Poland

I arrived in Warsaw, Poland's capital city late at night on July 31st, the eve of my three month anniversary of being abroad. Seeing as my bus was running late and my new travel accomplice Robin was on the next bus coming through I hung around the central bus station so that we could make it to the hostel together (both of us are not gifted in the understanding directions department). Whilst waiting, nature called and I voyaged off to find a restroom. In typical Jess fashion though nothing in my life can occur without a drama and I found myself engaging in a lost in translation debacle with the Polish toilet attendant. One of the most infuriating things about Europe is that every single public toilet charges people to pee. This is an atrocity against I wish to take serious action: pissing is a basic human right people. Anyway, having just arrived in the country from Lithuania I did not have any Polish Zlotys (the local currency) handy but decided that I had to risk it to get the biscuit and thus I crawled underneath the swivel gate whilst the toilet woman (who had just finished mopping the floor and had momentarily entered another room to put her cleaning equipment away) had her back to me. Seeing as I am about as graceful as an elephant on a half dose of morphine my Lara Croft style entrance did not go unnoticed and the woman scurried back into the room, barricading the entrance to the toilets and screaming at me in Polish. Despite my begs and pleas for her to "help a sister out" and break the rules just this once, "woman to woman", she would not yield and I was forced to crawl back under the gate, bladder yet to be emptied. However, I do not take such injustices lying down and thought that I would leave her with an Australian cultural custom known as an "up yours" for all of her trouble; thus I proceeded to empty my water bottle all over her freshly mopped floor before strutting off in the hope that I would find a McDonalds to relieve myself in (I did eventually, thank you kindly for your concern).

Thankfully, my potty problem was not a pre-curser for the rest of my time in Warsaw. Though Robin and I struggled initially to find the hostel which was located in Far East Whoop-Whoop, we got there in the end. Arriving well towards midnight, the two of us were upgraded to a private room for the first night of our stay. We stayed at Globetrotter Hostel (http://www.globetrotterhostel.pl) and though I have no complaints about the facilities I did truthfully find the place a little dull. It seemed small and cramped and for the most part empty. However, for the traveller wanting to opt for a bit of a break from the party hostel life then it would probably be perfect. 

The Palace of Culture and Science, a 'gift' to Warsaw from the USSR, with building completed in 1955. 

And a glimpse of the 360 degree view from.

Being a budget traveller I always look for free walking tours when I am in a new city. The guides tend to be young students or ex-students who genuinely take a great deal of pride in the city in which they are showcasing. Henceforth, in Warsaw we took the 12pm walking tour of the captivating Old Town. When we arrived in Warsaw both of us were perplexed as to how the city still had an 'Old Town' as it had been virtually flattened during WW2. We were informed by our guide though that following the war the town was rebuilt almost from the ground up, replicating the original aesthetic and representing the resilience and dignity of the Polish nation, who refused to let such a devastating epoch completely eradicate a country with a history so much more valuable and diverse than the War. 

Some shots taken wandering through Old Town. 

During the tour we buddied up with an Aussie girl from Melbourne, also a solo traveller who approached me to acknowledge her appreciation of my Deathly Hallows tattoo. She was already bloody awesome (naturally, she is Australian after all) but the fact that she was also a Potterhead sealed the deal: she was officially cool enough to hang out with me. We chatted away about how much we mutually miss AFL and vegemite and then following the tour we set off for a Polish restaurant suggested to us by our guide, ordering some traditional Polish pierogies (if 'some' counts as fourteen split between Robin and I, following a bowl of soup each...). 

Pierogies... I think this picture says a thousand words along the lines of 'foodgasm'.

After lunch, we all decided to get our intellectual caps on and visit the museum dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, a renowned Polish composer and pianist whom I had most definitely heard of beforehand (note sarcasm). Chopin was a musical prodigy, writing and performing pieces from just eight years old. Ergo, I came away from that museum having learnt nothing much more than that I was a major child failure and that mum should have been a stage 'mom', forcing me prematurely into the life on stage for which I am inevitably destined. 

Little did we know that when we arrived that we actually happened to crash into Warsaw bang on the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi soldiers during WW2.  The Uprising originally was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the city from the east and the retreat of German forces. However, the Soviet Army failed to storm the city, facilitating the regrouping of the Germans who proceeded to demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support. The Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement during the World War and starkly embodies the spirit of the Poles, countrymen so dedicated to patriotism that they risked life and limb for the future of their beloved homeland. In memory of this devout display of statesmanship the entire city paused for a minute at 5pm (including all vehicles on the roads and pedestrians on the street); a heart-stopping moment for all present, regardless of nationality. 

