polish waffles and various other snacks and food, went kayaking again, and had 2 other meals at the restaurant. After going back to the hotel at nearly 8PM(Fastest Time-Flying Day so far), we stopped by at the restaurant, and we noticed the rules board. Woops... we broke every single rule on the list. Don't go in with your bathing suit, don't come with your own water, and don't use the trampoline and playground facility unless you are a customer of the restaurant on that day. Oh well. Another great day.
July 27: Today, we visited old town Olsztyn with my other uncle (not the one that just got married), and visited the castle where Copernicus lived, worked, and wrote his books. That same castle had a tower with a great view of the old town, and an art gallery of famous dutch paintings, after buying souvenirs, and parting ways with the other uncle, we visited a small town Gietrzwald, where my new relatives lived (uncle's wife's family). Gietrzwald is famous for its basilica that many pilgrims go to because of Virgin Mary appearances that happened there in the 1800s, its sacred water source, and its outdoor Way Of The Cross, which we walked through to the top. After returning to the hotel, we had a small party with my uncle and his new wife, and then went to bed.
July 28: Today, we left Olsztyn with my uncle and his new wife, to first visit my widower grandpa in another who is living with a new woman, and then to Warsaw, Poland's capital. We rented an apartment there before-hand to stay in. First, we took a walk to the Old Town and met with some distant, but well-known to us relatives, who speak alot of English because they lived in Canada for quite some time. We had dinner at a nice restaurant, and I had a huge Austrian pork cutlet called a Wiener Schnitzel. We stayed in Warsaw until about 11 o'clock and started the long walk to our apartment, stopping by a weird, long, supermarket to buy some things before going to bed and sleeping.
July 29: Today, was our second day in Warsaw, we went downtown to visit the Palace of Culture and Science, the tallest building in Poland, and the 7th tallest in the European Union. Inside, we went to the top to have an amazing panoramic view of the city on all sides. Inside were also some science "toys" based on Einstein's original experiments. After visiting the palace, we took a walk to the Old Town, and the entrance to the famed Royal Castle. We didn't go in due to the time of the day, and the fact we had to meet up with some family soon, but instead, we went on a quick bus sightseeing tour around the old town, and the new town, which isn't really "new", but it's newer than the old town. After going back to our apartment to get some things done, we went to the old town with the same people we were with yesterday, and this time, we went to another restaurant, but this time, I got some Pizza Hut before we went, so I didn't have any Polish or foreign dishes. After returning home at around 11PM, it was time to sleep.
July 30: Today was a very quick day, and all we really did was drop my Mom off at the airport in Warsaw for them to go back home, and then drove back to our "home" city Bydgoszcz. We stopped by Olsztyn again to have lunch (I had McDonalds, but the rest of us ate at a restaurant), and to drop my uncle and his wife off at their house. At Bydgoszcz, I basically just rested, since a month of big adventures was over.
July 31: Today, we just stayed home and rested , and prepared for our trip to western europe, and I also began writing this mega-entry.
August 1: Today, I'm just finishing up this entry, and packing up and getting ready for our trip. We are going to the Bydgoszcz Airport to fly to Dusseldorf, Germany, and from there, we are also going to Paris (On Lufthansa, so we might need a Plan B, because of the strike) for a week, and Amsterdam, on a day trip on a german tour-bus. I'm off now.
As I just said, I'm leaving today to Germany, so I won't be able to blog until I'm back. I'm also sorry it took so long for this entry, but as you just read, you could tell how busy I was. I'm afraid I can't show any pictures either, because it would take way too long to upload them all, (I'm rushing to finish this now) and it would be unrealistic to upload pictures for every single section.
Thank you for your patience.
July 10: Today, we went to the dinosaur park again, this time with my little brother, and they had a new section of the park open, with all sorts of trampolines and bungee jumping stations, and slides, but all paid. After convincing the manager it was a good idea, we bought ourselves day passes which gave us unlimited access to every single attraction, all day. I bungee jumped, and trampoline jumped for hours, quickly paying off the day pass, and had a load of fun. We also visited the exhibits, but for a very short time since my little brother was very impatient. It was another great day.
