March 2012 - Germany, Poland and Lithuania

LONDON TO BRAUNSCHWEIG

After three years to the day our time in London came to a close. After bidding goodbye to Aimee and Lucy some last packing and cleaning we were on the Overground to Highbury. It was much sadder this time than when we had left Wellington. We knew we would be coming back to Wellington one day, but this place which had been our home for the last three years, who knows when or if we will ever return...A trip on the Victoria Line and a switch to the Piccadilly Line and we were on the way to Heathrow Airport, leaving London from the same place we had entered. Boarding was on time, but a 45 minute delay (tsk Heathrow...) meant we were worried we might miss our train from Hamburg to Braunschweig. Further delays on the S-Bahn in Hamburg had the stress levels higher than they needed to be at this stage of the trip but fortunately we arrived at our train with about 5 minutes to spare. We had plenty of space on the train and dozed our way to Hannover. A Brezel at the train station had to suffice for dinner and then we were on the local train to Braunschweig. We caught a glimpse of a possible future now that we were unemployed backpackers. There was a couple with long dreadlocks, scruffy clothes and a dog companion. Fortunately we both decided that wasn't the path for us. The train arrived on time in Braunschweig on time and Christian was there to greet us, having only just finished work. We packed into his car and back to his apartment for beers, Brot, Wurst and Kase as well as catching up on what we had been up to. Before we knew it it was 1am and we were off to bed on the air mattress.

DIE HARZ GEBIRGE / THE HEART MOUNTAINS

After a leisurely rise and a trip to the Backerei for Brotchen we had a full  breakfast before deciding on a trip to the Harz Gebirge for some walking in the forest. With lots of city trips to come we figured we should get some nature in while we could. There was still plenty of snow around so we had to be cautious as we made our way up the Brocken , the highest mountain in the region. Our lack of fitness wasn't doing us any favours, but after two hours following the tank road, and passing the witch path signs we made it to the top. The top of the mountain had been an East German military base during the cold war. The buildings had been converted into a hotel and information centre and there was a train station at the top for those who didn't want to walk up. Pleased with ourselves we were treated by Christian to a Thuringer Bratwurst, a local beer and a small bottle of schnapps each. We now felt nourished (and tipsy) and made our way down the other side of the mountain with mountain bikers racing past us. There was less snow on this side but it was steep the whole way down. We were pleased we climbed up the other side. At the bottom we had the choice of going around the reservoir or cutting back to where the car was. Always willing to try something and thinking it wouldn't take much longer we decided to go for the walk around the reservoir. The views were impressive and it was a lot quieter. We crossed the dam, which was formerly a border between East and West Germany, and still had the border marker showing, before continuing on our walk. After we had been walking for another couple of hours we started to wonder if Christian still knew where he was going but his German determination kept us going. As 6pm came around and the sun was going down we were still walking. Fortunately we knew we weren't that remote when Christian received a call from his parents just to make sure we were OK. Just as it was getting so dark we could only see five metres in front of us, but fortunately the lights from the car park came into view, and after 7 hours we had finally made it back to the car. We were going to feel it in our legs tomorrow. After the drive back to Braunschweig, Christian took us our to a local bar for dinner. A surly but friendly waitress (who Christian seemed to have his eye on) served us up a generous portion of pork. Hot for Marcus, cold for Jess. Having earned our dinner we wolfed it down, along with some local beers before walking back to Christian's for some more beer followed by sleep.

BORDER AND BRAUNSCHWEIG

It was a late start the next say, which wasn't helped by the start of daylight savings in Germany. We did manage to finally get going, and Christian took us to Marienborn, the site of a border crossing between the former East and West Germany. It had been kept as it was with former buildings being turned into a museum. It was crazy how paranoid the whole thing was with cars being searched and dismantled with owners the being left to put them back together. There were also lots of stories of people trying to flee and smuggle which ended in tragedy. It was hard to get a feel for what the place looked like in full swing other than it must have made NZ customs look like nothing (even if you did have an apple.) After visiting the border we went to a town called Hotensleben, which was a border town which had kept the border territory during the split between East and West.

We then made it back to Braunschweig to drop off the car before Christian took us for a walking tour of his current home. Most of the town had been destroyed during the war and rebuilt. A former palace in town was now a shopping mall. You enter into one end, which is like a normal shopping mall. come out the other end turn around and  be struck by an impressive facade at the entrance, complete with horses on top. We carried on through the town, checking out churches, palaces and statues along the way. We checked out the interior of the cathedral and then climbed the tower in the Lutheran church to get a view all around Braunschweig. We climbed back down and walked along the river and back towards Christian's place via the park. A last quick beer at Christian's and then we bundled into the car arriving at the station just as the train was pulling in. Couldn't have timed it in closer.

