Half Way And A Day

Yesterday was the half way mark in the trip. Exactly three months from when I arrived in London all those many days ago.

Actually, it´s gone by remarkably fast. And yet when I think back to Italy it seems both ages ago and like it was just yesterday. Part of being a backpacker I think. You exist in a timewarp bubble where the outside world barely has any influence. Days run into one another, time passes faster than a fat kid on candy then slows down to the time defying pace of a monotonous university lecture. And don´t even attempt to guess what day it is. It´s hard enough trying to remember the numeric date, let alone something so slippery as the verbal day name. (I personally like to invent new ones. Today for example, is "iwatcheddonnkiedarko" while yesterday was "estonianciderwillmakeyousick".)

Tomorrow I head out on the fast ferry to Helsinki. Technically I´m only going to be in the city for about 4 hours. Just long enough to hop off the boat, catch the half hour long bus to the airport, wiggle my way through customs, and get myself onto my darling "budget" airline to Berlin. Should be fun!

Blood and Water

So I´ve decided to camp out in Tallinn for a couple more days than I had originally planned.
A) Because I´m too poor and can´t afford pricey Helsinki and B) because I´m EXHAUSTED and very probably malnourished. So I figure it´s time I spent a couple days relaxing and getting my health back up to snuff.

Speaking of health issues... I don´t know who I´ve offended but my luck with mosquito bites has officially and emphatically run out. Good Lord! Between Riga and Tallinn I´ve literally been eaten alive. I think my total is running at about 43 bites over two days. They´re greedy little bastards! I spent a good 15 minutes sitting on a park bench yesterday scratching my legs like a woman possessed. Must have been very amusing because I kept having little old Finnish or Estonian ladies coming up to me, muttering something in their own language and then going "Ouch ouch ouch!". To which I could only smile weakly, sigh, and resume my scratching. At this point I´ve resorted to coating my skin in 100% Deet. It´ll probably kill me, but at least I´ll take some of those blood sucking demons with me!

While I´m ranting, I´d like to mention a bit about the water in the Baltics. To put it bluntly... it stinks. Literally. I find myself hopping out of the shower, having a whiff, and wondering whether I´m actually clean or not. Truly, it´s awful. And then last night at dinner while I´m blissfully drinking a huge glass of tap water one of my hostel mates pipes up and says "So I hear the water here won´t be completely safe to drink until 2010." Speeeeeeeeeew! Thanks mate. :P

So if I return home with deformed lumpy skin from the bites, and a third arm and purple hair from the water, you´ll know why.

The Secret Silver Screen

Riga. Capital of Latvia. Cute little old town filled with art nouveaux buildings. And home to roving hordes of British stag parties. These guys are the WORST! Obsessed with getting pissed out of their minds they couldn't give a shit about the country itself. Only that the beer is cheaper than back home. Hate that.

But besides the stag crowds, Riga is pretty nice. Not a whole lot to do in the old town. Could probably see everything you need to in about half a day. But it's fun to wander around and get lost in the twisty streets.

Went to the Central Markets yesterday. My God! This is like the Vancouver night market on steroids. They literally have everything imaginable on sale. Here's a sample of what I saw: shoes, sunglasses, fur coats, fur hats, fishing hooks, zippers, brand name plastic bags, knock off hand bags, sewing needles, thread (not found at the same stall as the needles), soap, underwear, power cables, brooms, cooking pots, kettles, microwaves, old tvs, bottle openers, pocket knives, jeans, hoodies, belts, cooked meat, smoked meat, raw meat, rotten meat (no lie, apparently there's a market for it), fruits and vegetables of every kind, millions of cut flowers (smelt soooo good!), and of course the mandatory collection of pirated DVDs and CDs. So fun!

But the highlight yesterday wasn't scoping out the weird Latvian market stalls. While hanging out at the hostel I met a British guy who's working here as a 3d modeller (go fig) and he took me to a local short film festival. It's put on by an international group so the films were either in english or had english subtitles. It was SO awesome! The festival was pretty short, but it was housed in a collection of warehouses that have been turned over to a bunch of young local artists. So they've covered the walls with graffiti, modified commerical posters and logos (eg: US Mail becomes US Female), strung army camoflage netting over some of the building sides, hung huge mirrors at odd angles from the ceiling along with what looked like paper mache "rocks". Some of the rooms had arty knick knacks for sale, while others were like a mini dance party. (Apparently Latvians really love Dead Can Dance.) And the best part? No tourists. And definitely no British stag parties. Was neat to hang with the locals for awhile.

Please sir... Can I have my passport back?