July 11-12: This weekend, we visited Sopot again and visited the city of Gdansk, where we took a walk on the beach and had dinner at a great pizzeria.
July 13-14: Yesterday and Today, we visited a small town on the Vistula River, near it's end into the Baltic Sea, where we visited many locks, took a ferry across the river (with a great view of the mouth of the river), and walked to a beach on the Baltic Sea, where we had a great time excavating and searching the sand for amber. The most pieces were by the water where all of the trash that got washed onto shore was (since the amber comes from a buried forest under the sea), but the largest pieces were found on the beach under the sand where normally high tide waters go. We were on the beach during low tide, so we got a lot of Amber from picking them up by the water, and digging in the sandy area. On our way back, we visited the Malbork Castle, a HUGE castle complex with many rooms and museums. Since it was very late, almost closed, and we were an hour away from our destination, we only visited the rooms. These included an armory, chapel, treasury, and bathroom. The bathroom was basically a board of wood with a hole, that dropped directly into the moat, which eventually got to the river. The moat doesn't exist any more, and obviously the bathrooms are closed and no longer used. It was a great visit, and after that, we ended up at home at around 10 o'clock.
July 15-18: For a few days, we stayed in our home city for a little more, and accidentally went to a party on Friday that was scheduled for Saturday, and went to a world heritage music festival, but the rest of the week was just rest and in-city sightseeing.
July 19: Today, we went to a quite boring party for about 5 hours, but there were some interesting people there from Norway. After that, we went to Beatles Copycat Band concert. They were actually pretty good, and we had a good time.
July 20: We began our major trip around Poland today by going on a 2-hour to Olsztyn, and meeting my uncle and his fiancee. We went to a really great restaurant, the one they had their wedding at one week later, and they had a great free trampoline there too, and that was the majority of my entertainment for the day, including a small trip to downtown Olsztyn.
July 21: Today, we drove to a small village where my family was, had a great dinner, met the pigs and cows of their farm, and had a good game of Monopoly with the kids there.
July 22: Today was probably the most exciting day of the entire trip to Europe so far. We drove from the area around Suwalki , Poland, to Lithuania. First, we drove an hour to the ancient city of Trakai to visit the famous Island Castle there. The castle consisted of a main courtyard area with a wide open area and lots of royal rooms. The next part of the castle was the palace area, which we had to cross a drawbridge to get to (no water anymore though). This part had a church, armory, library, and treasury for the castle, and was very interesting. After Trakai, we drove to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. First, we walked to a decent pancake restaurant, and then we walked through a famous street with a church that has one of the most famous and miraculous portraits of the Virgin Mary, where people go to from around the world to pray. Next, we visited several famous famous churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, and even stayed for a part of a mass, but we didn't understand the Lithuanian they were speaking in. After that, we visited Vilnius's famous hill, and had an amazing view of the entire city and the Neris River, and visited a small armory inside the tower we had the view at. Lastly, we went to a small restaurant to have some Ice Cream and Coffee. After that, we made our way to Poland. We stopped by Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas, to shop at a supermall. There was a cool aquarium there with sharks and other animals, but it was 9 o'clock in Lithuania, and still 2 hours away from Poland so we couldn't participate in Shark Feeding. After experiencing a beautiful sunset near the Poland-Lithuania Border, we were back at our temporary "house", where we had a short dinner, and went to bed.
