Random J trip to Poland via South Africa

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At one point my plan was from Gdansk to train down to Krakow and to see Auschwitz and Wroclaw before overlanding to pick up the flight from AMS. As much as I like driving/flying/training, I was quickly realising that whilst I would see a lot of country side I would potentially miss out on seeing a lot of things and people in the towns. Plus I get a bit over moving everyday, I do enough of this at work.

GF had also said she would like to spend a day or two in Berlin so we decided to give the south bound trip a miss and organise to travel form Gdansk to Berlin after having three nights in this amazing place.

The next day, Friend took us to Westerplatte and Stutthof, where there was a former concentration camp. This was hard to describe how I felt about being here. So much torture and abuse committed here and apparently is still so much smaller than Auschwitz.

120,000 people entered through these gates. 65,000 did not come out alive.

At this time, I have no regrets about not seeing Auschwitz. It will be still there in Subsequent years if my mind changes. I would however like to visit Wroclaw at some point.



This night saw us at a fun little potato themed place which we just walked in to because we had to walk in somewhere and there are too many choices. We had some yummy baked potatoes followed by a hot red wine. This was a vast improvement on the hot beer. It tasted like ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Not too sweet. Somehow, I found ourselves walking past the authentic Polish place for a final $4 Polish Vodka.

A leisurely morning prior to an 0800 departure for the 0930 train to Berlin. We like to give ourselves plenty of time to just wait in the cold at train stations. .

 

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Al Mourjan and train

 

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QR261

 

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Yummy three loaves in one!

 

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Good Morning Warsaw

 

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There seems to be a lot of churches in Gdansk. I nipped up the 480 steps to the top of one

 

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Good Gdansk steak. Slow roast her on about100 whilst we nipped down for a couple of beers. Then let her rest. Cook the veggies whilst the pan is heating to HOTand thence sear the outside

 

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In search of Vodka

 

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Off to the Gdansk station again for the sixish hour train journey to Berlin. Arriving at said station, it was challenging to find any info about which platform would be ours. There were many TV screens at each platform. All turned off of course; and I thought Sth Africa had power problems. Anyway, after finding a paper timetable glued to a wall we decided that we were in the correct place and thence had time for a visit to the croissant shop. Poland does have particularly excellent croissant.

On boarding the train we discovered we were in a little six seat cubicle. Two others were already ensconced. I resisted the urge to make polite small talk enquiring about their day/week or similar. They alighted soon after at Poznan and we had the cubicle to ourselves for the completion of the journey. Around this time GF and Myself felt it was time to visit the dining car. This seemed a good fun experience and reminded me (very vaguely sadly) of my trip to Perth on the Indian pacific with Parents when I was 13. Dumpling, sausage, eggs etc all available with a beer of course. And at very reasonable prices. Back to the cubicle for a bit of typing and before one knows it Berlin HBF was the next station. Alighting and following the signs we were soon at Motel One (Apparently Germany's best budget motel). I had already paid around $140/night after an exhaustive search on Booking dot com and Air B&B for a place in a city I knew zero about to be greeted with; “How many guests? Two, no??) ME: “umm, well yea, nah What difference does it make?”
“well, you only book for one”! GF was lurking in the background looking slightly perplexed and confused by this exchange so I did not feel that now would be the appropriate time to say that I had never before seen her!!
My new friend informed me that would be an extra 30 Euros plus tourist tax. My small win here was I was quick enough to informed him that my work had sent us here on very important business! “ah ok then, tourist tax another X amount of euros but that is not applicable for you then”.
Welcome to Berlin…..I think I have stayed in a few hotels in my time and never paid more or less for two vs one. There were plenty of other hotel options but very few for under $200/night and plenty over $300

