CynicalGabe's Travellogue

This may seem Mundane and Pointless to everyone else here, but its exciting to me. And isn’t that really the point of MPSIMS? I am on the verge of leaving my hovel to take my last two final exams. I will be done at 6PM local time. I am going to be hit by the twin trucks of Political Science and Russian. I am not sure I even care anymore how I do on the finals, I just want them to be over.

Tonight, I finish packing my bags and commence to get completely (but not too) sloshed at the bar. At 7AM tomorrow morning, the airport shuttle is picking me up to start my annual winter vacation.

I will then spend 11 hours on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Followed by 3 hour layover and another flight lasting 1.5 hours to Prague, Czech Republic. I will be in Prague for a few hours, then will board an overnight train to Poland, arriving 5AM on Tuesday the 21st.

On the 23rd, I take an overnight train to Budapest, Hungary, where I will spend the day of the 24th.

The night of the 24th (Yay! Christmas Eve!) I will spend all alone on a train chugging its way across the moonlit frozen landscape of Eastern Europe to Bucharest, Romania.

On the 27th, I take another overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria.

On the 31st of December, I will take a morning flight back to Prague, where I will spend New Year’s Eve (WOO!).

From the 3rd of January to the 8th I will be attending the 8th International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague, staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

I have as yet no travel plans for the 8th and 9th of January, which I have free untill my return flight on the 10th.

On the 11th I return to classes, of which I will have missed the first 4 days.

I will provide periodic updates from sleazy internet cafes run by creepy Russian mobsters hawking cheap porn. I am almost all packed, and have my copy of Anna Karenina in hand (read War and Peace last year).

Aggh! Airport shuttle comes in 20 minutes! What am I completely forgetting that I totally need???

AIEEE!!

‘Trops’ is a decent place to eat in Sofia. You don’t have to know the language, just point and say ‘da’.

Sounds like fun.

Your passport.

Make sure you visit Cesky Krumlov while you’re in Prague. It’s a couple hours away by train - very quaint and relaxing, and they have bears. Inside the castle gates.

Did I mention there are bears? It’s worth repeating.

And Kunta Hora, the church made largely out of human bones, which I never got to see. Go to Kunta Hora. Damn, I miss the Czech Republic.

Oooh, update us CynicalGabe!!

I have just arrived in Prague! If is about 3:20PM local time.
After an 11 hour flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt, a 2 hour layover, and a 1 and a half hour flight to Ruznye airport. I am sitting in the sleazy internet cafe full of porn that I mentioned above (I used the same one last year). To give you an idea of the atmosphere, each computer booth has a pull curtain to block it from view. And a box of kleenex. Eww. This fine little establishment also has a laundromat and pay-showers. In addition to whatever semi/quasi/not-at-all legal stuff they do here, about which I can only imagine.

It is underneath the Hlavni Nadrazi train station, from which I will leave at 930 tonight on an overnight train to Krakow. I will be returning to Prague on the 31st, staying for a week and a half.

I have no jet lag!!

I got just the right amount of sleep at the right intervals on the flight (free booze helps) and I feel about 80% in sync with the time zone.

I am going to try to visit some of the places you guys mentioned, although as you can see by these pictures I’ve taken I am no stranger to bears. Still, seeing bears never gets old, so I may go there anyway, since I have about 5 free days in which I am not attending this conference .
Next update will be from Krakow, Poland!

Nope! As far as I can tell so far, I have forgotton nothing. (knocks on wood).

However, they did not stamp it when I came through customs in Prague, so I was bummed. They did last time, so I figured they would again.

Krakow is beautiful… you’re lucky. I want to go back to Europe, but it’s hard to find a good travel buddy - and I’m too nervous to go alone. Are you going to the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow? There is an underground chapel that is made entirely of salt. I thought it was pretty cool (but I’m kinda weird). (If you do go, eat first - the tour is pretty long) Have fun! :smiley:

Whoo, fun! Hope you have time to tell us all about Krakow and Bulgaria, as they are both very high on my list of Places To Go.

