Chelle’s Travels

Yay! We actually made it here!

After everyone was buying me drinks for my farewell party from Harrods, I managed to make it home at about 2am to find that Thad and Claire were drunker than I was, and still packing the last few bits, in between drinks and dodging the 9 australians and 1 frenchman crammed into our house.

We managed to get to the bus stop though at 4, and caught the bus and train to the airport, in perfect timing for our flight. The flight was pretty horrible cos we’d all pulled an all-nighter but pretty short at 1 1/2 hrs so it was OK. And then suddenly we were in poland! Ha ha.

We left the airport (after an emergency chicken burger) and waited for the bus to take us to the city of Gdansk, and fell asleep on the pavement at the bus stop. Eventually though we made it to our hostel and stayed there the rest of the day eating junk food to make ourselves feel better.

The next day we actually did some exploring of Gdansk, which was formerly Danzig of Germany before WW2. The town is quite small and also very industrial (“cosmopolitan” according to the guide) and we managed to walk through the Old Town TWICE without realising it because it was so small! They had a magnificent brick church that towered over everything. We went in to have a look and got caught in a mass service, so bolted. It was an odd church because some parts were very ornate, but the walls were often bare and whitewashed. We think maybe the tapestries etc were looted or destroyed either in the war or by the soviets. After walking around the very pretty town square with all the colourful building facades and the town hall, we sat in a cafe for about 3 hrs, eating pastries, still recovering.

That night we caught a bus from Gdansk to Vilnius in Lithuania, which took 13hrs. It was actually an OK trip as we had 2 seats each so we got a fair amount of sleep. Once it got light I got my first views of Lithuania, which were rolling hills with classical farmhouses punctuated by dense forests and the occasional Soviet block of flats. The walk from the bus station was a bit of a trek, took us about an hour and we all had about 18 kg of luggage on our backs. Vilnius is beautiful though I really love it, It’s got a huge Old Town (can’t miss this one) and is dotted with these enormous dominating churches that sit on winding cobblestone streets, however between these are run down dilapidated old buildings that just add to the odd dreamlike feel of the place. We went to the main cathedral and I hunted for the “miracle tile” and made a wish, and wandered through the maze of beautiful courtyards of the old university. We also saw the only statue of Frank Zappa to exist!

Yesterday we took a day trip to the town of Trakai, very close to Vilnius. Trakai is famous for it’s fairytale castle that sits on an island in the middle of a beautiful lake and surrounded by forests. It was breathtakingly pretty. We walked around the islands and inside the castle before having coffee on the side of the lake to enjoy the view more.

We are staying in a lovely hostel over the river in a suburb called Uzupis, which it’s residents have declared as a breakaway republic from Lithuania. It’s a haven for artists (and drunks) and the street art and statues and little galleries around here look fantastic. Thad and Claire at this moment are looking for the constitution of Uzupis, which has points such as “Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat”. Today is our last day here, so we’re spending it visiting the old KGB Headquarters, which is where political prisoners used to be tortured and killed and has now been
turned into a musiem of Genocide. Fun for the whole family. We’re also having another walk through Old Town before heading to the train station to catch our 17:55 train to St Petersburg, Russia.

The train takes 15 hrs I think, so hopefully it’s comfy! Tomorrow we wake up in St Petersburg, and Thad wakes up 21! Yay! He’s all grown up now!

I’m off now to explore, but just to let everyone know, Thad and I stupidly forgot to top up our mobiles before we left and so can’t contact anyone or receive calls. We can receive smses though!