Epilogue

Before we knew it we were back in Edinburgh, and, as I said, perhaps a little sad. Not to be back, but to have finished traveling for now. In a perfect world we could maintain our careers whilst tramping all over the world, but we’ll have to settle on making other plans for now. The trip was incredible, eye opening and I know I’ve certainly returned a little wiser, but nowhere near satisfied – need to go back! We’re thinking about heading back to Poland later this year to meet Slawek and do some walking in the mountains, and then our next trip is in the north of Italy in October, which we are already dearly looking forward to.

Aside from that, we are toying with the idea of visiting Jordan next March-April…

Back in Edinburgh, things are going great. School starts again next week, so we’re trying to enjoy ourselves and relax while we can. The festival is on, so every time we head into town things are buzzing – there is enough free stuff on that we can avoid digging holes in our rather shallow pockets, but might have to splurge and see Jason Byrne or Adam Hills.

We’ve had some visits from Alan Best, Bruce Rixon and Katrina Jenns and family, so now the precedent has been set, please don’t hesitate to come and visit! Yes, we’re sick of Australians (especially some of the ones we met in Krakow!) but we’d love to see you if you’re in the UK.

Poland

We’d allowed a good seven or eight days in Poland at the end of our trip to explore in a bit more detail – we’d aimed to look at Warsaw (which a lot of people said not to bother with – too ugly), Krakow and then Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains to have a bit of a ‘get-back-to-nature’ session before coming home.

Warsaw was so much more than we expected.  If we actually expected anything.  Yes, it is, like so many larger cities around the world, a living shrine to capitalism.  No more than Sydney or Melbourne though.  Perhaps it has a bad wrap from the soviet tinge that lingers around it’s buildings and it’s outskirts.  At the centre of Warsaw lies the Palace of Culture and Science, a monster skyscraper the Stalin gifted to Warsaw, one of ten he spewed around the Soviet states, and I can see why it has mixed reviews.  It sticks out like a red sheep.  But I can’t subscribe to the point of view that it’s ugly.  I think it’s quite nice, but reminiscent of darker times perhaps?

For me, the beauty of Warsaw lay in the steps you took to places where so much has happened.  I spent a good 40 minutes waiting in the middle of a street in a rather non-descript part of town hoping to get a glimpse of part of the ghetto wall that still stands, and finally managed to weasel my way into the private courtyard – and it was worth it, because to see and stand in places like this where events that have shaped the planet have occurred, well, it changes you I guess.  Not in describable ways, but it shifts your outlook and perspective.  There was a lot of that in Warsaw, more than anywhere else except perhaps Oswiecim (Auschwitz).

Even the Old Town in Warsaw (even though most of it is barely 50 years old, having been rebuilt) is beautiful.  I did get stung by a wasp in the Saxon gardens there, however, so that was a bit of a downer.  Warsaw also provided two other significant moments on our trip: in one evening we enjoyed the best Indian curry I’ve ever had, and at another venue, the worst jazz I’ve ever heard. Crazy.

Krakow was our last big town stop, and we kicked back a gear when we got here to enjoy it and slow things down.  Whether it was serendipity or exceptional planning fro yours truly, I don’t know, but it turned out that Krakow was perhaps the most enjoyable part of our trip thanks to the people we met – we had made some friends in Russia with the tour, but here we met some people who we truly got to know pretty well.  At the Ars Hostel, we encountered the owner, Slawek, a nomad who not only owns and operates the hostel, but also runs a travel company and spends a good chunk of the year traveling around the world with various groups.  He made Krakow very memorable by taking us on a great bike ride (including a liquid lunch and a dip into a lake at on old mine nearby – remember Jamberoo Eddie?  My entry was very similar…) and also taking time to have dinner with us and share a few pints.  A very generous man whom we hope to meet again if we make it back to Poland later this year.

Unfortunately we didn’t make it to Zakopane – after exploring Krakow for two days, Louise came down with a very nasty stomach complaint – thankfully Anja and Slawek downstairs helped out and called a doctor, but by the time he got there, things were looking much better.  We decided that rest was a better option, so pushed our Zakopane trip out of the way and enjoyed a few more days to relax in Krakow.

We made it to Oswiecim – Auschwitz – the next day with Daniel, a Brazilian friend we had met, and I was completely unprepared for it.  I had expected a sobering experience, but being confronted with some of the exhibits they had there was truly overwhelming.  To reflect on what had happened there has certainly made me question a lot of what happens around the world today, and makes you realise what people are capable of.  Extraordinary.

Our highlight of Krakow was undoubtedly the potato pancakes – we had enjoyed lots of different cuisine throughout our trip, but Slawek insisted we try these pancakes (unfortunately, when he took us himself, the booth was closed!) but we made it there the night before we were due to leave.  I’ll let the picture speak for itself, but it was GOOD.

Lithuania

Lithuania was a very special place for us – for some reason we both just felt right at home here.  Maybe it was because our first day there was spent driving across half the country in our rental car, getting used to the gear stick on the right and the driver on the left.  A scary experience actually, as Lithuanians seemed to be happy to overtake you any time whatsoever.  No regard for oncoming traffic.  Woah.

Rather than start in Vilnius, the capital, and then spread our wings, we met our hire car as soon as we arrived and set off the see the Hill of Crosses, an incredible collection of millions and millions (no exaggeration) of crosses on a Hill in the north of Lithuania, not far from a town called Siauliai.  This hill is a place of remembrance rather than bearing any particular religious significance, although it is rumoured that during Soviet occupation, people caught placing crosses on the hill were sent to Siberia.  Didn’t take much.

Crosses are placed here in memory of specific people, by groups, as gestures and all sorts of reasons, and it is quite incredible.  Three hills, absolutely devoured by crosses of all shapes, sizes and materials.  One of those sights I’ll never forget.

From here we made our way to Nida, a town on the Curonian Spit, coastal Lithuania.  The Curonian Spit is a very thin spur of land that weaves between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian lagoon.  Half of the spit is in Lithuania and the other half in Kaliningrad, and it is the natural depository for most of the amber that the region is famous for.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get up early enough to find any washed up on the beach, but we did get to enjoy a spectacular seafood dinner, sleep in the car, and explore some amazing towering sand dunes that dwarf the nearby pine forests – quite a surreal sight.

Vilnius was a great town – our dwelling here was far more like a B&B than a hostel, and in fact breakfast was brought to our room!  Renowned as a town of churches, Vilnius was also a town of oddball statues and buildings – two we found that intrigued us were the statue of Frank Zappa (nothing to do with Lithuania) and an abandoned building with an upside down question mark hanging off it’s façade.  Bizarre. I think we felt most comfortable here out of all the Baltic towns we’d visited – to just wander around all of these towns was a treat though – each one had it’s own style and character, and Vilnius was the gothic gem.