I arrived in Krakow at 6AM local time this morning. I guess “6AM” kind of implied it was morning. Oh well. I spent the night in a bed on the train, in a bunk underneath some Polish guy who badly reeked of B.O. Note: I am not making a generalization about Polish people, it just happens that he was Polish. I have checked into my Hostel (the Trzy Kafki [Three Birds]). Sort of spartan, but I like it, and what can you expect for $16 a night. This place is cheaper than my apartment in California. As soon as I finish posting this, I will either take a catnap or set off into the city and start taking mass quantities of photographs. I will probably hit the Old Town and the square first. I am definitely going to look into going to the salt mine, but I’ve only got two days, so we shall see.

Keep the Dope Straight. Another update to come tonight.

Hit the Old Town today, then had to crash for a nap because I was so friggen tried from travelling. I’d almost forgotton what an actual bed feels like. In a little bit, I am going to hit some clubs tonight.

Holy Suzy Mother of Og. I had typed a 1 page update on the events of today. When I clicked “submit” I found that the system had logged me off in the meanwhile, which caused me to lose everything I had typed. I am so livid, I am calm. Hope I don’t go postal. Probably not. Well, her is My Attempt to reconstruct my travellogue entry for today.

Today I visited the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. The morning started with me mising the 0800 bus to site, forcing me to wait around for the 0840 bus. I paid 8 zloty (~$3) for the 2 hour bus ride (more on this later). If you google the names, you will see that there are 2 separate (3 actually) camps. The bus from Krakow takes you to Auschwitz I. Auschwitz II-Birkenau lies about 1.5mi down the road.

My guidebook was correct in that the camp seems almost peaceful at first glance. Nice orderly rows of red brick buildings. It is a former Polish Army base convereted into barracks by the Nazis. Even as you walk under the entrance gate to the camp which famously proclaims Arbeit Macht Friei, it is difficult to imagine that anything worse than rain on a Sunday afternoon ever happened here.

This is known as denial.

As you slowly being to walk around, the horror starts to sink in. One of the old red-brick barracks buildings (many have been converted to museum type floorplan) displays highly disturbing exhibits. There is a 2-story deep pile of crockery and cookware taken from prisoners upon their arrival at the camp. Similarly massive displays include confiscated shoes, hairbrushes, suitcases (inscribed with the names of those long since murdered) and 1950kg of women’s hair - cut from their bodies after they had been removed from the gas chambers. On display in the same room as the women’s hair is a display of a roll of fabric. This fabric was craeted from the aforementioned hair, which was sold to German textile manufacturers. Macabre to say the least.

By far the most disturbing display for me was in the upper floor of this same building. As I walked into the room, I was frozen in place and unable to move for almost a minute as my brain was taking in the horrific sight which lay before me. In the room-length display case, stacked against the wall, were hundreds upon hundred of child-size leg braces and prosthetic limbs. Words cannot do it justice.

I spent roughly 2 hours in Auschwitz I, then I walked to Birkenau. There is an hourly shuttle bus that costs 2 zloty, but I had narrowly missed the last one. Not wanting to wait another hour in the cold and the possibility of going inside the museum to wait not having occurred to me, I decided to walk. Once there, I joined up with a tour already in Progress. I saw the rows of remaining barracks, the ruins of others. Row upon row of chimneys jutting from piles of rubble. Most of the camp was destroyed by the Nazisto cover up their crimes. The main gas chambers and crematoria sit in ruins, between them sits the memorial contructed after the war. The memorial is very moving and sits like a sentry overlooking the rail lines stratching off into the distance toward the camp entrace.

Tomorrow will be a more lighthearted day. I will spend the morning sightseeing, and the afternoon with a local friend of mine. Tomorrow night I will take the 1030 train to Budapest, arriving in the morning. Next update will come from there.
Photos will be posted on my web site upon my return to the states.

Holy Suzy Mother of Og. I had typed a 1 page update on the events of today. When I clicked “submit” I found that the system had logged me off in the meanwhile, which caused me to lose everything I had typed. I am so livid, I am calm. Hope I don’t go postal. Probably not. Well, her is My Attempt to reconstruct my travellogue entry for today.

