hello from Prague! ;) it's so good to be here, and it's as beautiful as always!

the trip went pretty smooth, and we were kind of afraid of it. but it really was ok, the train wasn't that crowded and we had more than enough space to sleep :) we arrived to Prague hlavni nadrazi at 7 in the morning, catched the train to Smichov right away and it turned out the hostel is right next to the train station. Sure, it's not exactly in the center like we stayed last time but we don't mind that at all. the transport to the center is more than fine, the hostel is great (and cheap!), our room is pretty awesome (with the view to the train station, that's what bohun likes the most:)). So that was actually the good choice ;)

after leaving our backpacks in the hostel we left to Kutna Hora. Kami has already been there couple of years ago but bohun hasn't seen it yet and heard so much about it from everyone that wanted to visit this place as well. And he was disapointed ;) it wasn't as pretty as he expected (Kami blames everything on constructions that were going all over the town) but still ok. after few hours of walking around we managed to catch the very cool pink train to Prague and after the short nap in the afternoon we took a tripod and went to Hradcany where we took some (hopefully) pretty night shots. and again we were alone in the Golden Lane:) but still we thought there'll be less tourists in Prague in November...

tomorrow we were planning to go to Brno to visit Iza but as we are a little bit exhausted and it takes 3,5 hours one way to get there we decided to stay in Prague and walk around here. Maybe on Friday we'll travel somewhere but we still need to decide where...

after a while we hit the road again. sure, we did some small trips around but nothing really exciting, just here and there. and tonight we're off to Czech Republic. besides the awesomeness of this place we'll be also able to practice our Czech skills ;) we're gonna stay there for 5 days, mostly in Prague but also want to do a trip or two around: probably to Kutna Hora and, if we feel like spending most of the day in the trains, to Cesky Krumlov. We'll try to update from there and for sure there'll be tonz of pictures online next week!

it was supposed to be a nice weekend in Zakopane, with Polish Championship in skijumping and nordic combined and a hiking trip. we wanted to go up to the mountains so badly, we were so looking forward to that. and what happened? it rained, a lot! it rained all the time! it started already on Friday, when bohun came to Zakopane and it lasted until we left (when we were already in the train back to Warsaw we could see a little bit of the blue sky...).
On Saturday we tried to go somewhere but because of the rain we stayed just for 15 minutes at skijumping competitions and then we just walked a little bit. we planed to go to one of the valleys but then the rain became to be really bad so we just ended up on Krupówki, the main touristic street, and eventually back at home. and we stayed there until Sunday afternoon when we had to go and catch a train back. blah, not fun, definitely not fun!
On Thursday we're off to Gdańsk as there's the international railway fair that bohun really want to visit and well, Gdańsk is always nice. we just really hope the weather will be ok as now it sucks big time!

I know we should have updated the blog earlier but there somehow was no time, the job kept me busy and bohun was lazy as always ;) anyway, since I came back to Poland from my super cool Euro trip we did some small day (or afternoon) trips as well. One day after work we ended up in Żyrardów, where we wanted to go for such a long time and it never was on our way. which is kind of funny as it's just 40 minutes by train from Warsaw. It is such an amazing city! You still can feel an industrial atmosphere there, the buildings are so pretty and the spirit there is amazing. at times it felt weird because of the young local people but all in all it was great, we could actually live there! it's also a great place for taking pictures, i've already imagined wedding pictures being taken in the old factories. we really have to come back there some other day, to take more pics of course ;)
then we spent a weekend in pulawy and so on saturday we ended up on a daytrip in Kazimierz and Janowiec. Besides all the touristic attractions, such as the market place or ruins of the castle we visited the old Jewish cemetry located in the middle of the forest and the beautiful gorge. alltogether we walked around 15kms but it was so worth it! we were especially impressed by the gorge. it's funny, i've been living there for years and have never visited any gorge! but i guess that was just the beginning of our trips there.
now i'm in zakopane, attending an extremely boring course about the safety management. it's especially a big waste of time as the weather is lovely and i'd prefer to go hiking somewhere and not siting all day long inside, listening about things i already know about. but well, bohun is joining me on friday and we have a plan to go hiking on saturday. we already have few trails on our minds but i guess we'll decide when we meet!

