8:00 am

Success! I RULE CZECHOSLOVAKIA! I was happy when only two of us were in the compartment. The girl was Yugoslavian. When the inspector came around, I showed him my ticket and he said, "Zbrodowice?" as if, "Why are you going there?" I explained (in Pig Latin Polish sign language) that my Eurailpass covered the rest of the trip. Fine. Then, as we get to the border, my nerves are on edge, although I had been keeping myself busy by reading. The Czechs came in -- one by one -- inspecting passports. After an hour's wait, we crossed the border. This time, more Czechs got on and thoroughly inspected the train -- they asked me to put my seat upright. It was stuck, but I finally managed and they looked under it. In the next cabin, they were knocking on the walls and ceiling. They knocked on the ceiling all the way through the train. It was 1 am. Finally, we continued our journey -- nobody had asked about the tickets. I felt better, but I knew it was still coming. My stomach was churning. I tried to sleep, but couldn't. At 2:30 am, there was a pound at the door and someone came in to inspect tickets. I was taken by surprise. I fumbled for my Eurailpass and gave it to him without even looking at him -- trying to be nonchalant, but feeling like I was giving myself away. He said thank you and gave it right back! What a relief! That was it! I had won! I was still so wired that I barely slept -- maybe 2 hours total. Crossing the Austrian border was a snap. No one has ever checked my bags. Luckily. Now I'm in Vienna for 15 hours. Time to explore! Very expensive here -- I paid $3 for a danish and tea that would have cost 50¢ in Poland! But I've reserved my couchette for Venice (no more train tickets - yay) and I'm ready to go!

2:00 pm

I'm sitting in the huge courtyard of Schloss Shönberg, overlooking Vienna. Very beautiful. This is a wonderful city. Very clean, very easy to get around, very accommodating to tourists and very picturesque. It's another warm and sunny day. There's a great breeze blowing up here. I'm getting so crazed, though. I'm trying to think of ways I can still do everything, including Switzerland. It just won't work. If I travel overnight constantly, I won't meet people in hostels. I should stay 2 nights in Venice. We'll see what happens. Vienna is very expensive. I can't buy or do much at all.

2:10 pm

Well, I've reached my point of total frustration! I was trying to get a ticket from Krakow to Vienna. Found out that it would cost $35 -- quite a bit more than I expected. So I went to get more money exchanged. I thought $35 was for a couchette, but it's for just a ticket. I had only $30, because I though it would be less without a couchette. I went back later a third time. I had heard yesterday that the Eurailpass was now good in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Nobody knew. I finally just wanted to buy the $35 ticket, but they gave me a $2.50 ticket to the Polish border. If the Eurailpass isn't good in Czechoslovakia, I may be in trouble. Still, I can't imagine it would cost $35 to cross Czechoslovakia. Oh well. I was rather distraught at first, but now I'm over it. This is one of those unexpected misadventures. See what happens next! I'm sitting in the Krakow square next to a man who's yelling at passersby. Fun town. I never seem to dress for the weather. Today it's sunny and hot -- no shorts on, of course. And my stuff is at the station. I bought a chess set and want to mail it home, but I think it would be too hard to figure out. I managed to get to Wawel Hill today, but I blew off the salt mines. I was supposed to meet the New York couple there. I wish that Swede from last night wasn't going to Auschweitz today. I would've liked to hang around with him. He had such big, beautiful eyes! And very friendly. He said good-bye to me at 7:00 this morning as he was leaving and I was still in bed. I wonder what I can expect from Austria. I'll spend more, I'll bet. I just hope I get there without a hassle!

5:15 pm

Still in the square. They've set up a stage in front of the clock tower and some little kids in traditional costumes are singing songs. Very musical city, this Krakow. This could really be fun later on if there are real bands. What more could I ask for? I'm trying to figure out if I can go to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. It could work out after Barcelona. Last day is July 14, when I'd leave Barcelona anyway. Could be fun! I wish I had a video camera. These kids singing would be great for an international "Those Bloomin' Kids."