Hopped on the bus from Vilnius to Riga today. Lovely ride... if you like being stuck in a humid sweat box filled with other people's airborne fluids. :P

Latvia looks pretty similar to Lithuania. The houses are a little bit uninteresting in comparison though. But the one thing that Latvia does have that Lithuania doesn't is scary border guards. The Lithuania guy was so done up with medals and other shiny parafanalia it was hard to take him seriously. But these guys... different story.

When we came to the border we naturally had to hand over our passports to the guy checking. Because mine requires stamping (not an EU citizen) he collected mine and a few other people's and hopped off the bus. A few minutes later the bus motors up and pulls away from the border. And I'm thinking "SHIT!!! Passport... Scary guard... ACK! Give back!!!" Mere seconds before I mount a mutiny on the bus driver to get him to turn around, the second driver appears and hands me my passport. He'd hopped on the back entrance without me looking.

This must be a well known border guard trick because I'm sure something similar happened to my Dad when he was travelling... :P

Hippy Weirdsville

Arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania after a torturously long train ride. (Polish trains are not known for their speed. There was also a 2 hour delay due to a brutal train wreck on the tracks further up from my train. Train smacked into a truck carrying dried cement. Very nasty.)

Gorgeous countryside. It rained a bit on the train ride, so we were treated to rainbows throughout the entire journey through Lithuania. Absolutely adored some of the farm houses. It looked a bit like someone had taken a hippy paint box and splattered them all over. So you'd have a yellow house with purple window frames and an orange door or a green house with pink window frames and a red door etc etc. Loved it!

Lithuania is markedly poorer than Poland. Houses are a bit more shacky, the cars are older, and the towns are quite small. (At least outside Vilnius anyways.) But the people are friendly and it's the first place I've seen that reminds me a bit of home. Maybe that's why I had homesickness dreams last night. :P

Yesterday I went to see the sights of Vilnius, such as they are. Unlike most capital cities, there isn't any one thing that you "must see". No Eiffel tower. No Tower bridge. Instead it's just this neat little city with a pretty large old quarter that flows gently into the newer buildings. Lots of churches though. But Vilnius harbours the vestiges of a free thinking revolution that occured after they gained independence. It's evident in such strange things as the statue to Frank Zappa and the self-declared republic of Uzupio. They even have their own constitution!

Constitution:

1. Everone has the right to live by the River Vilnele and the River Vilnele has the right to flow by everyone.
2. Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter, and a tiled roof.
3. Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.
4. Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
5. Everyone has the right to be unique.
6. Everyone has the right to love.
7. Everyone has the right to be loved, but not necessarily.
8. Everyone has the right to be undistinguished and unknown.
9. Everyone has the right to be idle.
10. Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat.
11. Everyone has the right to look after the dog until one of them dies.
12. A dog has the right to be a dog.
13. A cat is not obliged to love it's owner, but must help in time of need.
    
14. Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of their duties.
15. Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation.
16. Everyone has the right to be happy.
17. Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
18. Everyone has the right to be silent.
19. Everyone has the right to have faith.
20. No one has the right to violence.
21. Everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance.
22. No one has the right to have a design on eternity.
23. Everyone has the right to understand.
24. Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
25. Everyone has the right to be of any nationality.
26. Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.
27. Everyone shall remember their name.
28. Everyone may share what they possess.
29. No one can share what they do not possess.
30. Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
31. Everyone may be independent.
32. Everyone is responsible for their freedom.
33. Everyone has the right to cry.
34. Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
35. No one has the right to make another person guilty.
36. Everyone has the right to be individual.
37. Everyone has the right to have no rights.
38. Everyone has the right not to be afraid.
39. Do not defeat.
40. Do not fight back.
41. Do not surrender.

I should mention that Uzupio is more home to drunks and vagabonds than artists and true bohemians these days, but the feeling is still there. They also have some awesome stencil graffiti! My personal favorite: "Don't watch porn. Use your imagination!".

Dear Poland...

Dear Poland,

I'll be frank. I didn't like you.
You were bleak and dull and very uninspiring. Yes, yes, your people are very sweet and I find their attchment to their weiner dogs very amusing. However, there just wasn't any "you-ness". Nothing to distinguish you. No love. And frankly, it got on my nerves and I couldn't wait to leave.

That was until Warsaw. Now I know people have said that your capital city is nothing but a huge collection of communist concrete monstrosities (and they wouldn't be wrong in some neighborhoods), but I've had an great time here.

I admire that your people completely rebuilt the old town from scratch as it was obliterated in the war. But what I ADORE is your contemporary art gallery. It showed me you have a soul, Poland. Every other capital is nothing but the same ol' collection of Baroque facades. But you've pulled yourself up and made yourself anew. And that, is truly awesome. Don't let anyone forget it.

