361: Berlin

My friends Fred & Judith have the following quote on all their emails:

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move"  Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

I endorse this entirely and last weekend, on a whim, I decided to visit Berlin. Just under 6 hours, each way, on a train and you arrive at the throbbing heart of Germany. The train journeys were fine, much better than on the previous Saturday travelling from Scotland to England courtesy of that nice Mr Branson and sitting on the floor for part of the journey. It's lucky I had a first-class ticket otherwise I could imagine myself travelling on the roof.

Berlin is an old stamping-ground for me, having lived there for two years in the mid-eighties. In those days there was West Berlin and East Berlin and the contrast between them was stark. Arriving by train on Saturday evening and travelling East to West I was struck how much Alexander Platz had changed in the years since the wall came down. A different world. A different me too. Cold War Warrior no longer. No more checking out through Checkpoint Charlie and checking in again when I went back to the decadent West. Now there is a mock-up Checkpoint Charlie with 2 guys dressed as American soldiers and offering to part you with some money in exchange for having your photo taken with them. There's Capitalism for you.

On Sunday I went to the Brandenburg Gate and walked from there to the site of the old Checkpoint  Charlie. On the way I walked past the Trabi museum and a place where tours of Berlin by Trabi are organised.  A convoy of them was just leaving as I passed and the smell of cheap petrol was heavy in the air.

Finally, sad to read of the death of David Bowie. This song takes me back to the late 60s.

360: Epiphany

Today in Poland it is a national holiday to celebrate the religious festival of Epiphany. The Feast of the Epiphany marks the end of the 12 Days of Christmas and is a Christian celebration of the revelation of the birth of Jesus and the visit of the three wise men.

There is a light sprinkling of snow here in Warsaw, rather like icing sugar on a cake. I am pleased I don't need to go out today. I was out yesterday and the temperature was -13 degrees Celsius. I'd almost forgotten what real cold was and yesterday was a salutary reminder.

I was in Golspie, in the North East of Scotland, over Christmas and New Year and it was cold there too. Because it is a small island the UK has a different kind of cold. It is damper and feels as if it is getting into the bones. In mainland Europe it is a cleaner, crisper, kind of cold. Still causes fatalities though. 21 people died in Poland over the weekend during this current cold snap, including 6 who slipped and fell to their death in the Tatra mountains.

Here are some pictures taken when I was in Golspie: 3 from the hills looking out to the sea and 3 from the sea looking in to the village.

Before flying back to Warsaw on Monday I spent some time in London on Sunday with my 'children'. We had decided to take part in a hidden city 'game/quiz/competition/hunt'. I'm not sure how best to describe it but it was fun anyway. Having paid the entrance fee you text 'start' on your phone and receive the first clue by return. This directs you to somewhere reasonably close and gives a cryptic clue as to what to look for. Text the answer to the question and receive the next clue. After a 'couple' of hours including a welcome break for lunch the 'hunt' is over and your knowledge of London's 'nooks and crannies' much improved. Can't wait to do it again. Perhaps next time without the rain!

I had the opportunity to take many photos along the way but contented myself with only one. It goes some way to explaining the Royal Air Force's penchant for staying in hotels while the Army is roughing it under canvas. :)

359: Rhine river cruise

I'm just back in harness after a very enjoyable and leisurely Rhine river cruise. The trip was from Basel up to Amsterdam and the journey to and from those cities was by train from London St Pancras via Eurostar and TGV/Thalys.

Here are a few pics from the trip.

Breisach		The ship. We were almost in the bilges!
This row is Strasbourg
This row is Heidelberg
This row is from the wine tasting day	along the Mosel
The young girl who looked after our cabin obviously had secondary skills!
Cologne cathedral	Windmills at Kinderdijk	The Windmills of your mind

358: Kazimierz Dolniy - again

358 blogs in and I can't avoid some repetition. I last visited Kazimierz Dolniy on 8th March. Went there again yesterday and came back today. (I have to go to many places twice just to apologize! :)) I hired a 'pot luck' car from SixT at Chopin airport and they gave me a Renault Megane. Nice car with an integral Satnav, which worked very well once I'd figured out how to change the masculine Polish voice to 'Jane' from UK. The car was almost new and sparkly clean when I got it. 24 hours, 360 km, and some Polish weather later it came back filthy. The weather was OK yesterday but it was dark by the time I got there. Looking out of the window after dinner I noticed we had had snow! Driving back today the snow had melted off the roads but was still lying on the fields. By the time I got to Warsaw there was no sign of it. By the time I got to Mlociny it was raining.
I stayed in the same hotel as last time (Zajazd Piastowski or, in English, The Piastovski Inn) and treated myself to a sauna before dinner last night. And a beer, or two, of course. It was a nice hotel despite the name, which might suggest that one could easily be displeased with it! I'm not explaining it - you either fall in or you don't!

I'm always impressed by the roadside shrines. They are in every village and town and always well-tended.

A busy week coming up. Busier than it has been since before summer. Finally I'll be able to pay my rent :) And there's me taking half of December off. Just as business was picking up. Oh well, you can't take it with you. Just heard of another two colleagues from my military days who have contracted cancer and are about to start their chemo. Live for today. If & when tomorrow comes it's a blessing.
Finally, a tongue in cheek offering from Face Book, whilst I'm on the subject of poor health.
 