7:45 pm

This polka band playing in the square is playing "Melody of Love." Of course! These Poles sure love their ice cream -- lody. Everyone is eating it. There are stands all over the place. I'm bummed that there's not another band on the stage. What a waste. Getting nervous (again) about Czechoslovakia! I'm always so unprepared! Now, when I have nothing but time, I don't have my book, "It's Always Something" by Gilda Radner. It's a very good book. I'd enjoy reading it now, but that would mean going back to the station and getting my stuff out. I'd rather be in the square.

11:00 pm

Reflections of Poland. A country unprepared for mass tourism. When you get off the train at Osweicim, there are no signs or anything telling you how to get to the concentration camps. Very few people speak English. One woman at the market in Warsaw was freaked when I spoke English after she had been showing me her Soviet toys and explaining something in Polish. She looked at me as if I were from Mars! Even Warsaw is not prepared for tourists. Everything is so cheap, though. 15¢ for a rose! $3.50 for a pierogi and beer dinner at an Armenian restaurant. And traveling is incredible. I'd bet a trip across the entire country would be under $10. Maybe $8. Krakow to the border is $2.50. Hostels have co-ed rooms. Pretty dirty, though. And no toilet paper! Same with the trains. No paper towel, or no soap, or the water doesn't work. This is the first time I've listened to my music. It makes me feel happy and safe when I'm scared about Czechoslovakia!

11:00 pm

Yay! I met some people today. It had been a while since I'd had a conversation. When I got back to the hostel at 9:30 pm, a Swede in my room started a conversation. He told me of his year-long travel in SE Asia. How he found Tibet enchanting, the Chinese rude, Thailand beautiful. He was so cute, so excited about his adventures. He's traveling 2 weeks in Poland. Then a British couple, biking around the world for 3 years, came in. We talked about Auschweitz mostly. They're biking and raising money for charity. Incredible people! The other guy in the room, an American, said he was taken in by a Polish family for 3 days. What adventures! Went to Aushweitz. Very intense. Very different from Dachau. Everything's intact. And they have human hair, shoes, glasses, hairbrushes -- all there on display. Very arresting. It was really overwhelming. I felt weak quite a few times. Like upon seeing the standing cells, where four people stood for days, crushed against each other. I saw two Wasinskis on the list of those killed. Wow. Talk about having it hit home. I met a couple from New York (he's Australian) and we talked quite a bit on the train back and at dinner. They're traveling around the world for a year. All these people doing it! Their tickets cast $2800 for 20 flights! That's great. They said they didn't like the uncleanliness of Asia, or the thievery. They saw India and Nepal -- had a great personal tour of the Taj Mahal. I want to do it all! Had a good pierogi dinner tonight. Wish I had more time to write this!

11:00 am

I got to see some Polish countryside. And, yes, it was just as I envisioned. Little old ladies in their peasant outfits working in the field. I even saw a haywagon overloaded with hay, being pulled by a horse -- just like that John Constable painting. Men are cutting hay with a sickle. Beautiful. It's little chillier and cloudy today. Of course -- I wore shorts. I think I'll spend only one night in Krakow, take a night train to Vienna, spend Friday there, take a night train to Venice and spend two days (one night) there.

3:15 pm

Krakow is absolutely lovely. It's the Poland I expected to see -- very old, beautiful buildings, a central town square, vendors selling wood items for cheap! I just wish I could carry everything I'd like to buy. They have great chess boards for $5 - $25. Incredible. Great Polish and Krakowian items, too. It'd be great for the family, but... Can't carry it! Maybe I will spend two nights here! Especially if I want to see Auschweitz. I'm sitting in the lobby of the hostel waiting for someone to come. People (everyone but the receptionist) are very helpful.

6:00 pm

Doesn't quite fit. I'm sitting in an outdoor cafe in the main square in Krakow and there's a guy playing an electric guitar for money. People seem to enjoy it, although he's not getting a lot of money. It's been a pretty lonely day. Just wandering around. I found the Youth Hostel all right. It's open all day so I didn't need to check my bag. Oh well. No Americans here. Of course, it rained a bit. Very few people in shorts! I've been stared at quite a bit. Especially when I put on my emergency poncho! The church in the square -- St. Mary's, I think -- plays a bugle call on the hour, and it stops abruptly. It commemorates the time when a watchman sounded an alarm and was struck in the throat by an enemy arrow. As far as tourist areas go, there are not a lot of people here. Pretty uncrowded. Nice. I managed to order a tea with milk. Now if I could figure out how to order that great-looking ice cream dish that someone next to me has! I wish I had spent more time in Hamtramck!