We had a few trains to catch between there and our next destination of Warsaw, and some of the connections were pretty tight. The further we got the more uncertain we were about whether we were going the right way, particularly once we arrived at the station in Poland to change to the sleeper train. However, following the crowds and showing our tickets to the guards managed to get us to the right place. We were pleased not to be one of the people rammed into the six seat compartments for the night as we tucked into bed for the first of many nights sleeping on a train.

WARSAW - DAY 1

We were awoken with an early morning knock on the door as the train guard asked whether we wanted tea of coffee. Shortly thereafter the train pulled into Warsaw Central Station and we made our way, bleary eyed, out into the early morning. Our judgment wasn't the best as we walked in the complete wrong direction. Luckily we discovered our error and corrected it before we got too far. Something just didn't feel right. The hostel was where we expected it to be but 7am was too early to be checking in. Nonetheless the tired looking "Hostel Hero" took our bags, gave us a map and showed us the main sites around town. Sufficiently armed it was a quiet and cold Warsaw we ventured out into. They were doing a lot of work on the Underground system so many of the places that looked to be main roads on the map were inaccessible, but we still wandered our way towards the tourist heart of any European city, the old town. We wandered our way down the Royal Road toward the Palace checking out the statues or musical themed benches along the way, but the ice cold weather was getting the better of us. We carried on through the main square past Sigismund's column and through some of the side streets to the Market Square, site of the mermaid statue, one of the symbols of Warsaw. Keeping moving we exited the tiny old town through the Barbican and went past the rather stunning Monument to the Warsaw Rising. The cold start and early morning was starting to get the best of us so we found a place to sit down for a coffee and a biscuit. This helped us thaw our bones and gave us some energy to keep going. We crossed to the other side of the bridge to the Praga area. This was supposedly the alternative/arty area and apparently a lot of buildings were still standing from before WWII, unlike much of the rest of the rest of the city, which the Nazis had destroyed when they retreated. We had been told a couple of streets to check out but weren't really that impressed. Turns out we had it wrong and if we had gone a couple of blocks further it would have been more interesting. Unaware, we made our way back to the main street and wandered up the Holy Cross Church where Chopin's heart is buried. (They hadn't permitted his whole body to be buried in Poland.)  Just up the road was a statue of Copernicus the astronomer which we went and saw. We had managed to achieve all of this before midday. It was definitely time for some well earned lunch. We made our way back to the Market Square and found a restaurant which served up traditional Polish pierogi, meat filled dumplings. The waiter helped us find some local beer and before long we were wolfing down the yummy dumplings. After all that eating and walking we were starting to feel it all catching up on us. After a short rest in the park we made our way back to the hostel for a much needed shower and nap. A few hours sleep was just what we needed to feel a bit more balanced. After making the most of the hostel's 2 for 1 happy hour it was time to go find some dinner. We bought some food at the local supermarket with plans to cook our own pierogi. Unfortunately the ones we picked were filled with some sort of cottage cheese and not nearly as good as lunchtime. It had been a long day and we had achieved a lot so it was back to bed for a proper night's sleep.

WARSAW - DAY 2

We had big plans for our second day in Warsaw, but alas things don't always go according to plan. After a late breakfast we made our way to the main train station to  buy tickets to Vilnius, Lithuania the following day. The Man in Seat 61 had told us it was possible. The lady at the international ticket counter didn't speak English but she knew what we wanted. Unfortunately the only way to Vilnius was via Minsk in Belarus, a paranoid dictatorship who thinks every foreigner is a spy, and more importantly a country we did not have a VISA to enter. We knew there was an overnight bus, so decided to go back to the hostel to see what we could sort out. Flights were going to set us back about £200 so we asked the hostel staff if they could help us with bus tickets. After a few phone calls we had an address for a travel and after a bit of a  search we had in our hands two tickets on the overnight bus from Warsaw to Vilnius.