btw, pics from kazimierz and janowiec are already on picasa, the rest is on facebook but should get to picasa soon as well!

so it´s my last stop, in Germany at Andre´s place. first of all: it´s so amazing to see him and Joachim again as well as to meet Joachim´s brand new wife:) I´m still sorry we couldn´t be at their wedding but at least I can meet them all now:) after all we haven´t seen each other for over a year! and we still do have lots of fun together!
yesterday we met in Cochem which is a lovely touristic town on the Mosel river, with an amazing castle above. We managed to climb up there and it was really worth it, the view was really breathtaking! We could admire the river, the hills, vieyards-all so pretty! In the evening we just stay in front of the computer looking at Joachm´s wedding pictures:) and this morning we went to another city, this time on the Rhine river (I totally forgot the name of the city now, it was something starting with A) where we vistied some exhibitions about geysirs and then, after the boat cruise on the river we visited a real geysir, the highest one in Europe (or worls?) with the cold water, it was up to 60 meters! It was really amazing, that this all was made just by the power of nature! And now I want to go to Iceland to see more geysirs ;) Then we had a nice lunch in the same city and went to see Koblenz where we visited the fortress and saw the Dutsche Ecke (the moint where Mosel meets Rhine, or the other way around;)). Besides that Koblenz was nothing special, just a typical German city in my eyes. But the weather was amazing so we all had a lovely day, and again I took too many pictures;)
Tomorrow morning, at 7.16 am I have a train from Koblenz to Köln, then from Köln to Berlin where I will have 3 hours and then take a train to Warsaw, where I should be at 10.20 pm. Long day, spend mostly in the trains is ahead of me, and I so don´t want to go back home, and to work but at least I´ll see my beloved Berlin on the way, which is always good. These 2 weeks passed by so quickly, I can´t really believe that. I´ve visisted 8 countries, took probably more than 3000 pictures, met so many friends on the way... heh, I need more holidays!

and boh was attending a walkathone in Warsaw today! but guess he´ll write about that by himself ;)

I adored Paris, I really did! It came as a surprise to me as I didn't enjoy it that much last time when I was there (well, ok, it was 12 years ago and just for 6 hours). Sure, in one day you can't see everything but still I did pretty fine I guess (my feet can definitely tell that!).
I arrived to Paris at 10am as Thalys was a little bit late. Still it's amazing for me how you can get from Brussels to Paris in just 1h20min! I expected being totally lost and confused in Parisian underground as everyone said it's the most complicated system ever but I didn't have any problems, not even the smallest one. You just needed to pay attention to all the signs and then it was easy to get around. I really enjoyed going everywhere by underground, it was so convenient!
Anyway, at 11 I met Helene next to the Opera (pretty building, really pretty ;)) and we went for a walk around Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries and eventually ended up in Starbucks near the Opera, a really cool Starbucks that didn't look like Starbucks at all! After 2 hours Helene had to go to work and I went to explore Paris on my own. I made a route Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Seine, Notre Damme, Montmarte so I basically covered all important places.Sure, I'd love to see some more or spend more time in few of the places but in one day it was still really good. I took a train back to Brussels at 20.25 and was here already before 22 (oh, Thalys!).
From interesting things in Paris, besides the charming atmosphere and an awesome Starbucks I'll definitely remember one neighborhood I accidentally ended up in, on Montmarte. It was mostly for black people so when I was entering the underground I felt like in American movies that take place in Bronx;) And there was one, long street full of shops with fake hair, hairdressers etc, you couldn't find anything else on that street, just hair...

Also, about Brussels: I knew before that there're lots of Polish people but didn't expect that many of them to be here! You can hear Polish language everywhere! And what was really amusing for me: on the mineral water bottle you can find signs in 4 languages: French, Flamish, German and Polish. WTF??