357: We will remember them

On the 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month the United Kingdom pays homage to our servicemen and servicewomen who have fallen in conflicts during or since the First World War. On the Sunday before that, or on 11th if that is a Sunday, the Royal British Legion organises services of remembrance up and down the country to honour the people who gave their life so that we could enjoy the freedom that we as a nation now cherish. The largest service is at the Cenotaph in Whitehall and our Queen graces the occasion with her presence. Wreaths are laid at memorials in many cities, towns and villages.
Ramsey is no exception. The British Legion organised the parade yesterday afternoon and this was followed by a service in the church, conducted by the Bishop of Ely. The High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire also took part in the wreath laying and the church service.
I think that events such as these are part of the fabric of our society and help to bind us together as a nation. I would estimate there were about 100 people present for the wreath laying ceremony and the church was packed to the gunwales.
I was there, formally dressed for the occasion.

This morning I walked to the local cemetery to pay my respects to mum and dad and on the way there took the opportunity to take pictures of the wreaths which had been laid yesterday.

To finish, a long video clip of the 2014 parade at the cenotaph.

356: Lazy Sunday afternoon!

This is so not me, sitting here, in my little flat in Warsaw, at 2.30 in the afternoon (dentist's time), and still with a towel wrapped around my waist - which is what passes for pyjamas in this household. I had my morning lesson, from 7 to 8, and then had the bright idea to go back to bed, or at least to go and lie on it "for a few minutes". I fell into a deep slumber until almost 11.30.  Woke up feeling almost refreshed and then committed my second sin of the day by turning on the computer and playing stupid solitaire. But it was OK, I only did it for an hour and a half! Doh! The trouble with taking "down time" like this is that outstanding jobs-to-do stack up behind you and the rest of the day becomes a matter of prioritizing and deciding which jobs must be done today and which can slip until tomorrow or, possibly, the day after. There are some lessons for tomorrow which I haven't yet prepared. That is a cardinal sin, to go into the classroom with nothing in the back pocket. The thought of being 60 minutes into a 90 minute lesson and having covered all the pre-planned material and having nothing in reserve fills me with dread. It happens occasionally and is one of the reasons why I like the job. The adrenalin "buzz" from thinking on your feet is, usually but not always, satisfying.
What day is it today? Sunday 1st November. All Saints' Day, especially in Catholic countries. Here in Poland, absolutely everybody goes to visit the grave(s) of their loved ones. The authorities even lay on buses to ferry people to the cemeteries. People place a candle, or perhaps a little lantern, at the graveside. When I realized yesterday that all the shops would be closed in Poland today I scurried off to my local supermarket. It was dark and quite an impressive sight passing the local cemetery on the tram and seeing the glow from hundreds of lanterns. Here is a picture from Google images.

What day is it tomorrow? Monday 2nd November. All Souls' Day, when Catholics in particular pray for their dearly departed.
No more. I've rambled on for long enough - perhaps too long.  Must crack on and do SOMETHING, even if it's only making a list!
My very best wishes to my dear sister who will be retiring at the end of this week. I wish her every happiness. Sorry to be missing the party on Saturday.

355: Peregrinations in Posnan

Decided to visit Poznan,  the fourth largest metropolitan area in Poland. My Inter-City train left Warsaw at 9.55 and arrived in Poznan some 2½ hours later. Amazing conversation in my compartment. There were 6 people: a Brit, a Russian, and 4 Germans. Each of us spoke at least 2 languages, in differing degrees of proficiency. It was really funny speaking Russian to one, stilted German to the next and English to the next. After a while I ran out of foreign words and stuck my nose in my Learn Polish text book.
On the Saturday evening I had a wander around the  old town (the cynic within me is beginning to think - if you've seen one old town in Poland, you've seen them all). Finished up in a very nice Mexican restaurant for an enormous chimichanga. Wanted posters were hanging from the ceiling and the light "chandeliers" were empty beer bottles.

Next, a quandary. I was due to have a Skype with a student at 9 a.m. Moscow time on Sunday morning. I figured out that because Europe (but not Russia) changes its clocks at 3 a.m on Sunday and Poland therefore became 2 hours behind Moscow then the lesson should take place at 7 a.m. Central European Time. I know that not everybody would be happy, or even awake, at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning but I'm a lark and have no problem with this kind of routine. The trouble was that my watch and my mobile both have the capability to change automatically. So, waking up during the night after 3 a.m., I had no idea whether they had changed themselves or not. Luckily, the few grey cells I have left swung into action and caused me to look at the time.is website where I discovered that Moscow was indeed 2 hours ahead. So my timepieces had, after all, changed themselves and I could go back to sleep fully synchronised with myself.

The hotel where I am staying is the Platinum Palace in Poznan, the sister, probably more accurately daughter, hotel of the one I stayed at in Wroclaw recently. On the plus side the tropical shower head is enormous and really nice to use. On the not quite so plus side the doors and side panels to the toilet/wash room/shower are of an (almost!) opaque glass and there are slits between the doors and the panels. If you should happen to be staying here with somebody it would be better if you knew them quite well!


On Sunday I decided to visit Lake Malta where there is a very large thermal waterpark. Wish I had thought to take some trunks with me. The largest waterpark in Poland with various pools and several types of sauna and steam bath including a tepidarium (??) and chill out zone. Termy Maltanskie

Off back to Warsaw today. Back to normality. Well,as normal as I do.

A couple of 'crazy' photos to finish. I'm not publishing many as the bandwidth in the hotel is not excessive.