With much of the day now past we needed to do something touristy. We walked for about 45 minutes to the Warsaw rising museum, only to be told by the friendly guard that it was closed today...Somewhat disheartened we wandered back to the hostel. An unmissable landmark in Warsaw (as in you can't help seeing it because it so huge) is the Palace of Culture and Science, a gift to the city many years ago by Josef Stalin. It is a big ugly building which towers over Warsaw. It now contains theaters, restaurants and a multi-plex movie complex. We caught the lift up to the top floor, supervised by the lift attendant. There certainly were good views out over the city in all directions. However we had to battle with the ice-cold winds which were blowing around us, so we didn't last too long before retreating back down the lift. It had been a tiring day so after a trip to the supermarket we went back to the hostel to chill out a bit and have a couple of beers. After an unspecified sausage dinner it was time for another well earned sleep.

WARSAW - DAY 3

Determined not to  be outwitted again we checked out of the hostel and made our way through the modern high-rise buildings juxtaposed with the crumbling Soviet Era concrete blocks, back to the Warsaw Rising museum. A number schools seemed to have the same idea as us so we spent a fair bit of time dodging bored looking teenagers as we made our way through. The museum is all about the failed attempt by the Warsaw resistance to overthrow Nazi occupation in 1944. There is a lot of detail, some of it very tragic. All of it was well executed but we often found ourselves jumping around in time.

As the museum had not sufficiently depressed us we headed north in hunt of the Jewish Cemetery. Like many European and Nazi occupied cities Jewish people had been confined to their own quarter. The area occupied by cemeteries in the city was huge and having spent a lot of time wandering around the protestant and catholic cemeteries, for free, we decided not to pay to go into the Jewish Cemetery. Instead we cut down some of the back streets past row after row of big square Soviet apartment blocks. It had warmed up a lot so we sat in the park before doing some souvenir shopping in the old town. We went for a stroll back down the main street but didn't really see anything of note.

Having satisfied ourselves that we had seen what we needed to in Warsaw, we packed up our bags, found the local bus and made out way to the coach station. We were quite early and coach stations are some of the grimmest places in the world. It didn't help that we couldn't read the departure board so didn't know when or if our bus was coming. Luckily a shiny yellow double-decker coach arrived, they let us on board and we got comfy for the 9 hour ride to Vilnius.

VILNIUS - DAY 1

Another early arrival into our next city. We found our way to the hostel in the early hours along the snowy and icy streets to be greeted by a very sleepy owner, Lina. We knew how she felt. We drank some coffee, ate some Soviet Bars (probably not the real name) and warmed around an hour before venturing into the old city through some snow and rain.

The old town isn't very big but there were plenty of pretty old buildings and statues.  We started through the Gate of Dawn, an old part of the city wall containing a tiny church, through the old town past the town hall and many brightly coloured churches (but we didn't go in any), past a university and towards the river. We made our way through a large square containing the Cathedral, the former palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and looked up towards the castle on the hill above. We were then rather cold and wet so we stopped off at a local cafe to warm up. Even in the rain we could see that the old town was a beautiful place with picture postcard streets and churches. People all seemed to dress well and the shops were all filled with high quality goods.

Once we had dried out we headed to the museum of genocide victims, in the old KGB building. The museum was a very grim account of the persecution of the Lithuanian people by the Soviet Regime. The  most interesting part was the prison located in the basement including a visit to the execution room.  There weren't many other tourists visiting at that time so it had quite an eerie feeling. The other information was also interesting and created more of a story than other places we visited.

We were pretty hungry by this point so checked out a restaurant recommended by the hostel which served traditional Lithuanian cuisine. The place seemed a bit kitch on the inside but the beer and food were really good. Marcus had tasty meat and potato dumplings and Jess had potato pancakes both with sour cream and pork crackling sauce.

Re-energised from our food we journeyed out the town centre to the suburb of Uzupis. This suburb was a haven for artists and independent thinkers. They had even declared themselves an independent state in 1998 and even had a constitution put up in the main street for all to read. You could get your passport stopped on 1 April but alas we would be gone by then.

We headed back to the hostel via some cute back streets but got caught in some hail on the way.  Time for a nap. Once refreshed we socialised with some other guests over Lithuanian wine which was made with choke-bery or blackcurrants. Quite tasty seeing as no one new Lithuania made wine.  We played a guess the country flag game which we were terrible at before turning in for some well deserved rest.

TRAKAI CASTLE

As we had seen most of the old town yesterday we headed out of town to a village called Trakai on the bus. The bus was more an elongated van with extra seats but it got us there. We walked through the town past its partly frozen lakes towards Trakai History Museum which is situated in Trakai Castle in the middle of one of the lakes. It was the seat of power when Lithuania ruled all the way to the Black Sea 600 years ago. The town seemed a bit quiet but you could tell it would be much busier in summer with plenty of adverts for spas.