7:20 pm

Just sat out (stood out?) another rain squall. "Here Comes the Rain Again" has been running through my mind on this trip. So has "Train to Kokomo" by the Neville Brothers. I was singing "Life From a Window" by The Jam on the trip from Warsaw to Krakow. The square here has an eerie light now after the rain. A band of old men has been playing guitar and accordion music -- everyone's gathered around. I feel like I'm at the PNA Hall. Now they're playing a polka -- look out! Shit. Here's the rain. Should've gone to the hostel when I had the chance.

9:30 pm

Made it back to the hostel. And even bought my ticket to Osweicim (Auschweitz) tomorrow. Everyone in my room is already in bed. So much for meeting people. There are a million kids running around this place. I know, what do you expect for $5? I don't like the fact that everyone in the bathroom can watch you shower, either. High school all over again. Oh, oh. My trip's half over! That's great, though. Many more adventures await me! I spent 45¢ for tea and danish, $1.20 for a 2 liter drink, 5¢ for a roll, $1 for pizza and beer. Total food bill: $3.15. Europe on $10 a day! Every time that I think someone might be an American, they start jabbering in some weird language. It's very annoying!

6:00 am

Darn that sun! Since it rises at 4:00 am, it's not easy to sleep in on the train. The family left at 4:30, but now I'm awake. Should be to Warsaw in an hour. Interesting that things are written on this train in four languages -- and English isn't one of them. German, French, Russian and something else. This is a DDR train -- it has a map of the old East Germany on the wall.

11:00 am

I've discovered the thriving marketplace outside of the Warszawa Centralna station. It's basically a large flea market. Mostly junk, but some Russian junk that's pretty interesting. They cook and sell kielbasa, too -- of course! I bought a t-shirt for $2. Big spender. Funny thing is, the train trip from Warsaw to Krakow cost almost as little -- zts. 36400 or $3.20. There were some Soviet medals for $3.00 that I might buy. Some nice sweaters, too, but I'm not going to carry them! It's hot and sunny today. I managed to find the Youth Hostel with only one wrong turn. Pretty good. I was settled and out and about by 9:15. Wandered around the train station for a while, just observing. Bought my ticket to Krakow and started at the market. I've got about half more to go. It's very difficult trying to but things here! I love the little Polish Fiats!

12:30 pm

These damn zlotsys. They're so confusing. Too many zeros. I still have over 600,000 left. And I bought a big Pepsi, a danish, a kielbasa, 2 toys, a shirt and a train ticket. Total = $9.00! Pretty incredible. But it's so frustrating using bills worth only 4¢. More than once, I gave the vendor hundreds instead of thousands. Silly me. I'm so confused! And it's only 12:30!

3:30 pm

How rude! I was sitting by the river on this makeshift platform, trying to get high, but couldn't light the pipe because suddenly there were tons of people coming and going and the wind was blowing something fierce, so I was writing a postcard to Matt and Eli instead when a truck pulls up, these guys jump out and start taking the planks away around me, never saying a word to me. Well, I figured I'd better disperse the pot and leave, So I did. I'm still on the river. The sun is shining. It's been a beautiful day. On the way to the river, I stumbled across an Andy Warhol exhibit at the Museum Nadrowe. Cost 50¢ to get in! This place is great!

9:40 pm

Youth Hostels are great. This young Polish couple came up to me and asked if I had an alarm clock they could borrow, because they needed to get up early. No problem. Unfortunately, the alarm is so loud it will wake up the entire hostel at 5:00 am. How fun! Did I mention that it's on the fifth floor? I hope the hostel in Krakow is open at 12:30 when I get there, but I'm sure it isn't. I'll ask at the desk if they know.