Anyway, today I was supposed to visit Wallonia but I'm still so tired after Paris that I guess I'll just skip it and go to Lille in the afternoon, just for a drink to meet up with Hanna, Chris and Clement, after over 2 years :)

that was an interesting day, proving me that the train chaos doesn't happen only in Poland. In the morning I went from Rotterdam to Arnhem to meet up with Antonette which was lots of fun, as always. And of course I had to do the massive shopping for tea and cookies, but mostly tea;) (guess I have enough of Dutch tea for at least a year!;)) Then I was supposed to go back to Brussels via Roosendaal and the first part of the journey went fine but in Roosendaal it turned out that all trains to Belgium are cancelled (apparently there was the lack of carriages;)) and noone really knew when something will go in the direction of Antwerpen (I had to get to Brussels but Antwerpen would have been fine too, after all it's Belgium). After a long time of confusion they decided they'll just send a train from Belgium and it'll go to Antwerpen as a stop train. It took ages to get there, it was way too hot but I managed to end up in Antwerpen after all. Then I was even lucky to catch InterCity train to Brussels after just 10 minutes but after Mechelen the train got incredibly slow. And so in Brussels it was 25 mninutes later (and the way from Mechelen takes only 15 minutes so that's really something!). So yeah, 3 hours later but I was in Brussels eventually! It's just a pity that because of this confusion I wasn't able to meet up with Ricardo, who I haven't seen for 5 years! or well, we still have 2 days to try to see each other!

And when I was walking from the train station to Juha's place I kind of understood why she hated this city.I mean, all the touristic sights are lovely and Manneken Pis is the cutest ever but all these Turkish-Morrocan-whatever neighborhoods are kind of scary. I felt really weird and anxious there. You can easily notice it's not European culture at all. And even if I have nothing against it and would love to visit both Turkey and Morocco really soon I felt not good there... But on the other hand, the Netherlands felt really good, almost like being back at home. I really don't know why it makes me feel so good but it certainly does!:)

Anyway, Paris tomorrow! Me=excited!!!:)

what a nice day spent on the Texel island! This place was so pretty, the weather was perfect, the landscape definitely didn't look like the Nethertlands. Oh how I enjoyed it! and spending time with Maaike is fun as always! It's amazing how often we're meeting, how often I'm in the Netherlands and how good I feel here. Tomorrow I'm off to Arnhem to meet up with Antonette and then I'm back to Belgium.
And yesterday I was in Oostende where I met up with Ilse and had a lovely time too, saw some off the beaten paths sights of the city which were really interesting too.

It's kind of amazing how last week I was in the Alps and now I'm already at the North See. And next week I'll be already at work...

I'm in Brussels since yesterday evening and it feels so familiar. I mean, I'm here for the 4th time already and I know the center pretty well so no surprises here. But today, after the walk on Grand Place and next to Maneken Pis (who was dressed up!:)) I went to see the flea market, the Atomium, the army museum and European Commision building and that was something new for me, and definitely interesting! In the evening we're supposed to go to the Grand Place again as it must look so amazing then, with all the lights on etc. It's also so good to meet Juha again, we haven't seen each other since winter and well, it's kind of funny and weird to see her here. But yeah, I like Brussels like always and I'm definitely having a good time here!

Tomorrow most probably I'll go to the seaside, to Oostende, and from there to the Netherlands, to visit Maaike, travel with her to Texel, and then to meet Antonette in Arnhem:) And I bought a train ticket to Paris! I'll be there just for one day, on Wednesday, but from 9am till 8 pm so I guess I'll have enough time to see some importarnt parts of it! I'm definitely excited about Paris. I've been there only once, 12 years ago, and just for 6 hours so now it's time to see it better.

Also the train journey yesterday wasn't so bad, 8 hours in the train from Zurich passed by pretty quickly. Just the landscape became a little bit boring in France and kept like that until Brussels. But now I have the idea how north of France, south of Luxembourg and east of Belgium looks like ;)

so my time in Switzerland is almost over, I'm about to catch a train to Zurich and then to Brussels in couple of minutes. I really wish I could stay here longer, I'm really impressed by the beauty of this country, I knew it's pretty but I didn't know it's so amazing. The mountains are spectacular, the cities are really cosy and beautiful. Yes, I do like it here, a lot. Just the weather was really bad, especially on Wednesday when I was in Geneva, Lausanne (didn't like it at all but I blame it on the rain) and Fribourg. Yesterday was much better (but still far from being perfect) and I could see a little bit of mountains here and there when I was in Thun, Interlaken and Luzern. And I completely fell for Bern, it's definitely the cutest capital city ever! So yes, I do plan to come back to Switzerland, really soon.
And now it's time for another part of Europe...