Today I visited the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. The morning started with me mising the 0800 bus to site, forcing me to wait around for the 0840 bus. I paid 8 zloty (~$3) for the 2 hour bus ride (more on this later). If you google the names, you will see that there are 2 separate (3 actually) camps. The bus from Krakow takes you to Auschwitz I. Auschwitz II-Birkenau lies about 1.5mi down the road.

My guidebook was correct in that the camp seems almost peaceful at first glance. Nice orderly rows of red brick buildings. It is a former Polish Army base convereted into barracks by the Nazis. Even as you walk under the entrance gate to the camp which famously proclaims Arbeit Macht Friei, it is difficult to imagine that anything worse than rain on a Sunday afternoon ever happened here.

This is known as denial.

As you slowly being to walk around, the horror starts to sink in. One of the old red-brick barracks buildings (many have been converted to museum type floorplan) displays highly disturbing exhibits. There is a 2-story deep pile of crockery and cookware taken from prisoners upon their arrival at the camp. Similarly massive displays include confiscated shoes, hairbrushes, suitcases (inscribed with the names of those long since murdered) and 1950kg of women’s hair - cut from their bodies after they had been removed from the gas chambers. On display in the same room as the women’s hair is a display of a roll of fabric. This fabric was craeted from the aforementioned hair, which was sold to German textile manufacturers. Macabre to say the least.

By far the most disturbing display for me was in the upper floor of this same building. As I walked into the room, I was frozen in place and unable to move for almost a minute as my brain was taking in the horrific sight which lay before me. In the room-length display case, stacked against the wall, were hundreds upon hundred of child-size leg braces and prosthetic limbs. Words cannot do it justice.

I spent roughly 2 hours in Auschwitz I, then I walked to Birkenau. There is an hourly shuttle bus that costs 2 zloty, but I had narrowly missed the last one. Not wanting to wait another hour in the cold and the possibility of going inside the museum to wait not having occurred to me, I decided to walk. Once there, I joined up with a tour already in Progress. I saw the rows of remaining barracks, the ruins of others. Row upon row of chimneys jutting from piles of rubble. Most of the camp was destroyed by the Nazisto cover up their crimes. The main gas chambers and crematoria sit in ruins, between them sits the memorial contructed after the war. The memorial is very moving and sits like a sentry overlooking the rail lines stratching off into the distance toward the camp entrace.

Returning to Krakow, I took a minibus I caught on its way out of the parking lot. It cost 7 zloty and took an hour to reach Krakow. It accomplished this feat by driving twice as fast as the tour bus had on the way in. Several close calls.

Tomorrow will be a more lighthearted day. I will spend the morning sightseeing, and the afternoon with a local friend of mine. Tomorrow night I will take the 1030 train to Budapest, arriving in the morning. Next update will come from there.
Photos will be posted on my web site upon my return to the states.

Sorry for the double post. I clicked “stop” after I had clicked “submit” the first time to make a short addition regarding the minibus on the way back to Krakow. I blame technology for my failures.

Very fluid, visual line. Best line in opening post. Two thumbs up!

Thanks for the update Gabe, I hope you’re doing well and staying sane! Great description of Auschwitz - I wish I’d had the time to go there when I was in Poland. Keep us updated!

It is 10AM (1AM USA PST) here in Budapest. I arrived about 40 minutes ago on the train from Krakow after an 11 hour trip. I will be here until 6PM tonight when my train leaves for Bucharest. I hope to catch a few of the churches and the parliament building that I didn’t get to see last time. I was hoping to see the Communist statue park on the outskirts of town, but it is only open on weekends during the winter. Some of my plans in Krakow fell through because of the most extreme and inconvenient examples of cockblockery I have ever experienced. But thats a personal issue, and I won’t take up your time with it.

If you are going to be in Budapest’s Keleti Station today (just a warning :slight_smile: ), don’t. There must be 2500 people crammed onto the platform. Christmas travel I assume. Somehow I made it through the throng and still have my wallet.

I’m in love. In love with sleeper cars on trains. Infinitely more secure and comfortable than couchettes. Also warmer. I had a whole compartment to myself, and only 2 other passengers in the whole sleeper car. I was so happy, I even made the bed when I got off the train.