11:30 am

Berlin is a weird city. All sorts of crowds and demonstrations. I got in at 6:30 am and it took 3 1/2 hours before I was settled and ready to explore. I had to get over to Lichtberg Station to store my pack, because that's where my train leaves from. But there was no money exchange open, so I went to Hauptbanhof and there was some kind of demonstration going on. The police were out guarding this one platform where the next train was going to Moscow. Not sure what was going on, but I took a picture. Finally got money and a ticket to Warsaw! Can hardly wait! Berlin is a pretty dirty, smelly city so far. I saw the Brandenburg Gate and crossed the river to where the wall is still standing. It was pretty intense. There are markers for all those who died crossing. Even 2 in 1989. It was strange that no other tourists crossed the river to touch and be by the wall. I wouldn't have missed it. The eastern side is truly gross. The smell of diesel is giving me a headache. I hear Poland is no better. I don't know why I expected to hear more English here! I'm not sure what I'll do the rest of the day here. There's a Checkpoint Charlie Museum. And I'll have to stroll down to main street -- Kurfurstendamm. Sleeping in the couchette last night was pretty nice. I just have a seat tonight.

2:30 pm

I'm sitting in a beautiful park in the middle of Berlin -- the Tiergarten. It's almost a woods, really. A lazy river running through. Birds chirping, geese flapping in the water, bells chiming. And it's all so green and peaceful. And strange birds that I've never seen before. How beautiful. Only the bugs are pretty bad. I guess Berlin's a city of contrasts. I just left the scene of tourists chipping away at the wall, while a construction crew nearby tries to eliminate the last traces of it anyway. I got a piece of it. It was so cool just touching it and reading the graffiti. Such a buzz.

6:00 pm

I thought coming to Aleksander Platz would be fun. Looked like an active place in the postcards. Well it sure is. There's some protest about East Germans losing their jobs and their welfare as of today. Luckily, one of the protesters spoke English and explained it to me. I suppose it's related to this morning's protest, but who knows? All is not well in re-unified Germany. She said that they wanted DDR to stay Communist. I suppose it would be difficult to wipe out 45 years of a political system in 1 1/2 years. Pretty interesting city, this Berlin. I spent he afternoon on Ku-damm Strasse. A very bust retail area. Damn, these little black bugs are terrible! I've been feeling very lonely today. And very nervous about Poland.

It's very interesting. Most "revolutionaries" in the States are younger. Here, there are many older people marching. They're the ones who've grown up and lived with Communism. Old habits are hard to break, eh? There are hundreds of people marching! I love a good demonstration!

7:30 pm

I guess Maude was right. You don't need language to communicate. An old German man came up to me and started talking about the several men who are playing "the shell game" under a viaduct at Aleksander Platz. He said he didn't understand how they did it, or why people fell for it -- or something like that! I didn't let on that I knew not a word of German. I just kept nodding and smiling. I followed the march to the Deutch Bank. (I think the DM had devalued in the past year.) It was fun being at the forefront. What did I care? I'm a foreigner. I'll be in Poland in just hours.

11:00 pm

Almost to the border. We just spent 45 minutes at the station in Frankfurt (Oder) getting passports checked. Mine was checked four times before it was stamped. When the Polish guard first came in I was utterly befuddled. He spoke in Polish of all things! I think he asked if I had anything to declare, but I hadn't a clue. I just meekly said, "I don't understand." I was so intimidated! But now I'm on my way and there's only two of us in this compartment, so I'll be able to stretch out and sleep. Good deal. It was worth the risk of not getting a couchette for another $15. Poland!!

11:50 pm

Well, I won't be able to stretch out and sleep. I forgot that there are other stops on the way to Warsaw. And long ones! We stayed in Katowice another 45 minutes and we've been at this station for 15 minutes already. Our compartment has been invaded by 2 lovely grandparents and two little Polish girls. The man looks like Pope John Paul and the woman has a wonderful blue rinse. She's feeding the girls tomatoes and cucumbers. And they're all speaking Polish! It's surprising what a warm, happy feeling I have. Memories of my childhood, visiting the Polish-speaking relatives in Hamtramck. They didn't speak it often, but I do remember!