July 23: Today, we left the small village to go to another small village, but on our way, we stopped by the famous "Cisowa Gora", or Cisowa Hill, topped with a holy cross. After walking up, we saw an amazing view of the Suwalki landscape park, with a view of a dozen or so lakes, including the one I went fishing at later. So after arriving at the village, we were there for dinner, and also decided to go fishing. After nearly an hour of setting up, we were finally ready to go. The lake we chose was basically a mud bank, so we were fishing submerged maybe 6 inches into the muddy shore water, after fishing for 2 hours, there was no catch, but the people around us were hauling in a ton. I decided to move to a new spot where I thought I would have some luck. Wrong. After walking closer to the water, I accidentally stepped on very loose ground and fell right into the cold, muddy, dirty water. The water was up to my chest, but I quickly got out, my pants all dirty and wet, my boots filled with water, and my socks useless. Luckily, the friend I was with was smart and was wearing 2 pairs of pants, so he lent me one of his to replace my now brown pants. I had nothing to change on, but a plank submerged an inch into the water, while squeezing my socks, I accidentaly threw them far away, but luckily got them back with the help of my new friends. So after changing into new clothes, and emptying my boots of water, I was very cold and uncomfortable, but still continued fishing, without luck. My friend caught a huge fish but quickly lost it, and then it started raining, we were about to go, but it quickly cleared, with a beautiful rainbow and sunset combination, where I wished I had a camera. We continued fishing (losing a floater in the water) until it started getting dark out and we started to leave. It was a long walk, and nothing to bring home (No promised dinner). Getting home, my parents were relieved (They were about to arrange a rescue team because it was so late). I told them about the fall into the water, and I quickly got into the shower to clean all of the black on me. I even found a beetle crawling on me, and was glad to get it off. Atfer that, it was goodnight for me.
July 24: Today was nothing more than almost getting a virus on our computer, and leaving the small village and returning to Olsztyn, this time going to a small hotel near the restaurant with the trampoline, thus having umlimited access to it. Today was more of a break from all of the week's busyness.
July 25: Today, after going on the trampoline again, we first went kayaking on the lake our hotel was near (Lake Ukiel), and it was a blast, but very difficult. It was my first time though. After kayaking, we went to my Uncle's wedding and party, which lasted nearly 8 hours. I only stayed until about 11 o' clock, but my parents stayed until about 4 or 5 AM. I had a great dinner complete with soup, chicken, and fries, and unlimited access to the trampoline and candy bowl. What a day.
July 26: Today was probably the day that probably was the fastest so far. We basically visited the beach on Lake Ukiel with the newlyweds, had great polish waffles and various other snacks and food, went kayaking again, and had 2 other meals at the restaurant. After going back to the hotel at nearly 8PM(Fastest Time-Flying Day so far), we stopped by at the restaurant, and we noticed the rules board. Woops... we broke every single rule on the list. Don't go in with your bathing suit, don't come with your own water, and don't use the trampoline and playground facility unless you are a customer of the restaurant on that day. Oh well. Another great day.
July 27: Today, we visited old town Olsztyn with my other uncle (not the one that just got married), and visited the castle where Copernicus lived, worked, and wrote his books. That same castle had a tower with a great view of the old town, and an art gallery of famous dutch paintings, after buying souvenirs, and parting ways with the other uncle, we visited a small town Gietrzwald, where my new relatives lived (uncle's wife's family). Gietrzwald is famous for its basilica that many pilgrims go to because of Virgin Mary appearances that happened there in the 1800s, its sacred water source, and its outdoor Way Of The Cross, which we walked through to the top. After returning to the hotel, we had a small party with my uncle and his new wife, and then went to bed.
July 28: Today, we left Olsztyn with my uncle and his new wife, to first visit my widower grandpa in another who is living with a new woman, and then to Warsaw, Poland's capital. We rented an apartment there before-hand to stay in. First, we took a walk to the Old Town and met with some distant, but well-known to us relatives, who speak alot of English because they lived in Canada for quite some time. We had dinner at a nice restaurant, and I had a huge Austrian pork cutlet called a Wiener Schnitzel. We stayed in Warsaw until about 11 o'clock and started the long walk to our apartment, stopping by a weird, long, supermarket to buy some things before going to bed and sleeping.
July 29: Today, was our second day in Warsaw, we went downtown to visit the Palace of Culture and Science, the tallest building in Poland, and the 7th tallest in the European Union. Inside, we went to the top to have an amazing panoramic view of the city on all sides. Inside were also some science "toys" based on Einstein's original experiments. After visiting the palace, we took a walk to the Old Town, and the entrance to the famed Royal Castle. We didn't go in due to the time of the day, and the fact we had to meet up with some family soon, but instead, we went on a quick bus sightseeing tour around the old town, and the new town, which isn't really "new", but it's newer than the old town. After going back to our apartment to get some things done, we went to the old town with the same people we were with yesterday, and this time, we went to another restaurant, but this time, I got some Pizza Hut before we went, so I didn't have any Polish or foreign dishes. After returning home at around 11PM, it was time to sleep.
