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.

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.

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.

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.