Copenhagen to Seattle

I got to Copenhagen yesterday afternoon and found a bookstore close to the train station after getting a great free map inside the station. The bookstore had a Copenhagen Lonely Planet in English--perfect.

I found a hotel nearby and got a small corner room for one night at 110 Euros. It was OK and centrally located. After dropping off my stuff, I made a quick plan using the book and walked all the way from Hotel Danmark to the Little Mermaid statue and then to the central market and a beautiful park. I passed through Stroget on the way and saw Nyhavn and the impressive square nearby called Kongens Nytorv.

Then, I had a good meal at Amadeus on the way back--duck salad and fish, followed by sorbet for dessert. I walked through the market area on the way back, but it had been shut down for the day.

Back at the hotel I watched Danish TV shows. One memorable show was about a Danish sculptor whose works I later saw at the Statens Museum for Kunst. He chose bizarre subjects: a skeleton copulating with a woman, snarling dogs having sex and devouring each other, human heads in different states of distortion, a man passionately embracing a skeleton--disturbing stuff. [The sculptor was Jørgen Haugen Sørensen]

The other show was a documentary by a socially active European filmmaker who was in America to introduce the Grand Wizard of the KKK to apoplectic black Mississippians--he was unbelievably naive. I also saw a brief interview days before with a Danish female architect who I saw on a poster at the airport just now.

My last day was good. The breakfast at the hotel was OK, and I had a good latte in a trendy part of town, with a couple of long walks through the park and over Kongens Nytorv bridge.

When I changed my money, I had to fob off a torn 100 Kroner note by purchasing iced tea first. Then I cashed out my Euros and Kroner at negative 10 percent. 558.50 Kroner = $100 USD. 754.36 Kr = 100 Euros minus the 10 percent. Oh well.

Before I left, I saw the stork fountain on the Stroget street and the beautiful Opera house on the water.

The museum today was just OK, so I blew through it (the permanent collection is free) but its new wing is impressive--a white simple square with a concave window area below. It's very nice and surprisingly, it fits well with the old building. Finally, I checked out and made it to the airport.

I made the absolute most of it and loved it all. Now it's time to go home to renew my lease in Seattle before I get a job...or not. I may just keep going.

While watching BBC world news in the airport at gate C33, I saw demonstrations in Istanbul due to an Islamic fundamentalist's candidacy. Reporters said it occurred at a large central square which had to be either Taksim or in between the two mosques [it was probably in Ankara].

In Poland, there are two national holidays this week. I bet it is crazy for E--- at the Saski in Krakow. B--- and M---are raking in the dough during the busy season in Venice with V---'s and F---'s help while the ghost of Henry James is having a Cappuccino nearby. Cute, blond and brunette Swiss ladies are sitting alone waiting to be talked to at another hotel, and in Istanbul, someone is sleeping in the Sultan's bed! The Sultan is not pleased! Off with his head...and bring his wife to me.

Hamburg to Copenhagen

Last night I stayed in a kind of mediocre but clean hotel in Hamburg Altona (Best Western owned it). The little suburb of Hamburg felt safe, and it was easy to get to the Hamburg Hbf. from there as all trains leaving Altona go through the Hamburg Hbf. which is only 2 stops away.

I skipped the 7 Euro breakfast because the breakfast room smelled like warm eggs and feet. I got some good croissants at the train station and a decent cup of coffee instead and made it to EC33 Hamburg to Copenhagen--my last train for a while. I'll miss that.

The Berlin to Hamburg ICE train I took last night was damn fast, quiet, and smooth.

We just finished crossing from Puttgarden Germany to Rodby, Denmark on the M/F Princess Benedikte. The train is moving off the boat now. It's probably the same spot I crossed on the way in but I'm not sure.

In two hours I'll be in Copenhagen and then I'll look for the last hotel of my trip.

Krakow to Hamburg

Today, I got up early, changed my remaining Polish zloty to US dollars, bought snacks for the trip, and caught the train to Hamburg.

15:29 -- I just made it to German border after 8 hours of beautiful Polish farm land. Towns near Krakow looked burned out and run down. Towns further out that are connected to farmland seem more prosperous. The border between Poland and Germany is odd--there's only one set of train tracks. You really see how it was a no-mans land for a long time. I'm not sure what to expect from eastern Germany.

Krakow

This morning, I saw Wawel Cathedral and was impressed by the stained glass and silver panels in the chapels. After that I checked out the Big bell and then went for a walk and saw Cloth Hall.

I decided to leave a day early (tomorrow 4/29) because the train ride is 16 hours and because I've seen everything I wanted to see. At the train station, I got my reservation and had the Polish bureaucracy experience of waiting in line a long time to get something simple done.

Afterwards, I tried to walk to Kazmierz but I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up farther east. I took the tram back and had early dinner at Chlopski Jadlo again. This time it was veal breaded and fried with potatoes and pickled veggie salads from big pots. After dinner I was awestruck by the incredible St Mary's Basilica. I got to see something great every day here in Krakow.