Up to the tiniest room I have seen in a while possibly compared to the old Ibis Budget at MEL. This was actually a benefit as we did not wish to spend anytime here in the room, so a quick refresh and back down to catch the M10 tram to Prenzlauer Berg.
Here we found a craft brewery pub and then wandered around to another, more formal type of pub, but with good drinks at reasonable prices. Just all a bit random but fun. No plans.
I could not help but think I was in in suburban Melbourne; trendy pubs in dark laneways, trams and drinks at eye watering prices. The next day GF organised to rent a couple of push bikes through an app called “Donkey”. This was a very excellent idea. After going down to reception of Motel One to find a coffee machine with unlimited Nescafe plus a various selection of push button brews, we were soon riding around Berlin in brisk late winter air. We found The Wall, the Brandenburg gate and a lot of people. This is the quiet season apparently… Sitting in a pub to warm up and use their wifi, we decided that this being our second and also last night in Germany it would be wrong to not consume a schnitzel. Thankyou google, “best schnitzel in Berlin”. There were a few; however there was one in Prenzlauer Berg on the M10 Tram!! Winning. Now I love to explore and try new things, but eating and drinking our way around half of the world had suddenly caught up with me and the M10 tram seemed like my new friend.
Trading in our pushbike, changing sneakers for RM’s we were back on the M10. We are all over this Europe stuff. A good schnitzel. Roughly Melbourne prices.

 

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Today Monday, we are up in our tiny Motel One preparing for our third train journey. This time upon the IC 148 from Berlin HBF to Amsterdam. This was 160 euros for two. This would have been 130 on Saturday night, but I did not complete the booking and by Sunday morn it was 160. There were other options on this day up to around 300 Euros. Interestingly, I plugged in a few random dates in March to see if it was any cheaper and it was all similar. I tried booking on the Czeck website and with a few variations on Bahne.de, but nothing spectacularly cheaper that I could see, although one did pop up with about six connections over 14 hours for a few euro less…. This time our ticket did have which platform our departure was, so it was a bit more straightforward than Poland. Plus we are now old hands at this train travel,!
A pleasant trip through Germany, still so beautiful and green A few dairy barns on the way and the VW factory at Wolfsburg. We bought some pastries at the station to eat on board this time as well as the fruit purchased the night before from the mini mart. No wifi on the train again which was good. No distractions and time to keep typing as well as continue reading “Coming Clean ” by Leonard Ottone.
Beautiful countryside, seeming to get a bit more populated as we headed west. Another peaceful six hours past and we arrived at AMS Centraal. Plugged in B&B Westviolettstraat. Booked through booking.com for $460/two nights. It gets dearer the further west we go. We walked out of that station to one of the most captivating, magnetising places I have ever been. Immediately I was addicted. Following the downloaded google maps to Franks B&B. A ring of the bell and Frank was promptly opening the door. A better set up would be hard to imagine. Up a steep set of stairs to our room complete with adjacent kitchen stocked with all sorts of goodies for breakfast as well as delicious snacks and fruit at any time. Frank was delightful and friendly without being in our face. Anyone going to AMS and in need of accommodation, please look up B&B on WestVioletstraat. That night we just wandered around, a great night was had. More eating, drinking etc…

Now I thought Berlin had a lot of pushbikes: That was just an entrée to AMS. Pushies everywhere. Stacked on top of each other at the station. There must be two for each person I think. They seem to have right of way which suited me just fine when I was to get on one.
GF had looked up Pushies and discussing this with Frank over breaky, he said that of course he had some for us. This place really is good value. Fridge stocked with goodies for breakfast and snacks plus included Pushie hire! Today we rode all over the city terrorising pedestrians. Visiting the Van Gogh museum and taking a scenic canal tour. Van Gogh was a troubled individual. I am now getting an art education.
A quiet evening was spent at a particularly yummy Korean restaurant near Franks in preparation for another long flight to HKG tomorrow. Melbourne/Perth prices.

