Grad Trip Part 2: Poland

We left Amsterdam early in the morning and took a direct train to Berlin. We did not have a reservation, at the start of the journey we only reserved seats on the trains we absolutely had to. I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, just out of convienience I would recommend reserving them. But you don’t have to do that through the Intrarail website and wait  until it is sent to you by post, you can do that at any train station. With that first journey we had two small problems (not even problems, just things worth noting that are not that obvious for people that don’t use trains all the time). Firstly, since our train left at 7am, there was almost no staff on the train station and we couldn’t get through automated gates were you just scan ticket (our was a printed ‘old fashioned’ one). We managed to find a bigger group with the same problem and when they found a member of the staff, we just tailgated. Secondly, we didn’t know that the names of the places above the seats mean that they are reserved until this destination is reached (seems pretty obvious, right?) and we had to change seats 3 times, until finally someone pointed those with no writing at all (not reserved). For that reason it would be better to get a reservation, but It wasn’t the end of the world.

The train station in Berlin is big and modern, with a lot of food places and…that’s it. We had 3 hours to spend in Berlin before catching another train (with the reservation this time!) and there was nothing to do! We walked for about 20 mins one way from the train station and there was nothing appealing, no market square, no restaurants or bars, just a wide road, few huge buildings and construction works. I know 3 hours in a city is not the best reflection of its potential, I was quite disappointed tho. We met one of my brothers (he is working there for few weeks) and off we went to Poznan, Poland.

Entering my homecountry, the landscape has become more homely than Germany. Again, there isn’t really a big difference, but the view across Germany was just…boring. In Poland we passed through little villages, meadows full of poppies, we saw a stork or two… and we reached Poznan, quickly met with brother number 2 (who studies there) and caught our final train that day, to my hometown, Oborniki Slaskie, near Wroclaw.

 

Time spent at home was mainly family time (with my 3^rd brother, parents, granny, dog and 2 cats), our friend’s wedding and lots of ‘organizational work’ (paperwork, hairdresser, shopping etc) so there is not much to write. 

I’ll post a few photos tho because it was a lovely time spent with my closest. I do sincerely recommend visiting Poland, if you haven’t, it is very underrated and has a lot to offer. Here is mainly surroundings of my hometown and the beautiful city of Wroclaw. Enjoy!

 

Grad Trip Part 1: Amsterdam

So we did it. After 8 years of collage I finally have a useful degree, a job offer waiting for me at the beginning of next month, I am finally AN ADULT (better late than never, right).

So this last student holiday needed to be something special. Something I planned for the last few months as a distraction from (as it seemed) never ending study period. We are also on a budget so we couldn’t go too crazy (backpacking in South America got disqualified pretty early due to expensive flight prices), so here we go, good, old and always surprising Europe. Interrailing (travelling mainly by train and other public transport) to be precise, with one backpack filled to the brim and supposedly enough for 3 weeks- could we go more ‘student holidays’ than that?

 First part of the journey: Amsterdam. A place filled with hen & stag parties’ legends, surprised me positively. But before that, confused me. The best I could describe it is ‘New York of Europe’ (I have never been to New York but that’s the vibe I got). The mix of cultures, skin colours, different languages with English predominant. Classy and fashionable mixing with tacky and vulgar. Old and traditional mixing with modern and liberal. I fell in love with the architecture, canals (a bit of water makes everything looks better) and abundance of plants and flowers used to decorate doors, windows, stairs…. All the buildings are built in the same fashion, tall and skinny, yet you won’t find any two the same. Fun fact: the houses’ stairways are so steep and narrow, it is impossible to bring up any furniture. There is a hook in front of each house, where the furniture and heavy objects are pulled up on and transferred through the windows. Another thing that I loved about Amsterdam is you can do it as cheaply or as expensively as you want. Street food is second to none (Wok to Walk!), yet fancy restaurants are on every corner. You can get expensive cruises on the canal or a free ferry. It is up to you.

 

 We arrived in Amsterdam airport, took the train to the city centre and got to our hotel in the early afternoon on Sunday. The city welcomed us with a lovely weather and mass of people and cyclicts coming at you from all directions. Our hotel (Frisco Inn), was very basic and small (with 3 steep flights of stairs to climb every time) but situated perfectly. The first day we spent mainly by exploring the neighbourhood and getting used to the place (ah, and we had to find an Irish pub to watch Ireland-Austria game. Luckily (?) finding an Irish pub in a big city is never a problem, there were 2 on our street).

 






Second day was significantly colder and it was used to ‘tick’ all the touristy bits we wanted to see. First of, we walked around Vondelpark, a park in the city centre with lakes, grass, and lots of wild birds- definitely my cup of tea. 

 

From there it’s not far to the Rijksmuseum, the national art museum. It is quite interesting to notice, that although all the pieces were unique, I found that European culture across the ages was quite similar. There were some pieces by famous artists, as well as the furniture and hobby equipment of people from certain eras. Dutch have a lot of colonies so there is certain exotic influences. We passed by the famous IAmSterdam sign, which was overflowing with people.

 

The next and final day we didn’t really have anything particular planned. We started with Begijnhof, one of the oldest inner courts in Amsterdam (from the early 14th century!), a little oasis of old buildings and flowers hidden away in the centre of busy Amsterdam. People still live there, which is pretty incredible.

 

Then we walked to the Blumenmarkt, a flower market filled with selection of hundreds types of tulip bulbs and other plants and herbs. We got carried away with the idea of our new garden and bought way too many stuff…

From there we wandered down Singel canal, admiring the beautiful houses and enjoying the sun, until we reached the Cat Sanctuary. This is a cat shelter situated on a little boat parked on the canal. Visitors can visit cats daily between 1-3pm, play with them, donate some money and possibly even adopt them. The cats were pretty wild and scared, but I’m sure they enjoy their multiple cat scratchers, comfy beds and even a little outdoor area when humans get out.

 




 


Searching for other cheap/free attractions we took a free ferry to the north side of Amsterdam, NDSM wharf, an old shipbuilding area that is now filled with industrial warehouses that house small startups, alternative arts and hipster coffee places.  

 

 

And in the evening we managed to see a free jazz concert at Bimhuis, some kind of art. centre, which was AMAZING! I wouldn’t say I am a jazz music afficionado but I definitely would like to see some more in the future…

 
To sum up, Amsterdam gained a warm spot in my heart. I don’t think I would like to live there, too crowded and too hipster to my liking (getting old, oops!), but will definitely come back!