Hugs and Kisses,
- Sarah

Images of Poland

Empty Krakow streets at 6am. Makes it easy to wander aimlessly across roads without getting smushed by roving trams. Bread ring sellers offering poppy seed covered goodies for less than the smallest coin in my pocket. Faces of old Pols like narled wood. Why do all Polish men have square heads? Cars which drive up onto the sidewalks to allow buses to pass by. Enormous cobble stones designed to mangle tourists' unwary feet. The Art Bunker in Krakow with a myriad of delicious contemporary art. (The video of the guys dressed up as Marilyn Monroe singing "happy birthday", bit weird.) Fields and fields of corn. Men pitching hay into a wooden horse drawn cart. Heavy ashy mournful Auschwitz. Children twirling in the "Parky" surrounding the old square in Krakow. Games of sharades with pharmacists. Orange cough candies that taste like licorice. Huge square concrete appartment blocks, Polish "living quarters". Piles of fresh baked pastries. Oh how I love the apple whatever it's called! Dark old square lit up with the pinky purple hue of sunset. Deep folksy woods, whispering ancient tales of times gone by.

Auschwitz

Today I went to Auschwitz.
I don't really know where to start. I haven't even had enough time to let the sights and feelings sink in. Auschwitz is a painful place. What words can describe the millions murdered with that terrible efficency? What sounds can be put together to faithfully communicate the impression of that bleak place? I don't know. I haven't got them. Instead I can tell you that I felt like someone had punched me square in the chest. That this punch refused the laws of physics and instead of recoiling, it remained. A constant and choking pressure, forcing breath from my lungs and tears to my eyes. I don't think I have any Jews amongst my ancestors. But I am human. And the hurt of Auschwitz is a hurt to humanity too. And I feel it.

You all know the history. I needn't repeat it. But I did learn something today that made my heart ache a little bit more. Today I learned that the prisoners in Auschwitz referred to the warehouses containing all their precious and worldly belongings as "Canada". They called it this because, like the nation which was a promised land, it was full of riches. How terribly odd it is to see my homeland's name imprinted on pictures adorning those haunted walls. How much worse to think of the desperate hope those prisoners had, that one day they may reach that land with their lives and belongings intact. How much sadder is it when the faces in the pictures then cease to be flat collections of ink shapes and become ghosts of breathing people with fears and hopes and dreams.

I don't think I will sleep well tonight.

Krak-owie

The next leg of the journey is Krakow. Alas, alack, the only train leaving from Prague to Krakow was an overnight train. And this particular route comes packed with all sorts of traveller horror stories. The tale is that late one dark and stormy night while you are sweetly sawing logs, some sinister force comes and pumps sleeping gas into your cabin. Knocking you out and giving free reign to their sticky fingers. You wake up the next morning a tad groggy and several pounds of luggage/money/passports lighter. But, at least for me, this was not the case. And although I had a brutal night with only a fleeting time spent in the persuit of sleep, all of my belongings remain blissfully in my possession.

So it is with a desperate grogginess that I lumbered off the train at the happy hour of 6am this morning and stumbled towards my hostel. Cought a couple hours of "sleep" in the hostel common area and then headed out to make something of my day. My bed wasn't ready until 1pm, so I had about 3 hours to kill. Spent most of the time wandering aimlessly around the old town, trying not to blame Krakow for my murderously sore throat. (A parting gift from the night train.)

My first impressions of Krakow are coloured with the approach of a cold, so I'm going to hold off on giving a review until I've had a decent nights sleep and with luck a couple Polish cold pills.

Fairy Tales

From wet and rainy Vienna I headed up to Prague. Lovely lovely Prague.
The rain teased me a little, tossing the occational splatter as if to say "Don't get too cocky, missy!" So I took that to heart and bought myself a new long-sleeved shirt. New clothing! God I've missed you!

Prague was neat. Very medieval fairy tale like.
A lot of the buildings had black tiled roofs and tall pointed towers. Making it seem like a city populated by evil witches bent on putting small german children to sleep and sticking princesses in gingerbread houses. Was neat to just wander about the streets and get lost. Barely looked at my map. Touristy though. And the roving stag parties were unbelievably crass. No wonder the locals look on tourists with such distain.

After Prague I find myself in the small town of Cesky Krumlov, down in the south. AWESOME place. Still pretty touristy. But in the evenings most of them pile back on their tour buses or head back to the safety of their hotel rooms. Seems like every second building here is a pension though. Regardless, the town itself is super neat. Winding streets and peasant puppet shops galore. Definitely a nice chillout place.

Wet Like Home

I'm drenched!
I suppose it's karma for complaining about the hot weather. Now Europe is determined to drown me. I managed to avoid the downpours and drizzels in Budapest, but Vienna really has it in for me. I mean, I even had to buy an umbrella today! Things are grim.