 

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Today Monday, we are up in our tiny Motel One preparing for our third train journey. This time upon the IC 148 from Berlin HBF to Amsterdam. This was 160 euros for two. This would have been 130 on Saturday night, but I did not complete the booking and by Sunday morn it was 160. There were other options on this day up to around 300 Euros. Interestingly, I plugged in a few random dates in March to see if it was any cheaper and it was all similar. I tried booking on the Czeck website and with a few variations on Bahne.de, but nothing spectacularly cheaper that I could see, although one did pop up with about six connections over 14 hours for a few euro less…. This time our ticket did have which platform our departure was, so it was a bit more straightforward than Poland. Plus we are now old hands at this train travel,!
A pleasant trip through Germany, still so beautiful and green A few dairy barns on the way and the VW factory at Wolfsburg. We bought some pastries at the station to eat on board this time as well as the fruit purchased the night before from the mini mart. No wifi on the train again which was good. No distractions and time to keep typing as well as continue reading “Coming Clean ” by Leonard Ottone.
Beautiful countryside, seeming to get a bit more populated as we headed west. Another peaceful six hours past and we arrived at AMS Centraal. Plugged in B&B Westviolettstraat. Booked through booking.com for $460/two nights. It gets dearer the further west we go. We walked out of that station to one of the most captivating, magnetising places I have ever been. Immediately I was addicted. Following the downloaded google maps to Franks B&B. A ring of the bell and Frank was promptly opening the door. A better set up would be hard to imagine. Up a steep set of stairs to our room complete with adjacent kitchen stocked with all sorts of goodies for breakfast as well as delicious snacks and fruit at any time. Frank was delightful and friendly without being in our face. Anyone going to AMS and in need of accommodation, please look up B&B on WestVioletstraat. That night we just wandered around, a great night was had. More eating, drinking etc…

Now I thought Berlin had a lot of pushbikes: That was just an entrée to AMS. Pushies everywhere. Stacked on top of each other at the station. There must be two for each person I think. They seem to have right of way which suited me just fine when I was to get on one.
GF had looked up Pushies and discussing this with Frank over breaky, he said that of course he had some for us. This place really is good value. Fridge stocked with goodies for breakfast and snacks plus included Pushie hire! Today we rode all over the city terrorising pedestrians. Visiting the Van Gogh museum and taking a scenic canal tour. Van Gogh was a troubled individual. I am now getting an art education.
A quiet evening was spent at a particularly yummy Korean restaurant near Franks in preparation for another long flight to HKG tomorrow. Melbourne/Perth prices.

I reckon the most pushies I've seen in one place was Copenhagen a few years back but then again I haven't been to AMS for 28 years so memory has been pretty much erased since then.

 

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A leisurely morning, learning more about Frank and his B&B prior to the 15 min walk to the train for the airport trip. Frank was adamant to make sure we get the sprinter which takes thirteen minutes. “If you take the other one it takes 20 minutes and stops at all station” Amsterdamians clearly value their minutes…. About $10/ticket which I did purchase online as I read somewhere the ticket machine is not always in English. I downloaded the trainline app and one just scans that at the gate. It evens tells one which platform.
Arrival AMS. A giant clean fresh looking check in section. CX had emailed me to check in on line but I have never seen a lot of point with this. Having HLO I did consider it but I enjoy the interaction with the people one meets along the way. Plus, we are in no rush. CX 270 is a scheduled 1225 dep. Another A350, this time the -1000. Today we both wished to sit in the window, so the check in girls said the front two or the last two were available. Therefore, we were in 18 and 19 K. Again less than half full. Economy even less. Not many people inbound to HK…..

Security seemed to be a big deal here. Well, it was the biggest deal I have seen anyway. The bags get drafted off if they are a bit suspicious. I would say two out of three bags were getting drafted to be rechecked manually. The first two in front of me had nothing and could continue. The next one had her toothpaste scanned and was given back to her. I had my little lighter in mine. After a bit of discussion amongst themselves I was relieved of it. I normally have a lighter in there or in my pocket, no issues. I was also frisked after the full body scanner. I considered asking him if he could buy me a drink first but decided against it!. They were all very friendly and polite I must say.
Found my way to the BA lounge here. Not much of a lounge to be honest. No showers at all and toilets outside . A few snacks and the normal bar section, all self serve. We did not require much so no matter. A circa twelve hour flight coming up where my intent was to go to HK time straight away. A nice dinner then wind the chair back for eight hours of blissful slumber to prepare for a full day in Honkers. Didn’t quite work out that way, but I digress….
Welcomed on board and show to our seats by ‘Okka” probably not correct spelling. She told us she was from Japan. Another beautiful suite in the herringbone configuration of 1-2-1. CX, QR and the VA 330 all seem to have a very similar offering of seats, but for some reason the QR set up just seemed better and more spacious. Cannot really explain why.