A memorial dedicated to The Uprising. 

The next day we caught a bus from Warsaw to Krakow, a favourite city amongst tourists owing to it being a modern history gold mine. We stayed at a hostel called Elephant on the Moon (http://www.elephantonthemoon.com) which was slightly outside of the city, although once again we had a room to ourselves, a luxury of which I will never utter a complaint about. Krakow was a delightful city - I kind of regret that I rushed through it, but I suppose that just leaves me open to the possibility of visiting in the future.

Krakow's Market Square (unfortunately not the greatest image but I suppose it does give an idea of the antique architecture and urban layout).  

 Again, we went on a free walking tour, taking the Jewish District (Kazimierz) - where most of Krakow's Jewish population lived peacefully prior to the war and where they were subsequently forced to reside during the war, the ghetto. The Jewish tour took us to some sites where some of the most gruesome and brutal instances of human blood-spill in the twentieth century transpired. To me, one of the most poignant elements of the tour was the Ghetto Heroes Square, the scene of mass deportations and murder, which has now been turned into a memorial for the Jewish, with their absence from Poland being symbolised by a number of large empty chairs (one of many items that the Jewish may have carried with them when they were unexpectedly forced from the ghetto by Hitler's men). Our guide explained to us that the chairs were also left empty as an invitation to their Jewish kin to return back to Poland one day, a land that they once called home.

Again, I wish I snapped a better shot of the Ghetto Heroes Square, though sometimes on a tour you are quite rushed and also surrounded by other tourists - thus truly capturing the scene at its full potential can prove difficult.

Some street art found in the Jewish District, try and guess what it is trying to articulate.

The tour also (among many other fascinating sites) took us to a courtyard that was featured in the film 'Schindler's List', based upon the story of Oskar Schindler whom is credited with saving some 1200 Jews when he employed them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories. In the afternoon of that same day we actually visited the factory itself, which has now been turned into an extensive museum displaying life in Poland just prior to the outbreak and during the Second World War. That was another incredulous moment for me - standing under the roof of Oskar Schindler's Krakow factory is something that I never could have envisioned myself doing up until now. Though in school most of us are educated about the atrocities of the Nazi Regime we only learn these things through a textbook. Nothing else in the world can truly accentuate the diabolical nature of this time quite like standing at a sight so pivotal in the mind of the world in regards to such a notoriously evil and grotesque display of inhumanity.

The following day was a day that I will never, ever forget for as long as I live. For as long as I have been a history aficionado and a general student of life and the world I have vowed to visit Auschwitz Birkenau, concentration and extermination camps built by the Third Reich in order to facilitate the Final Solution. For this aspect of my trip I will not provide a history lesson nor will I describe what I was exposed to in great detail, for I simply cannot do such a place justice. Though the experience was bleak and overwhelming I am sincerely 'glad' (for complete lack of a better word) that I went. In visiting such a place which wholly and entirely embodies the most execrable and merciless capabilities of mankind I hope that I in some way paid my respects to the poor souls who perished there. 

I will include some photographs of the day, though not all (some things actually could not be photographed - for valid reason) as I do not feel comfortable exploiting such a grim subject matter for the purpose of a petty blog.

This was taken just outside the infamous 'work will set you free' gate at Auschwitz.

Inside the camp. 

Suitcases belonging to the victims. Other personal items on display included eye glasses, artificial limbs and possibly the must gruesome of all: human hair. 

One room (more like a hallway actually) was lined wall to wall with approximately 70,000 pairs of shoes. This statistic was made all the more harrowing when our guide informed us that this number infact represents just 1% of the actual figure of items which had belonged to the Jewish people. 

The train leading into Birkenau, many Jewish people did not live to see the end of the day upon arrival. 

The sleeping barracks at Birkenau. Each bunch slept 6 fully grown adults, forced to lie on hard wooden slats and share only two blankets. Should the day be raining (as when we visited), shown in the second image, or snowing during the winter there was little protection from the elements. The barracks were a fatal disease breeding ground. 