After that, I went back to the hotel restaurant (Metropolitan) and had two more of those great lemonades and some water. They are so good. My trip started to feel over, but it was the right time to go.

Auschwitz

At Auschwitz-Birkenau it was a hottish day by Polish standards--80+ degrees, but really it was nice, mellow weather with a light breeze to make it comfortable. The original Auschwitz camp was rather small and close to town. Birkenau was a kilometer away near farmland and much bigger. Seeing them was not terrifying as I thought it would be the night before, but it was much more confusing and depressing.

The Nazis went off the rails before they built the camps, and I still don't understand how that happened. The fact that it happened at all is the scary thing, and maybe the scariest is that humans are capable of that given the right (or rather the wrong) circumstances.

It worries me when I see the strong picking on the weak in any situation. Everyone just kept "following through" until the end. How could they do it? What was the reasoning behind scapegoating the Jews? It's absurd. No one must have questioned. But maybe they did question, and the problem was simply that the Nazis were gangster bullies with political power--very dangerous.

[There's much more to it than this. A couple of clues to what went wrong are provided by Elias Canetti in his work Crowds and Power. In it, he explains how Hitler's use of the phrase The Diktat of Versailles emphasised the disbanding of the German army by force at the end of World War I. The treaty had deprived the Germans of one of their most important social structures--the army--and Hitler kept that wound open by calling the treaty a diktat.

Later, in the same chapter, he describes how Hitler used the effects of hyperinflation in Germany to scapegoat the Jews by supplying the humiliated German people with an object to degrade. Canetti writes:

"No one ever forgets a sudden depreciation of himself, for it is too painful. Unless he can thrust it on to someone else, he carries it with him for the rest of his life...Something must be treated in such a way that it becomes worth less and less, as the unit of money did during the inflation. And this process must be continued until its object is reduced to a state of utter worthlessness."

Canetti goes on to say:

"The world is still horrified and shaken by the fact that the Germans could go so far; that they either participated in a crime of such magnitude, or connived at it, or ignored it. It might not have been possible to get them to do so if, a few years before, they had not been through an inflation during which the Mark fell to a billionth of its former value."

Crowds and Power (1984 reprint) by Elias Canetti, p. 179-188]

The Auschwitz-Birkenau trip took all day. I was glad I saw it, but I'm also glad that I never have to do that again.

I took the train home and had Hungarian Goulash for dinner which was good but very heavy and rich--a potato pancake with pork in a tomato-based sauce (probably with a lot of butter in it); a hot tea with lemon; a nice onion, pepper, leek, and chive salad; and ice cream for dessert. I over did it, but that was because I didn't eat lunch.

Afterwards, I took a slow walk around Rynek Glowny to notice details of the buildings and I got to hear the little horn song from St. Mary's Basilica up close. A small trumpet plays on the hour and gets cut off abruptly toward the end. I like hearing that little horn, and it lifted my spirits a little after the heavy Auschwitz trip.

It looks like tomorrow is my last full day in Krakow. The plan is to see St. Mary's Basilica, the Royal Cathedral, Cloth Hall and to take another walk. I'm getting a little tired of all the rambunctious 18-25 year-olds here in Krakow. Apparently Krakow is party-central because of all the bars. People stay out until 4AM yelling. It's pretty silly and quite different from Istanbul. Getting up early helps avoid a lot of that, but it gets really loud here at night.

Krakow

Some stops on the way to Krakow were spotty with graffiti, run down stations, and trash beside the railroad tracks, but once we got into Krakow it was extremely nice.

There was a beautiful moat around the town from centuries past that was turned into a park encircling the city and gorgeous old buildings from the 12th century on, many in the later neoclassical style from the 18th century. I found Hotel Saski, and it was just right--close to everything, centrally located, authentic neoclassical style with a really cool elevator, but a little loud due to the street noise like the book said.

Dinner at the adjoining Metropolitan Restaurant was excellent. They have great lemonade there with a bit of lime and sugared rim.

This morning, I woke up and went on the tours at Wawel Castle. The guide was very good, and she recommended God's Playground: A History of Poland for Foreigners by Norman Davies. At lunch I ate traditional Polish food at Chlopskie Jadlo--herring with sour cream, apples, and onions. It was unusual, but good. It was served with thick slices of bread and a choice of pork fat or a cream cheese and chive spread. Black tea is big here too according to Lonely Planet, but here they serve it with a slice of lemon.

The weather has been perfect--it cools down at night, and it's sunny and clear during the day without being too hot (high of 75 or 70 degrees). I had a frappe and wrote postcards to everyone. I've noticed there are more bookstores here than in other places I've visited.