We walked along the shore and across foot bridges to reach the island. The castle was very pretty but was not the original and you could tell the red bricks it was made out of now was not the original colour scheme. It had been rebuilt from ruins in the early 1900s. It was interesting to learn more about the history of Lithuania as we didn't know much before we arrived. Back in the days when the empire was vast the king had recruited an elite band of Crimean fighters. They and their families had left their homeland and come to live at Trakai. They were a religious sect similar to the Knights Templar and their story was very interesting.

Next we went on the search for the local specialty Kibinai. We found a place and ordered some. They turned out to be pretty similar to a Cornish pasty - so not very exciting but tasty none the less. Then we were back on the bus to town. Back at the hostel again our host plied us with more Lithuanian wine before insisting that we go out to some local bars. We were joined by a Finnish backpacker and a 62 year old retired Japanese schoolteacher this time. He was traveling while he visited his daughter who was studying in Helsinki. We were also joined by an Iranian metallurgist who was working in Denmark.We felt a bit strange about her leaving her young child on his own but the area seemed safe and she insisted.  We headed to a cool bar with a slight goth/rock theme.  A Japanese, an Iranian, a Fin, two New Zealanders and a Lithuanian walked into a bar - no its not some bad joke it's just what happened! We had a few beers and talked about traveling. Then Lina convinced us to walk up a hill and climbed up a wall to get a great night view of the town. All very nice but we were getting tired so we bailed at the next bar for some rest. It was an early flight for us in the morning. It was nice to go out with some other people for a change as we tend to stick to ourselves when traveling.

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March

We started March by jumping on the train to Sheffield to visit Rae and Viola. They picked us up from the station, drove us back to Rae's place and we dropped off our bags. After a cup of tea we were back in the car again and heading north to the Yorkshire Sculpture park. It is a former stately home, Bretton Hall, the grounds of which have been filled with various sculptures. The weather was looking a bit worrying but we still set off wandering the grounds, checking out the various modern sculptures which you could look at, climb on and climb through. We would be lying if we pretended we knew anything about modern art but we do appreciate a good walk and it was interesting to see all the different ways that artists had used the space at their disposal. The clouds had also decided to break up a bit too so we had some nice spells of blue sky too. After lunch at the cafe on the grounds we wandered down into the valley and then up through the paddocks on the other side and along the ridge looking back over the grounds where we had been walking.The sculptures up here were much bigger, like a whole building made out of steel mesh. It got pretty tight moving between some of the walls. We wandered back down again, through more sculptures along the way, enjoying the sun, until we got back to visitor centre. There was time for a cup of tea and some cake before jumping in the car and making our way back to Sheffield. We stopped in town and had a drink at a pub which backed on to the movie theatre. The Artist was all the rage at this time so we decided to check out what all the fuss was about. It was entertaining and there were some clever parts to the way it had been done, being in the style of a 1920s silent movie, but we didn't come out of it blown away. It was then back to Rae's for some dinner before heading off to bed.

The next day we rose mid morning and it wasn't looking too good outside. There was a bit of rain about but we were keen to go for a walk through the woods and weren't going to let some bad weather stop us. So we piled into Rae's car and she took us up the road for a short walk along the river as part of the town belt. The weather wasn't letting up any and in fact was getting worse, with sleet and snow coming down on us. Luckily we were rugged up warm and had our jackets to keep us dry. We walked for a while but eventually the weather got the better of us and we decided to head back to Rae's for some warm soup for lunch and an afternoon spent looking at our travel photos. It was nice just having a relaxing time but we needed to get back to London again, so it was back on the train and away we went. At least it wouldn't be too long till we saw Rae and Viola again as they would be visiting NZ at Christmas.

The following weekend we were on the train again, although not as far as last week as we caught the C2C out to Leigh on Sea to visit Karla, James, Harry and Ella. Their house was looking pretty good since we had last seen it, although we didn't spend too long at the house before heading out for lunch at a lovely local country pub. The place was really busy people with local people enjoying lunch, a pint and the nice weather. We enjoyed some tasty lunch, some pints of ale and cider and then a walk in the woods and a play at the playground with the kids. Karla was doing pretty well considering she was now very pregnant with another baby on the way. This was a bit of a sadder goodbye as we weren't quite sure when we were likely to see them again although hopefully it would be for their wedding in NZ. That wasn't it for the day though. We had been invited to Darryl and Beverly's for dinner and Settlers of Catan. Ian and Amy were in too. We hadn't played the game before but it is a strategy game where you build roads and settlements and try to get the most points. We spent most of the time confused (the beer probably increased the confusion) but had a good time anyway.