July 30: Today was a very quick day, and all we really did was drop my Mom off at the airport in Warsaw for them to go back home, and then drove back to our "home" city Bydgoszcz. We stopped by Olsztyn again to have lunch (I had McDonalds, but the rest of us ate at a restaurant), and to drop my uncle and his wife off at their house. At Bydgoszcz, I basically just rested, since a month of big adventures was over.
July 31: Today, we just stayed home and rested , and prepared for our trip to western europe, and I also began writing this mega-entry.
August 1: Today, I'm just finishing up this entry, and packing up and getting ready for our trip. We are going to the Bydgoszcz Airport to fly to Dusseldorf, Germany, and from there, we are also going to Paris (On Lufthansa, so we might need a Plan B, because of the strike) for a week, and Amsterdam, on a day trip on a german tour-bus. I'm off now.
As I just said, I'm leaving today to Germany, so I won't be able to blog until I'm back. I'm also sorry it took so long for this entry, but as you just read, you could tell how busy I was. I'm afraid I can't show any pictures either, because it would take way too long to upload them all, (I'm rushing to finish this now) and it would be unrealistic to upload pictures for every single section.
Thank you for your patience.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Awesome Weekend
I came back late on Monday from the greatest weekend in Poland so far. First of all, my mom and little brother came here last Thursday, and Friday was just a break for them. On Saturday, we went to Sopot, a city in the middle of Gdansk and Gdynia. These three cities are the Poland tri-city, with about 800,000 inhabitants. We visited our friends, that my parents met in college, and one of them is my godmother. I had a great time, especially on Sunday, when we went to the beach, where we bungee jumped, slid on one of those huge inflatable slides (And it broke down while we were on it), and simply walked down the beach. On our way back from the beach, I had some of the best soft serve ice cream ever. Monday was the day we left Sopot. On our way back to Bydgoszcz, we stopped by Gdansk, the most populated, popular, and famous port city in Poland, and the most populated tri-city city. While we were walking through the streets and the famous new waterfront, we also stopped by a restaurant to have some drinks. My little brother had to go to the bathroom. Guess what. You have to pay $1, and you have to be a guest who purchased something at the restaurant. So we went it to the waiting room. There was a line of people getting ready to pay to go to the bathroom. It turned out the person in the bathroom had been sitting there already for 15 minutes talking on the phone. We left. Next door, there was a free bathroom, and we used it. What an adventure. Before leaving to Bydgoszcz, we just went to Gdansk's oldest and Poland's largest gothic cathedral, and it was HUGE!!! Me and my dad decided to walk to the top of the church for an extra fee. It was a long, dangerous, and very adventurous walk. The rooms we walked through were incredible, and the view from the observation deck was amazing. We could see all of Gdansk, and a little bit of Sopot. After returning home, late on Monday, we just slept, and Tuesday was just a day where we visited downtown Bydgoszcz again, and also watched a very funny and cool German comedian/magician, and watched an interesting music festival with people from other countries. We also visited an old church, and a monument to the founder of Bydgoszcz. Now today on Wednesday, we are just taking a break, and getting ready for the adventures to come.
P.S. No pictures at the moment because we are in a mess with the pictures and are trying to get them organized. I'll try to get the pictures on before the end of the week, and I'll get more pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/GuitarGodAdamp as well.