Oh, and one more thing:
I HATE THE F-ING US DOLLAR!!!
Last year when I was here, a dollar bought 210 Forints. When I made myself a little chart of exchange rates so I wouldn1t have to remember the 6 different currencies I would be using, it was 183. Today when I arrived, it was down to 145!!! This is just about overnight because I noticed rates at the Kantors in Krakow starting to drop last night when I was bar-hopping and needed to change dollars. practically worthless! I should tell my little hometown bank that I want to convert my chacking and savings accounts into Euros.

I had to pay 520 Forints to check my luggage at the office for the day. Last year, this would have been 2 dollars US. This year it is almost 4! sob

Yes, “cockblockery” is a word.
BTW: I hate Hungarian keyboards. This is taking forever to type. For one thing, the Y and Z key are reversed. How weird is that? Not to mention all the extra characters. And theres no dollar sign (understandable I guess)
ö ü ó ú ő ű á é í
see?

Well, it is just before 1PM here in Bucharest, Romania. My train arrived exactly on time yesterday morning at 8:58am. My first impression of Romania was excellent. I rode in a 1st class sleeper car which was exceptional, and the conductor was very pleasant. He even woke me to warn me before the passport control check at the border - he knocked gently on the door, the border guards tend to pound, yelling PASZPORT!

I arrived Christmas Day, which of course is a national holiday. As a result, I could not exchange money until today. Today is Sunday and a national holiday to boot, so almost as much is closed as yesterday.

When I arrived, it was a short 10-15 minute walk to the “Funky Chicken Guesthouse”. The price per bed is 8Euro per night. This should have been my first warning. My “Let’s Go: Eastern Europe (2004)” guidebook says the neighborhood in which this hostel is located is “a bit dodgy”.

Yeah, right.

In case you didn’t know, Bucharest is swarming with stray dogs. This has predictable consequences for the condition of the sidewalks. This 'hood is particularly bad, the streets are covered in potholes, the sidewalks I mentioned earlier. Apparently the only building code requirement for seqage disposal is to remove it from the house, so there are frequent trenches about a foot wide and six inched deep running from gutters and other drainage out into the street. For some reason, there are many Romanian government buildings in this area, so some of the streets are patrolled by armed guards wearing gray urban camoflauge fatigues and toting folding-stock Kalashnikovs. Furthermore, every opening that you could conceivably throw garbage into is overflowing with refuse. The buildings are in moderate to extreme states of disrepair.

The guesthouse itself would be better described as a flophouse. Beer bottles and garbage everywhere, some guy passed out drunk on one of the beds. No internet. Etc. After a little while spent here (no sightseeing, since the city is shut down) I decided to go to a different hostel listed in my guidebook as having internet access, the Villa Helga Hostel. Much nicer. Infinitely cleaner, free laundry service and breakfast, etc. However, their computer was broken.

I believe my debit card number may have been stolen when I tried to use a international calling service in Budapest. The card was declined when I bought a Double Cheesburger at the McDonald’s in the Gara De Nord train station. It also didn’t work at a Bankomat I tried on the way to the hostel. Of course, my bank’s net banking is down for service right now (the first time I could use the internet since my last posting in Budapest). No sweat, I take it all in stride. I only had a few hundred dollars in my account, and I think my bank will reimburse me for fraudulent charges. And Western Union’s are prevalent here, as a last resort. If I let myself get all excited over this, whats the point?

Ahh, on to positive things. There is a cool Slovenian guy also staying at the hostel who knows Bucharest a little, so we spent the morning sighseeing. Saw the Parliamentary Palace, which is the second largest building in the world (Donald Rumsfeld works in the 1st). Also saw some churches, parks, etc, and the ruins of a palace built by Vlad Tepes (aka Dracula) next to a Greek Orthodox church.

Its only 1PM, but I think I will wind down the day, hit a McDonald’s for lunch (everything else is closed) and read my guidebook, and maybe go back to the hostel and finish reading Anna Karenina. I believe that my train leaves for Sofia, Bulgaria tomorrow night. I will probably post another update before then.

as an aggie alum that spent years traveling in china on a shoestring - keep the posts coming…