The musings and misadventures of a girl unprepared

Thursday 20 June 2013

33 hours from Cologne to Krakow... Say WHAT?!

Since I had SO MUCH TIME to plan this blog post/time to kill on my a million and one train journeys (well six but close enough) I've prepared you a special treat... I started vlogging! Yes, you read that read it right. Now goodness knows why I am sharing video footage of myself in this state with the internet world, but unfortunately for all involved I think this is the best way for you to witness my progressive exhaustion and delirium. So I am sorry that you have to look at me in various questionable states, though hopefully you'll get a pretty good picture of my most epic journey so far.



My camera work is impeccable. I intended to cut my mouth off for most of that video, I'm just that quirky. On another note I've been let down a considerable amount by German trains/conductors, for the first time ever. I didn't think Germans had the ability to be late. It's safe to say that they're not used to it. Whilst us Brits are experts at lateness and therefore know how to deal with it, it would appear Germans simply panic, causing them to not let anyone know whats going on and constantly inaccurately guestimating new times of arrival, resulting in my case in a lot of frustrated adults, who were then further aggravated by the group of restless teens on a school trip... Well done Deutsch Bahn. Though like I said, this is the first time they've let me down, so hopefully it was just a one off!



Something I forgot to include is my impression of Poznan... well, let's just say I wouldn't recommend it, though I did only get to wander for about an hour. Still, there are much nicer places to visit.



On my eventual arrival to Krakow - seventeen hours later than I originally intended, because of course, that train was late too - I met up with Josie, Mitch and Steve, who were moments away from calling my mother for fear I'd been kidnapped. During the day we visited Auschwitz, which was well... intense, emotional, shocking, disturbing, overwhelming... I'm going to write a separate post on my own reactions to the visit soon, I just feel that particular one deserves a special amount of time and attention to get it spot on. We also had a little meander around the centre for a few hours in the evening, which I really enjoyed. The atmosphere was lovely and it really is a beautiful place. I'd love to visit again the future and spend a bit more time there.



After my SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW on a sleeper train, we arrived in Vienna around 6.30 and started to explore early. It was nice to visit the castle for a second time and we even got to go in the labyrinth!! Mazes are like one of my favourite things ever in the world ever. However after walking around until lunch time Mitch and I were simply too worn out, especially with the scorching 36*C heat and around just ten hours sleep over the past three days. So now we're chilling for the afternoon in Bratislava whilst Josie and Steve continue to explore Vienna. It's a pretty nice city on first impressions and super cheap which is always a plus. Also, our hostel which is called Patio is so nice, slightly more than we'd usually spend but the showers and rooms are lovely and there is free wifi, computers and a bar/club with a garden. Special thanks to Lisle from Lousiana for the recommendation in Krakow :)



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