P.S. No pictures at the moment because we are in a mess with the pictures and are trying to get them organized. I'll try to get the pictures on before the end of the week, and I'll get more pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/GuitarGodAdamp as well.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Mall and The Movies
Yesterday was also once again, a very exciting and interesting day. It consisted mostly of visiting a new mall/shopping center in Bydgoszcz. First, we went and browsed the mall. There were many stores, covering all sorts of things from jeans to Xbox 360s. We even saw a MacBook Air. The only problem with this place is the price of everything. Regular Jeans for $125, socks for $40, coffe for $10 a cup, an Xbox Game for $120 (double than in US), a laptop for $2800, ketchup packets for $1 a piece. It was just ridiculous. We had lunch at a Burger King, the most expensive one I've seen in my life to be exact. After browsing the mall, which still was pretty interesting, we decided to watch a movie at the theater, for $10 a ticket (I know Wow..). We watched Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull, in English (yes!!), with Polish subtitles. I have to say it was an amazing movie, and one of my favorites too. The movie theater was also very comfortable, with soft plush seats (all they need is a recliner). After the movie, we left the mall, and I have to say, that was the closest I've been to America in Poland (besides the prices). On the way home, we stopped by at the basilica in Bydgoszcz, the biggest church in Bydgoszcz, and it was an incredible piece of architecture. The inside resembled Rome's Pantheon, except the hole on top was covered. It was recently granted the basilica status in the year 2000, after being renovated. I have to say, it deserves its status. After taking a bus ride home, we did nothing else, other than dinner. The next day, or today, is simply me staying home all day, while my dad picks up my mom & brother at the airport (the Warsaw one), who arrived today in Poland. They will be joining us in our trip around Poland and Europe. I'm just sitting here now, patiently waiting for their arrival. I'll write here again tomorrow.
Don't forget to check out the picture album of my trip to Poland & Europe at Picasa.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Castles and Dungeons
Today was another very interesting day. We went to Radzyn Chelminski, a small town in Poland, most famous for it's castle, built by the Teutonic Knights. Today, it is in ruins, but we were still able to enter its dungeons and even segments of the castle, and climb to the top of one of its towers. It was a very interesting experience, and I got the feel of what it was like to live back then. The town itself is a very small one, and we didn't really take the time to explore it. It did have an interesting church though. After coming home, nothing else really happened, besides dog walking and dinner. Today's entry is short, but full of interest. Tomorrow will be really fun!
Make sure to check out my picture gallery at Picasa.
Here, I throw a stick "spear" at a target made of straw-like material, and horribly miss.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Fun-Filled Day
Today was actually a pretty fun and interesting day. We started in the morning with visiting the local airport to watch our friends from Germany land in a Boeing 737 Plane, on an amazing observation deck, with a great view of the planes landing and taking off.
After greeting them and helping them out, we drove to Biskupin, a town rebuilt, based on the people who lived there 2,000-12,000 years ago. They were very civilized for such an old civilization. I got to make a coin the way they did, and ride a horse, and go inside one of their houses. The house was very straight forward The entrance area had 2 rooms to the left and right, being stables for animals. In front was the living room, fire, and work area. In the top left corner, there was a work room, and in the middle left, there was a bed area made of soft brush as a mattress and wood as bed. There was only one bed per house, and each house could probably only hold 3-5 people. Very Stuffy! The town itself was a fort, with 12 rows of 
these houses, each looking the same, and each having their own little job, and it was all boxed in a thick wall, complete with walkways, archer spots, and watchtowers. Since it used to be on an island, there was a bridge to the gate, allowing people and their horses across, and into the fort. People would leave to hunt and gather materials, and return home with their goods ready for trade. The most interesting part of the day had to be riding the horse. It was a rather bumpy, experience, and I felt I was going to fall off the whole time, and getting off was a relief. It was quite an "adventure" though, and worth it (only $1.50). Many people back then transported that way, and I'm surprised. After having a good meal of a cheeseburger and fries, we headed back home and relaxed for the rest of the day, taking the dog on a walk and having a huge dinner. What a day...P.S. Yesterday (Sunday) consisted of visiting family, and visiting a cemetery, where we placed candle lit lamps at our family members' graves, a Polish tradition that will give light to the soul of the dead family member. It is a tradition to do every time you visit a cemetery.
Look for photos of Biskupin and my trip to Poland at http://picasaweb.google.com/GuitarGodAdamp
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Dinosaurs and Pizza
Today was "average", well not really. I went to a dinosaur park/museum/outdoor sort of thing. It was interesting, and had life size sculptures of all sorts of different dinosaurs. They even had a actual fossils and dinosaur remains that you could touch. There's a lot of construction going on at the park part of the place, so all of the park was pretty much a playground. There were restaurants as usual, and I tried something new, a zapiekanka(I think it's how that's spelled) It's almost like french bred pizza, except without the cheese. It's basically dough with mushrooms and cheese, with tomato sauce on top. It definitely wasn't the best thing I've eaten, as I don't like mushrooms, but it was an interesting experience. Back home, we just made some pizza with dough, tomato sauce, and cheese. It was quite tasty too.