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Seeing as I am travelling indefinitely on a one way ticket I have the freedom to visit countries that most short term European travellers consider to be mostly unchartered. Following Stockholm I was not quite sure where I should go. Hence, I googled a map of Europe to determine the neighbouring countries. I discovered that Estonia (a country that I really knew little about) was just a short flight away. Before I came to Europe I thought that I was relatively cluey about the world and the general nature of most countries. Now that I am here I have learnt that I really had, and continue to have absolutely no idea. Estonia, as do the other two Baltic countries, borders upon Russia and therefore was once occupied by the USSR. To me, this signified that it still would have somewhat of a bleak and somber nature; I thought that the place would be overrun with little old crippled women, shuffling along with the produce they harvested from the field with headscarves wrapped around their hair, prematurely grey from a life without packet hair-dye. Admittedly, I was slightly mistaken. Estonia is actually quite a well developed country that ranks highly on the human development index, and although Estonia is only a small country (the population is sitting at about 1.3 million) it seems to be quite the contemporary tourist destination. Tallinn, the capital city was actually packed with snap-happy holiday-goers; Old Town in particular being the focus of many Instagram shots.

Some shots of Tallinn's Old Town. 

Though I thought that not many Australians make it to that particular neck of the woods, I did come across a select few at my hostel who have decided to call Estonia home. I stayed at The Red Emperor (http://www.redemperorhostel.com), a hostel that was actually started up by a bloke from Perth who was entranced by a nation so different to the one in which he was born. I did not even expect to stumble across an Aussie in Estonia; let alone a hostel operated by one and full of a rag-tag bunch of fellow folks from our great southern land. 

Though the medieval charm of Old Town was enchanting I do recommend only spending a few days there; especially if you're on a budget that does not really accommodate eating out and drinking heavily every night. Unless you want to drink beer that is, in which case go and plonk yourself down at The Red Emperor Bar (dangerously adjacent to the hostel) during happy hour and Bob will certainly be your uncle. I spent most of my time in Tallinn (I was there for four nights I believe) pottering about Old Town. I did try a 'traditional' meal of 'mini avenque procedente del Mar Baltico accompañado can queso y por nuesto caracteristo Leib (spiced Baltic spat with cottage cheese and black bread)' and 'frijoles ensalada de jamonal (bean and ham salad)' for a bargain (not) price of £13. Basically I was an idiot tourist who made the mistake of walking into the emptiest place in town, thinking this was the case because it was well after 3pm. In reality, anybody worth their weight in Lonely Planets would have avoided that place just like Joan Rivers does ageing gracefully. Alas, that was me done with Estonian cuisine and I proceeded to prepare my two specialties for dinner: eggs or chicken and vegetables. 

My bargain meal... I think the one on the left was just chopped up ham with a bit of mayo stirred in.  

I had coffee here - it was more appropriately priced.

The only other point of significant interest that I visited in Estonia was Patarei Prison, a seaside military barracks turned prison which operated until circa 2002 (some sources date it's closure as late as 2005). The Prison provides an unperturbed insight into an ex-Soviet prison, with crumpled and torn magazine clippings still adorning the walls and prisoner's boots left lying haphazardly over the floor. I was rather shocked that the prison was allowed to be a tourist attraction in the state that it was in; cracked glass and barbed wire scattered the floor and hung at levels dangerously close to head height. Regardless, it was a glimpse into the deplorable human suffering faced by many at the hands of the Soviet Union that I never would have been exposed to in Australia.

Walking into Patarei Prison.

The small passage where prisoners were occasionally permitted to walk.

The place was left literally untouched.

The sink prisoners had to utilise.

I never thought I would find Cathy Freeman here.

The library.

The hospital. 

One cell was full of rickety beds and boots.

Following my time in Tallinn, I jumped on a bus headed to Riga, the capital city of Latvia. For those of you who know me in person you would have heard of the slight debacle that obstructed my journey and for those of you who do not I will insert a screen shot of the inevitable Facebook status that follows every single embarrassing moment in my life. 

After paying another £20 and waiting for five hours, hungover and greasy-faced, I finally was en-route to Latvia, travelling with Lux Express (http://www.luxexpress.eu/en). Buses are a cheap and efficient way to get from country to country in Europe and I have been using this means of transport frequently. Though the journey is longer than a plane ride (though not that much so when you consider travelling to and from the airport and the fact that you must be there two hours early) however the benefits to your bank account/alcohol budget far outweigh the disadvantages: it cost me just £17 to get from Latvia to Lithuania for example when previously it has cost me more than that to just check my backpack in on a flight. 

