Gdansk, Poland –> Warsaw, Poland –> Berlin, Germany –> Rostock, Germany
This was my first backpacking experience ever. It was very interesting yet also frightening. Cat had a field lab the first day in Gdansk so we stayed in port and walked around. It was such a cute town with lots of shops including amber. Amber is a stone that is most prevalent in Poland so all the stores had amber jewelry to sell. We ate at this adorable cafe and I got a Tyskie beer, which was ‘the’ Polish beer. We walked around a lot and ended up getting ice cream. It was MAD cheap but the scoops were smaller than golf balls. But it was still worth it. I loved Gdansk. Even though it was fairytale like it was just so peaceful and happy. Everyone seemed calm and was super nice to help you in any way. Plus the Zloty currency conversion is pretty sweet too.
But off we were. Taking the midnight train from Gdansk to Warsaw. So at 11:35 PM us and the rest of the SASers boarded the most sketch train ever. We didn’t plan any of the trip so we had bought our tickets 2 hours before the train left so we weren’t guaranteed seats…and we definitely weren’t. So we had to “sleep” on the floor of the train. A lot of SASers went to Krakow to see the concentration camps, but we went to Warsaw which is Poland’s capital. I did not get to see a concentration camp and that is something I regret but life goes on. We wandered around Warsaw and saw some cool memorials, a huge fountain, a sundial and some cool buildings. Our end point was going to the Old Town, which was also cute and not as modern as the rest of Warsaw. It was also our first time staying in a hostel. Since it was our first time we decided to book a youth hostel. After we dropped our stuff off and went back into Warsaw we came back to an older lady and we were like WHAT, shes not a youth! But anyway, that night we ate some yummy pizza and watched flame throwing street performers. Night time was magical and we ended it by star gazing atop of a thick brick wall.
The next morning we headed for Berlin! On the train ride there we met a Canadian pentathalon athlete who just had competed in the world championships. She was pretty cool and we had a fun time with her on the train because she actually spoke English! In Berlin we got to go inside of one of their Parliament buildings which rarely happens. It was a special day event. We also took a free city walking tour and saw where Hitler’s bunker was, where he killed himself, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and the original Berlin Wall. Later by ourselves we visited the East Gallery part of the Berlin wall where there were just massive beautiful murals and graffiti. I really loved Berlin. It is a cultural city so you see a lot of minorities. I liked it because it was obviously a real city, but I question the fact if I would consider living or not there someday. I love it because it’s not American, and that it’s a city, but do I really love Berlin or did I really love it for those reasons? Anyhow, I still had an amazing time and the bars in Berlin were very chill.