Friday, June 27, 2008
F16's, Thunderstorms, and Crappy Rides
Today was rather... interesting. First we woke up to go to an amusement park, but the rides were simply ridiculous, and it wasn't much fun. We'll be trying another one tomorrow, hopefully it'll be at least O.K. After that, I stayed home for a while, but heard these extremely loud jet engines very close by, I thought it was just planes landing at the airport nearby, but it couldn't have been, given the noises were as loud as rocket engines, and they were happening over and over again. After wondering for hours, I finally discovered what they were. F16's. Landing in the airport nearby, and taking off. It was about 4 o'clock PM, and we decided to walk out to the airport to see some commercial planes, as well as the F16's. We were almost there.... Kaboom! Thunder, rain, and hurricane force winds. We were out of luck again, just like yesterday, no jets, no F16s, no nothing. Everything was cancelled The walk, well more like run home left us soaked, and we had to stay in an apartment lobby during the most torrential part. We were at home soaked, and now drying. What an interesting, but unlucky day.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Back From Downtown
After spending an hour in downtown Bydgoszcz, I was back home, relieve to see that the internet was ready to be activated, but first, I'll tell you all about Bydgoszcz. We just walked down from our apartment, into the downtown. We visited the famous river bridge, the Opera Nova opera house, Bydgoszcz Plaza (Which is known for its huge flocks of birds), a Mill Island, some of Bydgoszcz's famous restaurants, started up our cell phone, saw some churches (When the clock striked noon I definitely heard more than 12 rings), and a street crossing. Very.... Exciting.... After taking the city bus "home", we settled in, got people to finish setting up our internet (finally), had lunch (fries), went shopping, came back. After that, we went to the local airport to watch a plane land, but we had tough luck, since the time we went for, was an airplane landing in another city, but just departing from here. We only saw a small biplane land. I'm back home now, ready to eat dinner, so i'll write again tomorow (which we have no idea what we'll be doing). Find more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/GuitarGodAdamp/BydgoszczPoland
P.S. This is the first post that I'm writing directly from the internet.
Bydgoszcz (At Last)
Written in the morning of June 26th at 11:22 (GMT +1), before I had internet: The flights went well, and surprisingly, there was no lost luggage, and no plane delays. The flights were actually shorter than excepted. but it was hard to find the oversized bag dispenser for our last bag. From the Warsaw Airport, it was a 4-hour drive to Bydgoszcz, where we’re staying. I slept for a majority of it, as I barely slept on the planes (which had movies, games, and electrical power). Once we were there, I just settled in, and had these amazingly good Polish Donuts. It was hard with no American (or even British) channels, no internet, or American food. Everything is so different. After a good 14 hour sleep, we woke up to get the internet working, and it didn’t work… oh how I miss America. Now I’m off for a walk to downtown Bydgoszcz, where things should hopefully get exciting.
At the Boston Logan Airport
Written on the night of June 24th at 5:45 EST, before I had internet: After a dinner at sbarro’s, I’m ready to board my flight to Amsterdam, it’s going to be a 7 hour flight. There were a quite a few interesting things that happened at the airport. Number one, a vending machine that sells PSP games, cameras, and headphones. One of the more “interesting” vending machines I’ve seen in my life. Besides the crappy internet here, nothing really is too bad. Except of course the weather, with this weather, we’ll be leaving tomorrow. Fog leaves the visibilty to about 20-40 feet, lightning strkes every 10 seconds, and it’s raining so bad, that you’d drown out there. Our flight isn’t dealyed yet, since the flight leaves in about an hour and a half, and we’re unsure of the weather. (I can’t check since the internet here doesn’t work, and it’s too expensive).
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Departure
Today it's goodbye, leaving the comfort of my home, I'm going to be leaving to Boston, on a 6 hour flight to Amsterdam, after that a 2 hour flight to Warsaw, and then a 4 hour drive to my "house". Not much has happened yet, other than nonstop packing, and last minute little things. I'm going to be at my "home" late Wednesday, and when internet gets installed there (Thursday), I'll report back here.
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