day 436 – the morning began with another stomach stuffing buffet breakfast. we checked out and stored our bags then headed into the city for another day of wandering. this time we headed to the belvedere palace and saw the klimt exhibition. the palace was amazing and i was happy to also see munch, renoir and a few monets. i was also surprised to find myself standing in front of the awesome (and famous) painting ‘napoleon crossing the alps’ by jacques-louis david. the one at the belvedere is the original (there are 5 versions).
the day was turning into a day of galleries. we next went to the albertina and saw a warhol exhibition. they also had some munch, monet, renoir, picasso and (yay!) a matisse.
wandering galleries is tiring work, so we walked through town and returned to the hotel. we had some fruit and coffee, grabbed our bags and went to the bus station. christina and i jumped the bus to prague and arrived late at the hotel. it took a bit of walking around to find the hotel, but it was surprisingly close to the bus station, which was good. we had a sandwich and beer from the nearby supermarket, checked email and got some needed sleep.
day 437 – prague was a city we’d been looking forward to. so we started the day early and, after breakfast, headed straight to the river and walked down to the famous charles bridge. we took a look around the kafka museum (very cool) and splurged on some pizza and beer for lunch … it was by the riverside and a little expensive! after that we walked through prague’s old city and got caught in the rain. we walked more and it rained more. we gave up and walked in the rain back to the hotel.
at the hotel we got talking to some other travelers, relaxed and headed to bed.
day 438 – today we were on a mission – find our way to a small polish village where a friend of mine lives. the village’s name is gliwice and we started out by looking for bus tickets, since buses are often much cheaper in europe. the bus station staff were unhelpful and were trying to tell us the wrong city. they didn’t seem to know much and the prices they quoted us were ridiculously expensive … frustrated, we went to the train station. we got the tickets immediately and they were surprisingly cheap!
relieved, we headed back into the old town for another look around. we headed across the charles bridge and waled up to the palace on top of the hill. the cathedral inside was massive and really beautiful. we took some photos and on the way back down the hill stopped for some wine at a nice vineyard.
the day had been long and the wine slowed us down … we walked home, had a slice of pizza and relaxed on the balcony of the hostel. we talked for a while and then called it a night.
day 439 – our prague hostel also offered free breakfast. it wasn’t as awesome as the wombat’s hostel in vienna, but it was still a good breakfast. during breakfast, christina and i made some extra sandwiches (kinda stole them, actually) for the train trip to poland. we grabbed our bags, checked out and headed to the train station.
the ride across the border was simple and fun … we headed on to katowice and then the small village of gliwice where we met an old travel buddy sylwia. we headed to her house and met her family. they welcomed us and we ate a hell of a lot of food! we all talked for ages, catching up on memories of travel and craziness in india and bangladesh (where sylwia and i met).
day 440 – my birthday – i have spent my last three birthdays in three different parts of the world. in 2008 i spent my birthday (boringly) in korea. 2009 i had my birthday at gokyo, nepal (5500 meters above sea level). in 2010 i spent my birthday in a small polish village.
i got lots of emails and birthday wishes (which was nice) and although it was raining we spent the day looking around gliwice. we checked out the local church where sylwia and her family go, saw some more of the village and then had a nice lunch in one of the local restaurants (the kind of lodge restaurant with lots of big stuffed bears and trophy animals around the room).
when we went back to sylwia’s house her family wanted to see my travel photos. so i put together a quick collection and we looked at them on her big tv. the photos looked pretty cool on a big screen in high res! sylwia’s grandma (who is totally awesome) broke out the cherry brandy and we all got a little sloshed … mind you, the woman can drink!