 

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I reckon the most pushies I've seen in one place was Copenhagen a few years back but then again I haven't been to AMS for 28 years so memory has been pretty much erased since then.

Haha, well this does happen. I suppose they are all over Europe? Certainly a good way to get around a city, I think

 

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I didn’t get many pictures of Berlin sadly. I was glad I saw the wall, but to me there was not a lot of authenticity left about it.
A great city I am sure but to me in my brief visit it was just another’s modern city.

 

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Train to AMS.

 

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Amsterdam

 

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Again, excellent service and food. These people seemed extra efficient and much more formal then the other flights we have been on. This is neither a compliment nor a complaint. Just different cultures and ways of going about things I observed.
Above a layer of SCT/BKN for most of the afternoon and it was soon dark. So we had the longest day ever SYD-JNB, now this is the shortest day and night ever going east! As much as after lunch or dinner whatever one wishes to call it, I tried to convince myself that it was after ten PM and I should sleep, it just did not work that way. Anyway, it seems rude of me to knock back the on board refreshments and hospitality of CX. I do not wish to be rude. More typing and reading, I ended up watching a captivating film about a bank robbery in Stockholm where the employee kind of fell in love with the robber. Apparently, this is based on true events in 1973 and that is where the phrase “Stockholm Syndrome” came from. Who knew…

During this They provided me with Chivas Regal, which I do not normally drink. Like I said, I did not wish to be rude by declining the very polite offerings.
A few hours dozing ensured and it was soon time to be ready for landing and disembarkation. No PJs were available on this long sector. Apparently CX only do this for First.

A medium length walk and we were lined up at immigration. By lined up I should clarify that we were the only ones there. Fill out a form and through the gate to freedom. Found an ATM because I read somewhere the bus only takes cash. Cannot verify if this is true but we now had cash, went to a booth and bought two tickets for the A21. $33 HK $ each. A bit over $6 compared to the train at $21. I wasn’t against paying for the train, I just thought the bus might be interesting and fun, plus it stopped closer to our hotel. I found out later there is a free shuttle from KowLoon station to the hotels in the area. The bus was ok and I had a bit of a look at the streets of Hong Kong. I was a bit puffed as I didn’t really sleep much on the plane. All these lay flat seats and I have not really slept much.!
We alighted from the bus and a short walk to Butterfly on Pratt. This was booked on qantas.com with some $50 rebate I did not realise I had available. It was $90 retail less 50. I had spent a bit of time trawling through reviews and suggestions for one night in Hong Kong. I dd not wish to spend much time wasting on this whilst I was enjoying Amsterdam and Berlin so I just went for something central. This place showed up a bit. It wasn’t much of a hotel really and the air con was set to “cold” and the adjustment wheel made no difference. No window that would open either.

The highlight however was the staff. On arrival at around 0800 they were happy to check us in as they said it was quite empty. They were also very helpful with suggestions of things to do and directions to the ferry and such. They also provided extra Nescafe sachets on request!
The room was tiny and I had deliberately booked the bigger room! Additionally the shower room seemed to have the ability to lock oneself inside due lack of handle.....
All part of the adventure and the lack of luxury here was more than made up for tomorrow when we went to The Wing. I am pretty sure the Shower room there is bigger than many hotel rooms.
Anyway, a bit of a kip to regroup and off we sauntered to the Star Ferry terminal. A few HK$ into the machine and we were on the way. From the other side terminal, a medium walk through the city to the base of the peak tram. This was 99 HK$/head and up we went. This is quite an ingenious set up. From my observation there are two cars connected to each other by a cable. This cable is looped around a pulley at the top. It appeared that whilst one is going up the other is going down. As if the car going up is pulled by the gravity of the one going down, possibly with the assistance of an electric motor. So I looked this up and it is referred to as ‘Funicular’
On descent from there a bit of a wander around the city and on the train to East Tsim Sha Tsui. Back to the not very luxurious Butterfly for a bit, thence back on foot to the Temple St night Market.