Krakow and Berlin
Right now I am relaxing after a lovely day at the Berlin Zoo. Before I tell you more about that I want to briefly describe my stay in Krakow.
I left Prague late on Sunday morning and arrived in Krakow in the early evening of the same day. The train ride was uneventful, but I had the chance to look at some beautiful landscape out the window and read my book.
In Krakow I surfed the couch of a middle aged gentleman who also plays host to his very old, very frail mother. The apartment was comfortable, but the television - blaring bad American films with terrible Polish voice-overs - gave the place a very Eastern European feel.
I had one day to explore the city, and I did so in a very comfortable rambly sort of way. I started by wandering from the Wawel castle (which is right next to the Vistula river) into the Old Town. I spent a while there, enjoying the beautiful buildings and taking pictures of weird statues.
I tried some polish dumplings and a drink called "kompot". (They boil fruit and then cool and serve the water, infused with the fruit juice, as a drink.) Quite tasty! But the dumplings needed to be flavoured with a LOT of garlic. Probably a good thing that Thorri wasn't with me that day. I would not have wanted to kiss me.
After lunch I walked around the Jewish quarter and checked out an old cemetery. It was interesting. For some reason there were pebbles on a lot of the grave stones.
Also, I had a cupcake that looked like a pink porcupine!
Moral of the story: Poland is full of win.
I went to Berlin early the next day, and was met at the station by a lovely German guy by the name of Veit. He drove me to his apartment (which he shares with a flatmate, an equally lovely girl called Anka) in a very interesting car. It was one of the car-sharing cars of Berlin. They have this program where you can rent a car for however long you need it at the drop of a hat. You have a microchip in your driver's license which activates the car, and when you need to find the nearest car-sharing vehicle... There's an app for that! The people behind the program take care of cleaning the cars and filling them with gas. Amazing!
Anyway, Veit's couch is very comfortable, there is wifi (and a laptop I'm allowed to use) and he took me to the rooftop of his apartment building for pizza and beer on my first evening here. In other words - Excellent host!
My first day in Berlin was full of typical tourist activities. I went to see the East Side Gallery, Alexanderplatz, the Berlin cathedral, the Reichstag building, Brandenburger Tor and the Victory Column. (Among other things.)
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I spent the evening eating delicious sugary popcorn and drinking cherry coke while watching silly stuff with Veit.
Today I went to the Zoo, as I have already mentioned, and it was epic. I think I must have spent two hours just hanging out with the monkeys and the apes. There were so many! And I managed to catch the feeding time for the Orangutangs and the Gorillas! Also, I saw lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, polar bears, zebras, giraffes and elephants! It was just like a zoo ought to be.
I really loved the gorillas. ♥
Tomorrow I am off to Copenhagen, and currently I am off to take a shower!
I left Prague late on Sunday morning and arrived in Krakow in the early evening of the same day. The train ride was uneventful, but I had the chance to look at some beautiful landscape out the window and read my book.
In Krakow I surfed the couch of a middle aged gentleman who also plays host to his very old, very frail mother. The apartment was comfortable, but the television - blaring bad American films with terrible Polish voice-overs - gave the place a very Eastern European feel.
I had one day to explore the city, and I did so in a very comfortable rambly sort of way. I started by wandering from the Wawel castle (which is right next to the Vistula river) into the Old Town. I spent a while there, enjoying the beautiful buildings and taking pictures of weird statues.
I tried some polish dumplings and a drink called "kompot". (They boil fruit and then cool and serve the water, infused with the fruit juice, as a drink.) Quite tasty! But the dumplings needed to be flavoured with a LOT of garlic. Probably a good thing that Thorri wasn't with me that day. I would not have wanted to kiss me.
After lunch I walked around the Jewish quarter and checked out an old cemetery. It was interesting. For some reason there were pebbles on a lot of the grave stones.
Also, I had a cupcake that looked like a pink porcupine!
Moral of the story: Poland is full of win.
I went to Berlin early the next day, and was met at the station by a lovely German guy by the name of Veit. He drove me to his apartment (which he shares with a flatmate, an equally lovely girl called Anka) in a very interesting car. It was one of the car-sharing cars of Berlin. They have this program where you can rent a car for however long you need it at the drop of a hat. You have a microchip in your driver's license which activates the car, and when you need to find the nearest car-sharing vehicle... There's an app for that! The people behind the program take care of cleaning the cars and filling them with gas. Amazing!
Anyway, Veit's couch is very comfortable, there is wifi (and a laptop I'm allowed to use) and he took me to the rooftop of his apartment building for pizza and beer on my first evening here. In other words - Excellent host!
My first day in Berlin was full of typical tourist activities. I went to see the East Side Gallery, Alexanderplatz, the Berlin cathedral, the Reichstag building, Brandenburger Tor and the Victory Column. (Among other things.)
>
I spent the evening eating delicious sugary popcorn and drinking cherry coke while watching silly stuff with Veit.
Today I went to the Zoo, as I have already mentioned, and it was epic. I think I must have spent two hours just hanging out with the monkeys and the apes. There were so many! And I managed to catch the feeding time for the Orangutangs and the Gorillas! Also, I saw lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, polar bears, zebras, giraffes and elephants! It was just like a zoo ought to be.
I really loved the gorillas. ♥
Tomorrow I am off to Copenhagen, and currently I am off to take a shower!