Riga was a beautiful city, absolutely stunning. Though it was small and once again I probably would not advise that anybody spend an extended amount of time there I personally had an excellent experience. Some other travellers had told me that they did not enjoy Riga so much, even suggesting that I skip over it and head straight to Vilnius, my next destination. However, seeing as I am a 'funemployed' free agent and came over to Europe with the intention of going everywhere I still decided to give Latvia a chance. I stayed at a Cinnamon Sally (http://www.cinnamonsally.com - free cinnamon rolls and waffles!) and met some fantastic people there; namely D, one of the employees and Tabby, one of the temporary volunteers. Tabby was just one of those people who I clicked with straight away; her birthday is just a day before mine (though because she is from Canada I joke that the North America/Australia time difference means that we were born on the same day), both of us are slightly kooky and we share a mutual appreciation for the concept of subway for salad. Another cool thing about Tabby is the fact that she is actually a really unique person, studying Chinese medicine in China as her selected career. That really is the beauty of travelling, you meet people from all sorts of eclectic and unimaginable walks of life and then sometimes you become fortunate enough that they like you enough to become a part of your life. 

Riga's colourful Old Town.

Sleeping on the job. 

Every street in Riga is this impressive. 

Whilst in Riga I did spend a lot of time poking about on my own. In all three of the Baltic countries I was given a map from the hostel called 'Made by Locals', which points out all necessary landmarks, cheap places to eat and brilliant places to get boozy. Usually as these cities are so small I tackle them on foot and visit all the must sees this way. I also did take a free walking tour of Latvia of the Art Nouveau district, a lavish, mysterious and seductive style of architecture of which forty percent of Riga's buildings are styled. This was fascinating to me, I had no idea that Latvia was a country of such antique architectural opulence. The extent of my knowledge of the country hitherto had come from an episode of Lizzie McQuire when Lizzie got paired with Kate and had to do an assignment on Latvia. However, as previously stated I once again learnt that the country had plenty more than just Alexander Tort to offer; Riga is actually Europe's 2014 Capital of Culture and I must say I got pretty cultural whilst I was there: trying some local delicacy that involved chicken and cheese (I firmly believe that cheese is a food group), sampling a local glass of red and even attending a Latvian folk dancing night. Naturally I danced like a three legged donkey on Prozac but it does not matter, for I can now tell the story of that time I tried Latvian folk dancing in a local Latvian pub in Latvia... Did I mention that I have been to Latvia? 

I went to take a photo of this little dude without giving him money. He was unimpressed.

Riga's Freedom Monument.

A street stall selling homemade dolls.

The 'Blackhead Building'. 

Mixing with the locals at the market.

The final stop on my Baltic shindig was Lithuania, the southern most Baltic country and the only to not trade in Euro, favouring the Lithuanian Lita until January 1st 2015. 

I stayed in a homely little hostel called Home Made House (http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Home-Made-House/Vilnius/55844) in the capital city, Vilnius. The lovely owner Lena cooked breakfast every day, washed, hung out and folded my washing for me and even took us guests out for drinks in Vilnius on my first night in the city. She was extremely helpful with advising myself and other travellers about our time in Lithuania and also is very well travelled herself, always providing an interesting conversation, usually enjoyed over a glass of Lithuanian red - also provided nightly. 

I spent a lot of my time in Lithuania on foot once again, saving money and hopefully counteracting the amount of things I mindlessly ingest. One thing I did pay for (though it was so cheap, everything in Eastern Europe is) was the Lithuanian Genocide Museum, which displayed the heartbreaking loss of human life experienced under the oppressing regime of the USSR. I think that whilst visiting such countries it is important to dedicate a few hours to paying my respect to the unfathomable and painful history experienced by that nation, but then to also acknowledge and celebrate how the country has since flourished and triumphed over such miserable times. Lithuania is also where I met Robin (my current travel buddy - www.littlebirdinabigworld.com), the only other girl to eventually rock up in my dorm (after my other friends Emily, Brady and Garrett from the US left) which otherwise contained a Javier Bardem lookalike and a plethora of snorers from the world over. We bonded pretty quickly over our love of great television, mild alcoholism and food, sharing an enormous local meal and then going for a walk in attempt to burn the copious amounts of calories we had just consumed. Robin decided to follow me to Poland and now we are sitting on a bus heading to Slovakia together with plans to smash out a few more countries before she heads back to the US. 

A decent Lithuanian feed.

Vilnius Cathedral (it was huge!).

Vilnius University.

Inside Vilnius University's Cathedral (a different cathedral to previously pictured - the city is full of religious buildings). 

Some art being sold in the street which I really liked.

The Gates of Dawn in Vilnius, one of the most religious sites in the world.

Went swimming in Lake Trakai, it's not quite Warnbro beach but it did alright. 

In summation I am extremely glad that I decided to venture into Eastern Europe/AKA the great unknown. Every destination that I visit has something valuable to show even the most seasoned traveller and therefore I will always encourage everybody to take any travel opportunity that comes their way.