The main square--Rynek Glowny--is 200m x 200m surrounded by buildings 5-6 stories high where each story about is about 20 feet high. The architecture has clean lines and gives off a feeling of royalty. It is most impressive. The doorways show the real age of the buildings, some of which date back to the Renaissance, and some as far back as the 11th century.

I rested after lunch because I was dead--three days by train from Istanbul without stopping had worn me out. My back was hurting and I was on the verge of getting sick again. The nap, water, and easy walk around the north part of old town helped a lot. I planned an Auschwitz-Birkenau trip for the next day, but before that I took a walk at the south part of old town where I checked out Smak Ukrainski and had some nice Ukrainian food--beetroot salad with dill and a large dumpling with rice and meat inside--very nice. After that, I felt better, so I checked out the architectural details of Kanonicza Street near the Copernicus Hotel, then walked home through the Main Square at night.

The evening was beautiful, and with the cool weather, everyone was milling around the square and enjoying the horse-drawn carriages, beautiful buildings, and other features of square like the St Mary's Cathedral, and town hall tower--great atmosphere here. Then it was time for bed.

I didn't sleep because I drank too much of the excellent coffee here at the free breakfast in the Metropolitan. It seems stronger than the coffee I had in Italy and even seems stronger than the coffee I had in Istanbul. The Turkish coffee didn't really have much of a kick that I could tell. Maybe boiling the coffee breaks down the caffeine. I'm not sure. Maybe it was also the amount of coffee I drank--in Turkey the cups are espresso cups, and here in Poland they were full cups of good black coffee.

The women here are really beautiful--tall, thin, pretty faces and they have full, hourglass figures with thin waists. I'm not sure if those are Eastern European characteristics, but their special beauty is worth noting.

Belgrade to Budapest to Krakow

03:30 -- We just left Serbia and are moving towards Hungary. [too sleepy] Had an expensive, filling breakfast on DB to Brno, Czech Republic while three people who seemed to have been partying all night talked loudly and ordered beer at around 7 AM. 11:03 -- The train to Bohumin goes to Krakow eventually, but there's a 45 minute wait. 11:54 -- I caught the train to Bohumin, and at some stop in Poland about 7 miles away from Drycise, I had to change to a bus. I hope it works.

The strange bus ride was about 15-20 min to Zakaz Koureni [sp?] via Arealu Stanice [sp?], and now we're back on the train. We'll see what happens. Since we crossed the border into Poland I've noticed huge meadows of yellow flowers 2-3 feet high with a bulb with clusters of small flowers at the top. One field looked like a bright, yellow river about to flood a small town, coming down from a high hill. It's sunny and warm with a breeze here now.

12:40 -- We're still in Czech Republic at Prerov station. Prerov is halfway between Brno and Ostrava at the Polish border.

11:03-12:42 -- It took about 40 minutes to get from Brno to Prevov, so that's about 1.5 hours to the border and 1.5 hours from the border to Krakow, which puts our arrival at 15:45 or thereabouts.

13:00 -- Drahotuvse; 13:05 -- Hranice, Czech Republic; 13:16 -- Schudol; Ostrava is my stopping point; 13:25 -- Studenka.

I got off at Ostrava as planned and caught the EC 107 coming from Praha. Its next stop was Bohumin which is where the previous train was going anyway. I should get to Katowice at 15:50. The information counter at Ostrava was great--the lady there was helpful and gave me train changes and a print out of my itinerary. I need to get on the train to Katowice at 16:20 to make it to Krakow-Glovny at 17:48.

Brno was a decent choice--the conductor on the platform helped me as did a mom and son who were also traveling on the city train for my Brno-Ostrava. Left them after we briefly switched to the bus because I was OK.

16:04--Katowice. It appears to be a slum, but it could be just the area around the train station. Also, I saw a larger building a couple of blocks away from the train tracks, and after that, more density and some traffic. Things looked OK there. Near the tracks, there were a lot of demolished buildings or remains of buildings, and I noticed several spots with a dozen or more empty beer bottles in lying in one place. Maybe the train tracks are the place to go for a small party or some solitary binge drinking. Again, it could just be the wrong side of the tracks.

It reminded me of government corruption I've heard about. Maybe people here have lost their hope, and I'm trying to read too much into only a peek at the city, but it's the worst I've seen. Even worse than Sofia, Bulgaria or Belgrade, Serbia although again, I only saw the train station for those places also.

I guess I jumped to conclusions. It's nicer on the other side of the station. There are still some pretty ugly tenements and lots of graffiti, but not the bombed out look from before. The train station is not the best way to judge anyway. I even saw a nice old historic building just now. Still though, the train tracks at the next station (MiKclowich) were really rough and had grass growing over most of the tracks--they looked poorly maintained, though I know the Krakow-Warsaw route has better trains and tracks because my Eurail map says high speed trains connect those two cities.

I'm seeing some of the intimidating monolithic Soviet architecture already as we creep along--presumably to avoid derailing on the old tracks. We're picking up speed outside the station.