Simon & Amelia's European Adventures

Dzien Dobry All, finally we have some time to sit down and share our experiences with you from over the past week and a bit. There is a fair bit of information so I'll just write everything in a systematic order! I'll start with our departure from Krakow. After arriving at the bus station a good 20 minutes before our bus was to leave, we encountered our first major difficulty withnot being able to speak the language. You see our destination was in the middle of a larger bus route, so the name of our town stop wasn't on any bus. After seeing the line for information was almost 1km long (note only one booth was open out of 20 odd and I swear she was talking on the phone to her mother), we decided to try and find the bus on our own. Very risky. I knew the area in which we were meant to be heading, so when I saw on of the major towns listed on a bus I thought we were safe. While it took about 15 mins to gets this information out of the bus driver, it was eventually confirmed that this was our bus and we were on our way. We only had to travel about 150 kms from Krakow to Tarnobrzeg, but this took over 3 hours. The roads in Poland are absolutely shit house and apparently over 7000 people die on the roads each year. We almost didn't get off at our stop either, as my body had decided 20 mins ago it was time for a rest, which resulted in me missing the name of the bus station. As we were 15 mins early I thought our station was next, so I just went back to sleep. Luckily a stray elbow hit the back of my chair, waking me up to se a large tall man named Tom waiting outside to pick us up. So we had arrived, in the little town of Tarnobrzeg. When I say small, 50,000 people still live in the town. The amazing thing is that Poland has a population of just under 40 million people, but its largest town (Warsaw) only has 1.6 million people, showing how widely dispersed the countries people are !

Over the next week we were constantly found at Maja's parents house (Dad and Step-Mum). While we only stayed there one night while our hotel was being prepared, the hostpitality both Pawel and Dinusha provided was unbelievable. We were fed fresh, traditional Polish meals at least 3 times a day as well as sampling the best Vodka and chocolate Poland had to offer (note the best Vodka we had was one called Zubrowka, which is English for Bison grass, with apple juice - it was really good). Meals such as slow cooked Polish sausage and Pork cutlets were some of the best food I have ever had in my life. All meals contained Pork (like all of Europe) and it is so much better than Aussie Pork (never dry, almost like lamb sometimes). I also had a good time playing soccer with Lulec, Maja's little step brother and taught him that Aussies dont dive when they play soccer ! Both Amelia and I had a great time in Tarnobrzeg, despite the fact the town wasn't really a big tourist draw card. Experiencing "real" Polish culture and learning a little about past difficulties, particularly with communism, was absoultely fascinating and much more rewarding than hanging out with other tourists all day. It was also great just to have a laugh with Tom and Maja again, which is something we do not get to do enough these days since we live in Canberra.

The week went fast and before we realised, it was the big day. I had been given a haircut by the local barber (it cost me $5 Australian and he did a far better job than the Muppets hands I use back home !) and my suits pants fitted me after the local tailor cut off around 5 metres from the leg (the bastard also laughed at me and asked if I wanted a waist coat made out of the scraps), so I was ready to go. Despite having to sign the marriage certificate before the wedding had occured and the fact that Tom and Maja didn't ending up sharing a kiss for the crowd (Polsih tradition apparently), the wedding went off without a hitch and Mr and Mrs Walsh were welcomed into the world. During the photos however I felt a little ill and soon realised I had got the runs some how. This in it self was managable, but when I strained my left hammy pushing a little too hard to get back for the 2nd round of photos, I was left a little embarrassed to say the least. I also had some further difficulties just before the speeches, needing to visit the WC once more, however on this occasion I somehow locked myself in. After trying in vain for around 5 minutes to get out and realsing the speeches were imminent, I unfortunately felt I had no other option but to bust down the door. 3 hip and shoulders latter I was free, but the lock needed some major maintenance ! It however was the speeches that made the night. While both fathers and myself made quite good speeches (well no one booed at me anyway), it was Tom's speech that people wont forget in a hurry. Not only was his speech filled with gratitude and humour, he delivered it like a true statesman. He had all the house in tears when he said his major regret was not being able to meet Maja's mother and thanking her for raising such a wonderful daughter. While the party was a bit subdued for a while, the night kicked on and all had a great night finishing up some time late in the morning!

In classic Polish style, the majority of the wedding attendees spent the next day sitting outside cooking sausages around a fire drinking the remaining beer and vodka ! Goodbyes were exchanged and we hit the road the next morning for Warsaw. While we almost missed the bus, thanks to some individuals who will remain nameless leaving the hotel at 8.16 when we agreed to meet at 8.15 (not bitter, just recognise that time is money for certain individuals). We eventaully made safely late Monday arvo. We are now in Warsaw (actually pronounced Va-shar-va) but we are tired and ready for our flight home. We are trying to take it easy here and recharge our batteries for a last stop, Istanbul. I am really excited about Turkey, so for now we will just see the sights slowly (dont get me wrong, Warsaw looks great, but I just cant be stuffed).

Speak to you all soon.

Oh yeah, Mike and Tash keep those photos of Amielle flowing on facebook, it is great to see action shots of her walking around !

After taking a 7 hour train ride from Vienna to Krakow, which really should only have taken 4 hours if the train moved fater than 20 km/h in the burbs, Amelia and I were pretty knacked to say the least. Luckily we didnt have to walk far to our hostel, which from the outside looked like abuilding transported directly from 1950's communist Russia. The stairs looked even worse, resembling some sort of CSI opening, but the hostel itself and the rooms were unbelievably good. Free breakfast, supper and internet, hot showers and a massive new bedroom. We have even been lucky enough to try a traditional Polish potato and sausage soup, gratis ! After looking around the old town square yesterday, which was really gorgeous, we decided to take the journey to Auschwicz today. An hour and a half bus ride took us to the first concerntration camp, which was basically left untouched after the war. Seeing a room full of womens hair, a crematorium used as a gas chamber and the notorious death wall and death block were all pretty shocking, however with truck loads of tourists it was hard to feel any deep emotions in the camp, which was a tad dissapointing. I still struggle not to belt people who laugh and do whatever they feel in such a place of sorrow. We then headed down the road to Birkenau, more commanly know as Auscwicz 2. Here train loads of people were brought into the camp, with 75% of the load being gassed upon arrival. As this camp was much bigger (3 square kms) you could find some space on your own inside some of the barracks were the prisoners slept. This was a far more harrowing experince and you could almost imagine what people felt inside. Further down we saw the ruins of 2 former gas chambers and even though they were a pile of rubble, you could still see where thousands of people entered the chamber never to be seen again. The fields alongside the chambers had memorial plaques, indicating that pits filled with the ashes of thousands of bodies were only 1 metre away. Still it is not comprehendible to think that 1.5 million people died in both Auschwicz camps, that is roughly the size of Adelaide and Canberra combined !

Tomorrow the search begins for wedding shoes and replacement shorts for myself, after the volleyball accident of the other day!

Speak to you all later