The following week was a busy one. We caught up with Emma and Tim for dinner. It was a tasty thai dinner at Rosa's across from Spitalfields. Not really a brick lane curry but actually we think it is better. We then grabbed a few pints at the local pubs before another goodbye. Hopefully not too long before we see them in NZ. We are sure Mrs Wise agrees.

Jess caught up with Laura and Emma for dinner and a drink. Even though they hadn't caught up in London quite as much as they would have liked it was nice to see each  other before we were gone.

Before we knew it it was our wedding anniversary again. This year we decided we wouldn't go out for a meal at a nice restaurant. Instead we made dinner at home and then made our way down to Great Portland Street to see our friends Darryl, Beverly, Ian and George performing in their band Lost Lands. It was cool listening to their psychedelic rock tunes. Not a lot of singing but Beverly held a tune on one song. Most importantly Marcus had let it slip that it was our anniversary so the band even did a shout out to us. We have good friends.

And just like that it was our last weekend in London. We had organised leaving drinks up the road at the Duke of Wellington. We figured it was appropriate that we say goodbye to London from a pub with Wellington in the title, seeing as our final destination was going to be Wellington too. There was a great turnout of people from all over London and we were touched to see all the people who had made our time in London so great. It was good fun but sad at the same time because we knew that once this night was over our world would get much much smaller again as these people had been the major part of our world for the past three years. Thank you everyone for making our time in London fantastic and we can't wait to see all of you again somewhere...

And so we continued to pack our bags, pack our boxes and work out which of our meagre possessions from the last three years could go to charity (Super Hero Costumes?) As it would be a long time until we would be earning money again we decided to work up until the last minute, with Marcus finishing his job on the Tuesday before we left and Jess finishing on the Wednesday. Marcus had been there almost the whole time we had been in the UK, so it was pretty sad to leave his great team Simon, Alistair, Graham and Jas. Fortunately a mid-week leaving drinks meant that the next day hangover didn't mess up his plans of moving the boxes downstairs for the shipping company to pick up. Our world became smaller yet again.

That only gave us one day in London before our Visas expired and we officially became overstayers. We decided to spend that day in the same way we had spent our time when we first came to London, as tourists. Fortunately, London wanted to support us in our endeavour with a calm reasonably clear day. Perfect weather for exploring. We headed down to the Tower of London and wandered down to the Thames. Although we had crossed it before we had never actually explored Tower Bridge so seeing as this was our last chance to lined up with the tourists. We were on a lucky streak as the bridge even decided to open for us to let a boat through. We climbed the north tower, checking out the history of the bridge on the way up. Then we wandered across the walkways at the top of the tower, checking out the great view east and west along the Thames. The pedestrian walkways were originally intended to be that high too. People sure would have been fit climbing up and down those to close the river every day. (There is a lift which takes you most of the way now...) After coming down we checked out the pumphouse. We continued along South Bank, stopping at Marcus' favourite market, Borough Market, to pick up some eats and continued along past the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge until we got to Waterloo Bridge when we crossed back into the City and stopped at the Wellington Pub on the Strand for some lunch. Sausages and mash, a steak and ale pie and a couple of pints. Good English fare that we wouldn't likely be having the same again for a while. We wandered up through Covent Garden and then back along the Strand until we arrived at Trafalgar Square. As usual there were plenty of tourists around as well as the Olympic Clock counting down to the London Olympics, one event we would have to be satisfied seeing on the TV. London would regularly have different themed artistic items scattered around the city. We had seen the elephants and today we were seeing eggs painted up all throughout the city. They were to celebrate a Faberge Egg exhibition which was on. We wouldn't be seeing that but we might just see some other ones on the way home. We continued up the Mall, stopping to frolic in the daffodils in St James' park. There was even a little squirrel there to say goodbye to us. We stopped by Buckingham Palace to say goodbye to the Queen but were feeling pretty tired after all that walking so caught the tube back to Islington and then the Double Decker Bus back to Dalston. Lucy was staying so we had arranged to go for one last Meat meal. Aimee had been working very hard lately so we hadn't seen much of here but we were pleased she was able to come and join us too. It looked like we might not be going anywhere for a while there as Marcus decided that he didn't need to chew and proceeded to choke on his meat. We will spare you the finer details other than to say he managed to get his throat clear again. After a busy day and fun night we went back to the flat to make sure we were properly packed and for our last night sleep in the UK for the forseeable future.

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