1/5-1/6 Slovakia--Bratislava
1/6-1/7 Czech Republic--Prague
1/7-1/11 Poland--Warsaw, Katowice
Our journey is slowly coming to a close. We stopped in Bratislava on the way to prague. seems random perhaps, but it was actually cheaper to do that than take a train straight to prague from budapest--traveling for us was mostly about finding the best deals and going to those places which made for random, but terribly exciting adventures. Bratislava really was just a place to stay, we had an interesting hostel experience, mostly because we were both feeling a bit sick so we really wanted to just stay in and sleep, while the others in our room were the typical hostel-ers, ie: party people. The fact that our hostel had a dance club in the basement should have tipped us off to the fact that we wouldn't be getting much sleep. Apparently there really isn't much to DO in Bratislava, so people go there to party--i may have to go back some day so that I can actually enjoy the city for what it has to offer. The morning of the 6th I went out to find an internet cafe, little did i realize that it was Three Kings Day. aka: everything was closed. The little old ladies in their fur-looking hats coming out of church were kind of cute though. So I just spent about an hour wandering around the town centre, stopping occasionally by the churches i would pass by to listen to the mass in Slovak. it was a nice way to end my trip to Slovakia, although i do intend to go back someday.
Prague was the next stop. We mainly went there because we had friends who were also traveling, so we thought it would be a good idea to meet up with them, even though we would see them back at Cambridge in less than 2 weeks. I really almost don't even count Prague as we got in after the sun had gone down and didn't really have time to explore the city or see . . . anything. We did have some good Czech food though.
Warsaw was interesting. mostly because of the people we met while there. Of course, we hit up the Holocaust museum, which was actually really cool (this coming from a person who normally does not like museums). It had new age type architecture which combined with the video and pictures and memorabilia from the mid 1900s gave it a very interesting feel. Warsaw was by FAR the coldest place we visited. needless to say, we really didn't do much outdoors, i think it got down to -20C. which is around -4F. very very cold. i'm glad I brought my ski jacket. it was such an amazing feeling, being in this city which i had read so much about, and learned so much about in history classes while in grade school. i think i'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that i did actually go there and walk those streets. it's kind of incredible.
Katowice was the place I was catching my ryan-air flight from, so we crashed there for a night before parting ways, I went back home to Cambridge while my traveling buddy, maylin, went on to Krakow. We manage to have fun wherever we go, and Katowice was no different. It helped that we had a friend who was kind enough to even cook us a "proper polish dinner" and show us around the town during the day, and during the night.
The flight back to Cambridge was the first flight I had ever taken by myself. i actually really enjoyed it, it's probably really silly and childish, but flying by myself made me feel very grown-up--in a very good way.
No comments:
Post a Comment