Charlie Came to Visit

So this week, my little brother Charlie was in Europe to visit me.  He had a great time with his flights, and when I say great I really mean terrible.  His first flight was cancelled out of St. Louis.  He had a connecting flight in Chicago to Germany and barely made it.  And then his flight from Germany to Warsaw was delayed in landing because of bad thunderstorms we were having here.  So he circled Warsaw for a couple of hours.  But he finally made it, a little tired, but he made it.

We went to Auschwitz so that Charlie could say he'd been there.  When we were at Birkenau, which is the last 1/3 of the tour, it started to pour!  Unfortunately we didn't get to finish the tour.  But Charlie did get to see the bunks, just not the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoriums.  On our way to Krakow, we got caught in a hail storm.  The hail and rain were so dense I had to pull over for a while because I couldn't see.

The hail on the hood of the car

When we got to Krakow it was raining, so we hung out in the hotel for a little while and used our free hour of internet.  Then we braved the rain and went to Market Square.  Had dinner, watched a bike race as we ate dinner, and then saw a rainbow over the cathedral in Market Square.  I showed Charlie the Wawel Castle and we did a little shopping for my grandmother.

The next morning we had to wake up early again to get back to Warsaw.  We had a flight to catch to Rome!  We got to Rome, figured out how to buy a train ticket to get from the airport to the city.  After we checked in, we went to find somewhere to eat dinner.  We had the best bruschetta ever!!  The olive oil and tomatoes were so fresh.  The pizza was ok, Charlie had better pizza the next day for dinner.  We saw Ancient Rome the first night - it was surreal.  To see the Colosseo and the Roman Forum ruins, it was incredible.

The next day we took one of the bus tours all over the city.  We saw a lot of the city.  Walked around, did some shopping.  It was really nice to enjoy a new place with someone else.  On Tuesday we went to the Vatican Museums - I highly recommend buying your tickets online before you go!  We only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes and we got to go in before the general public.  The art in the museum was incredible!  The Sistine Chapel was really cool. And to know that Pope's are chosen in that room... It was really cool.  Definitely make the time to go to the Vatican Museums if you ever go.  After Rome, we came back to Poland - I had to work and Charlie just hung out.  Saw Plock.  I think Charlie liked his first trip to Europe.  :-)

The Hard Part

One of the hardest parts of my job is being away from my family.  I'm a family person.  I always have been and I always will be.  They all really mean a lot to me.

Lucky for me, my brother is coming to visit me tomorrow.  He's staying for a week!  It'll be really nice to have family with me.  I'll probably get depressed when he leaves, it's like getting a shot of a drug and then going through withdrawal.  But some is better than none.

I spend some of my time worrying about my family.  I am dreading the day I get a call from a family member telling me that something terrible has happened.  And then I have nightmares about not being able to leave my assignment.  I don't know why I worry myself with these things, but I do.

This is what I get to look forward to this week...

Quick Trip to Germany

Sprechen sie deutsch?  I sure don't.  I hardly know any German, but lucky for me most people in Berlin spoke English.

Berlin was a neat city, it was a mixture of old and new.  Some of Berlin survived WWII, but over 70% did not.  There were 6 of us that went to Berlin.  It was a lot of fun to go with everyone.  We jumped on a bus on Saturday and drove all over the city.  I'm pretty sure we saw every major tourist spot there was to see.

The Parliament building - Reichstag

Me at Berlin Wall

We tried Mexican food for dinner - it is definitely the best I've had since I've been in Europe, but it definitely isn't the same.  When I get back to the US I'm getting Mexican and BBQ.  I could go for some of my dad's barbecued chicken breasts, sweet corn, potato salad, and a big glass of ICED sweet tea.  ICED being the key word there.

Anyways, the Berlin trip was great.  I liked driving on the Autobahn - it was like driving in the US!  Finally good roads!!  Our car didn't get any tickets - the other car was not as lucky.  They got one there and back.  All I'm going to say was that my car was all girls, and their car was not...  Take what you want from that comment.

Paris

I always hope for smooth traveling, especially when it comes to getting from the airport to where I need to be.  Sadly this hardly ever happens, and my trip to Paris was no exception.  I got to the Paris airport after a delayed flight, no big deal.  I had my route mapped out for my trip to the city on the train.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The train station at the airport was closed when I got there, not sure why.  So they bused us somewhere, I had no idea where.  I had to figure out how to get from that station to downtown so I could make my metro transfer.  With the help of a nice metro worker I finally made it to the correct platform.  The rest of the trip went without a hitch and I made it to the hotel.


The rest of my trip was surreal.  I started my day of on Saturday by eating a crepe with Nutella in the lawn of the Eiffel Tower.  It was amazing.  I just sat there and people watched for a little while.  Then I made my way to Hotel de Invalides.  The garden was beautiful!  I took a few pictures (of course) and was on my way to the Arc de Triomphe.  On the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, I stopped at few stores and did some shopping.  The city workers were starting to set up the grandstands for the final leg of the Tour de France.  It was a bustling street!  After seeing what there was to see, I took the metro to Notre Dame – the cathedral, not the university.  The inside of the cathedral was beautiful.  I also decided to go up to the towers and take pictures of the city with the gargoyles.  The wait was really long, but it was worth it.  The view of the city was amazing.