Between the huge flood-like drops of rain I've managed to see a bit of Vienna. Beautiful city. Very aristocratic. But I keep looking for a more gritty modern side. I'm tired of seeing the ostentatious 18th Century buildings. I want to see the modern things, what's hot in fashion and art etc. Haven't had much luck with Vienna. It was easier in Budapest. Though I have to admit I haven't had much chance to see anything. Yesterday was Sunday so everything was closed and today everything is obliterated by the rain. Poop. Oh well, guess it just means I'll have to come back to Vienna another time. :)

Tomorrow I head off to Prague. (Or "Prag-you" as one of my hostel mates in Budapest called it.) It'll be rediculously touristy, but it's gotta be seen and with luck I'll be able to head out into the country side. I found a tour that'll take you out, but it includes a boat tour through some caves and I'm really done with caves for awhile. But I'll definitely take a forest. You know, with trees... and grass... and animals... generally living things all around. Yeah. Forest. Woods. Whatever. That's what I want. Here's hoping!

Terror!

Yesterday, determined to be more productive, a group of us headed off to the Terror Museum in Pest. Absolutely amazing museum. Sure they have an agenda to villify the Nazi and Stalin regimes, but it was laid out brillantly with lost of audio visual things to occupy easily bored minds. Some of the footage was pretty brutal though. You never would see this kind of stuff in Germany. (Did notice that they downplayed the involvement of the Hungary goverment though.) Still, definitely worth a visit.

After that Alon (who I actually met back in Genova), Rob, Elisa, and I headed off to find some "authentic Hungarian food" and find it we did! Holy deliciousness. I don't know what Guinea Foul is but damn is it good! After that we got right into the partying mood and spent the night hopping from place to place. Good times.

But the evening finished up with one of the most terrifying and surreal taxi rides of my life. After bartering hard for the price we squished ourselves clown car style into a wee cab and took off for the hostel. Unfortunately in our less that sober state must have been a bit annoying to the poor cabbie because I soon found myself in this situation: flying along at breakneck speed along side the black inky Danube river, not having a clue where we were, and listening to... I kid you not... the Hamster dance song played full volume. Truly terrifying. ;)

Deep Dark Budapest

Left the parks for Zagreb with Nial and Eimear. Not much to see in Zagreb. Pretty dead city really. Pity too, I was kind of hoping for some vestiges of communism or such, but no it's pretty western. The most exciting thing about Zagreb was the massive thunderstorm we had. The wind howled, the rain fell in what I can only describe as torrents, and the lightning smacked across the sky. I LOVED IT. But I guess they don't get storms like that in Ireland because Eimear and Nial would have none of it. So we headed back inside the hostel just in time to avoid being drowned by the Croatian rain. Probably a good thing too, because moments after we got up to our room the wind ripped a chunk of plaster off the building across the street and flung it to the ground, narrowly missing a few cafe patrons.

After and extremely long and uncomfortable train ride, I arrived in Budapest.
Checking the directions to my hostel with the info center my heart sank. My hostel was a good bit outside the center of town and required some bus riding in order to get there. But it turned out to be not quite the haul I imagined and in the end I was glad I hadn't listened to the hostel touts at the train station. My hostel is AWESOME! It's a complete hippy guesthouse complete with theme rooms (The Jungle Room, The Love Shack, The Green Room, The Bob Marley Room, Ganesh's Palace and such.) and incense wafting through the air. The staff is super sweet too, which makes it all the more homey.

Yesterday I woke up with an urge to explore, so I tagged along with a few of my hostel mates to the Statue Park to take a gander at a collection of soviet sculpture. Bit weird because Hungary has effectively exiled the statues to the outskirts of Budapest. Though I suppose anything less would be seen as an endorsement of communism.

After the statues a group of us signed up to do some caving in the thermal caves underneath Buda. I'd seen photos of this from the Modern Gonzo guy, but seeing and doing are two totally different things. What a trip! I never could have imagined myself crawling army style on my belly through impossibly small tunnels and squishing myself into and out of outrageously small cracks in the rock. (Though apparently our tour was through the "easy" part.) It was pretty slippery though, so I compensated by using my flimsy and practically non-existent arm muscles. So I'm a bit (a lot!) sore today. But it's a good sore. It's a "I've just crawled down through the freaking earth and back again. HOOYAH!" kind of sore. It's a "I never thought I'd do that ever in my entire life, but I DID!" kind of sore. So all said and done, it was an awesome experience and I'm SO glad I did it.

However, today I did absolutely nothing. Literally I just bummed about the hostel and read and chatted and chilled out. It was lovely. Especially when we had another thunderstorm here and the power went out. (I actually wanted the power to stay out longer!) Was neat hanging out with my hostel mates, chatting by candle light.

Tomorrow I'm determined to have a more productive day. Maybe make it to the museums or the thermal baths. We'll see!