Grad Trip Part 2: Poland

We left Amsterdam early in the morning and took a direct train to Berlin. We did not have a reservation, at the start of the journey we only reserved seats on the trains we absolutely had to. I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, just out of convienience I would recommend reserving them. But you don’t have to do that through the Intrarail website and wait  until it is sent to you by post, you can do that at any train station. With that first journey we had two small problems (not even problems, just things worth noting that are not that obvious for people that don’t use trains all the time). Firstly, since our train left at 7am, there was almost no staff on the train station and we couldn’t get through automated gates were you just scan ticket (our was a printed ‘old fashioned’ one). We managed to find a bigger group with the same problem and when they found a member of the staff, we just tailgated. Secondly, we didn’t know that the names of the places above the seats mean that they are reserved until this destination is reached (seems pretty obvious, right?) and we had to change seats 3 times, until finally someone pointed those with no writing at all (not reserved). For that reason it would be better to get a reservation, but It wasn’t the end of the world.

The train station in Berlin is big and modern, with a lot of food places and…that’s it. We had 3 hours to spend in Berlin before catching another train (with the reservation this time!) and there was nothing to do! We walked for about 20 mins one way from the train station and there was nothing appealing, no market square, no restaurants or bars, just a wide road, few huge buildings and construction works. I know 3 hours in a city is not the best reflection of its potential, I was quite disappointed tho. We met one of my brothers (he is working there for few weeks) and off we went to Poznan, Poland.

Entering my homecountry, the landscape has become more homely than Germany. Again, there isn’t really a big difference, but the view across Germany was just…boring. In Poland we passed through little villages, meadows full of poppies, we saw a stork or two… and we reached Poznan, quickly met with brother number 2 (who studies there) and caught our final train that day, to my hometown, Oborniki Slaskie, near Wroclaw.

 

Time spent at home was mainly family time (with my 3^rd brother, parents, granny, dog and 2 cats), our friend’s wedding and lots of ‘organizational work’ (paperwork, hairdresser, shopping etc) so there is not much to write. 

I’ll post a few photos tho because it was a lovely time spent with my closest. I do sincerely recommend visiting Poland, if you haven’t, it is very underrated and has a lot to offer. Here is mainly surroundings of my hometown and the beautiful city of Wroclaw. Enjoy!