For dinner I sat down at a random café not too far from Notre Dame.  While I was looking at the menu, some random French guy sat next to me and tried to talk to me.  The problem was that I speak no French and he spoke no English.  We communicated a little, but not very effectively.  He tried to find someone to translate for us, and asked the man sitting behind us.  The man also spoke no French, but I could talk to him!  He turned out to be Tom the physics professor from Duke University.  As I was leaving the café I gave the waiter a tip, and in return he dragged me inside to the bar and gave me a glass of champaign. :-) The professor and I went to a concert outside of Hotel de Ville.  Eventually I had to leave for my photo tour.  The photo tour was worth every penny.  I learned a little and got some great pictures out of it.  Please see my flickr account to see the pictures!  I will try to post them as soon as I can.


Today (Sunday) I slept in because the photo tour went kind late.  I didn’t get back to the hotel until after 1am.  I ate breakfast at a café near the hotel.  It was delicious!  My first stop was the Museum d’Orsay.  I love Impressionism, especially Vincent Van Gogh, and so that was my museum of choice.  Sadly I didn’t have time to go to the others – maybe next time?  After that I wandered through the garden near the Louvre.  There was a lot going on around there – the spectators were waiting for the bikers to go through on their final race leg.  I spent a good amount of the afternoon reading in the Royal Palace Garden.  They have chairs all over the garden, so I pulled one up to the fountain and did a little reading.  I was surrounded by Parisians doing the same.  I could really get used to life in Paris… Unfortunately I had to leave and go back to Poland.  C’est la vie.  I would definitely recommend Paris if you ever have the opportunity.  I know I will definitely try to make it back.  

Poznań Trip

This weekend, Meagan and I ventured to the west side of Poland.  We made the 2.5 hour trip to Poznań.  In the middle of the trip my GPS freaked out because there are new highways not on the map.  So I decided to follow all of these people going the same way.  Sadly I believe they were all part of a wedding party that were on their way to the reception or church or something.  There were tons of people packed into the cars and they were all going to this small town... I should've known better than to follow them!  Oh well, they kind of helped me out.  Meagan and I figured it out from there and were on our way again.

Beer and Peanuts

Our first stop after we checked into our hotel was the hotel restaurant.  Apparently they had tex-mex.  We tried it.  It failed.  The fajitas had a curry flavor.  I burned my finger on the iron plate they give you with the meat and vegetables.  The nachos were lacking.  But at least we got beer and peanuts!

We went to pretty much every church in the town.  The first one we went to was Parish Church - it was so beautiful!  There was also this cathedral that was built between 968-1000.  It was a really old church.  I was kind of confused by the statues of some of the archbishops.  It looks like the bishop is straight-up chillin.  

Supposedly Poznań was the birthplace of Poland.  The royals lived there until a certain time, at which point they decided to move to Krakow.  

Meagan with man and his best friend the cougar

Stary Rynek

Stary Rynek

Love to those in Reggaeland - Ya mon!

Believe it or not, Płock is known for the Reggae Festival they hold every year on the beach of the Wisła River.  I went on Saturday, along with my other UOP crew members, and it was a lot of fun.  Sadly they wouldn't let us bring our beers into the main stage area, but what can you do?  Chug it really fast and then go dance along is the theory I followed.  There were a good number of people there, all with dreadlocks of course.  I didn't really fit in, I was lacking dreads and/or braids.  Next time I'll try harder to fit in.  

I found paradise

Have I ever mentioned that there are sometimes I love my job?  Extremely early Friday morning I left Warsaw for Dubrovnik, Croatia.  I had heard good things about Dubrovnik, unfortunately not all of them were completely true.  I'm pretty sure this is what my heaven would be like if I died.  The Adriatic Sea is so blue and clear - it is absolutely amazing.  Old City in Dubrovnik has tons of great picture taking opportunities.  My hotel is the best in the city - at least I'm convinced it is.  I sincerely wish I didn't have to go to work on Monday.  I'd stay here for forever.

One of the pools at the hotel

So my flight to Dubrovnik was interesting.  As I was in line waiting to board the plane, I realized that Gabourey Sidibe - the girl who played Precious in the movie Precious - was standing a few people in front of me.  Sadly I didn't get an autograph or a picture taken with her.  I left her alone, as I'm sure she wanted to be.  However, I did help her get her luggage off of the carousel at the Dubrovnik Airport. 


When I got to Dubrovnik I took a cab to the hotel, and my taxi driver was the nicest guy.  He was pointing things out as we went along, he told me a brief history of the city, and he gave me suggestions of what I should do with my time here.  He said the most important thing was to relax and enjoy every minute.  I took his advice.


I slept a lot - finally.  I laid in the sun and tried to remember to put sunscreen on every 30 minutes.  I was doing ok until I fell asleep by the sea this afternoon... Oops.  I had sushi and Croatian shrimp (which is actually crawfish...)  and both were very fresh and delicious.  I made a few friends out at the pool today.  Overall this has been the best weekend I've had.  I'd say it outranks Prague.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Prague, but it is no Dubrovnik.  I'd love to come back as soon as I can.

Old City of Dubrovnik