Fast track Vilnius

What a schlep of a journey getting here from Krakow. 16hr train journey starting in the middle of the night via Warsaw and Sestokai, Lithuania. Multiple stops meant two things: lack of sleep (as I couldn't risk missing my stops) and complexity.

Warsaw train station was deserted except for drunken louts and at least 4 kebab shops open - very handy (kebab shops that is) as it was 5am and I was starving.



Then came the real issues - I was convinced I was on the correct train to Sestokai, but the train conductor was telling me otherwise, or at least I thought he was. Between this Finnish girl, who had the same issue, and me, we finally figured out that we had to be in the final 3 carriages - surely the conductor could have simply pointed this out via than rap Polish to us - for anyone doing the same journey, remember this! The Finnish girl was hardcore - spent 3wks hitchhiking her way through many of the Baltic states and then thought she'd take the train for a break from the uncertainty!

It was noticeably much cooler in Vilnius; felt a bit like being back home in Britain. But then again, that may have been because there were armies of Brits out there - mostly on stags - and it's difficult to avoid them.

That even Germany scraped past Turkey in atypical nervy fashion. I had planned on an early night as I had a 13hr train to St Petersburg the next day. However, whilst strolling around town, a local boy convinced Ben and I that we could go with him to Prospekus club. It didn't take much persuasion. Turns out that this dude is the MacDaddy of Vilnius. All the girls were over him like a rash - he even helped us out (in pity). Ended up being a 6am job.

A hazy walk around the Old Town followed the next afternoon; lucky that most sights can be seen in a matter of hours.

If I had more time, I probably would have headed 30km out of town to a place called Trakai, which is a lake resort.

So far, I had crossed 4 borders and my passport has not been taken out of my pocket. But now it was time to face the Russian authorities and cross Latvia into St Petersburg, where the trip was originally going to begin.

Poland rocks

I've never had a strong desire to visit Poland and am only here because I thought it would be cool to take a train to St Petersburg rather than fly. Great call because my time in Poland has been truly brilliant, and here's why ...

Warsaw

So I decided that I didn't need my own room, shower and space, so checked in at the Oki Doki Hostel. It turned out that I picked the best hostel of the lot. Thanks to the hostel bar, I met a bunch of cool (and some wierd) people.

I'm not sure how to describe Warsaw; it felt neither modern or old; much of it had to be rebuilt after WWII.

The Old Town, one of the two main districts, is very cool, and home to most of the main attractions, including the Royal Castle. The United Buddy Bears were in town too (http://www.united-buddy-bears.com/). But I was most impressed by the Palace of Culture and Science, Poland's tallest building at over 200m. It's like a mini city housing cinemas, theatres, shops, museums, offices etc. Warsaw is most famous for the Warsaw Rising, Warsaw's liberation from German occupation by the Red Army in 1944. There is a beautiful monument marking the event and a very cool museum dedicating to the events of that time.

I explored the nightlife too - fantastic, but surprisingly expensive. I can highly recommend Cafe Bar Lemon for its drinks and clientele! The next night we stumbled on the ultimate place (cannot recall the name of) when Mary thought she heard some music from a basement across the road. We walk across, music sounds wierd, so we pay 5zl entry (about £1) and go in. There were Poles and the four of us (James, Mary, Lindsey and me). The music was great, one minute house, next cheesy. The Poles were out of control and most of them would take their shoes/slippers off before dancing on the greasy floor - so we thought it would be rude not to do the same - nasty, but what the hell.

Krakow

The Saturday I arrived in Krakow was Wianki - an annual cultural event marking midsummer but also dates back to pagan times, so one of the most important days of the Polish calendar, which also meant the biggest party of the year. Approx 100,000 people gathered along the river bank for the open air concert to commemorate the event. Most of the music was Polish and I'm afraid not good (in my opinion and some locals too), but the star of the show was Jamiroquai. The fireworks display to close the event was spectacularto say the least - London could learn from this!

The city itself is tiny - Old Town through to the Wawel (Royal) Castle to Kasmierz (Jewish quarter) is a 20min walk! But the buildings are beautiful, and the people too, and the "city" has a great vibe. The food is excellent too - I had a wonderful meal at U Babci Maliny (http://www.kuchniaubabcimaliny.pl/) serving typical Polish peasant's food in an authentic and well decorated manner with music from Chopin playing in the background - try the pierogi (ravioli dumplings) or the nalesniki (pancakes) - delicious!

The town itself seemed to be buzzing constantly, but especially at night when people of all ages were out until the early hours. Having scoped out all the bars/clubs the night before, Monday night was always destined to be a big night. James, who I met in Warsaw, had arrived into Krakow, as didhis mates from Suffolk. It was carnage. Pick any club and you can have a fun time here - Prozac, Ministerstwo, Respect, Cien, list goes on. The beer gardens are great in the evenings too for a more chilled out evening (such as RE).

There are also some awesome underground salt mines, up to 150m deep, which are cool to visit and only a short bus ride away.

The hostel I stayed in during this time was absolutely amazing - highly recommend it - Greg&Tom Hostel. They surprise you with cakes, ice cream, vodka shots, and best of all, they have ProEvo on PS2 - thought I'd spend my final evening in playing PS2 before a 1:30am train to Vilnius, to save money of course.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

One of the main reasons people visit Krakow is to go to the nearby famous, but terrible, Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp from WWII.

Without having visited other concentration camps to compare to this experience, I can honestly say it ranks as the most horrific place I've ever visited. The area comprises of 2 main camps, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) as well as approximately 40 other satellite camps in and around the area. The Nazis chose this area for its excellent rail links from other parts of Europe (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy etc). Auschwitz I is tiny in comparison to Birkenau, and was established in 1940 to imprison/exterminate Polish intellectuals who were considered a threat. Soon, the Nazis realised they needed a significantly larger camp and began the construction of Birkenau in 1941. The scale of this camp is overwhelming, 30 times the sizeof Auschwitz I, much of it destroyed by the Germans as soon as they found out the Red Army was approaching. This is the site most people know as "Auschwitz". Most of the people brought to the camp were deemed useless and were killed immediately, mainly by gassing, in one of the two large gas chambers that sit at the end of the railway line - they thought they we're entering shower facilities. The gas chamber could hold 2,000 people each and the cyanide would take no more than 20mins to kill everyone inside.

Those who were imprisoned, had appalling living arrangements and almost no sanitary facilities. The forms of torture used during the time can only be imagined today - starvation cells, suffication cells, standing cells, public hanging, and the infamous death wall where supposedly 10,000 were shot dead.

It was here that an estimated 1.5m (potentially up to 2.5m) people were killed, mainly Jews.
We often hear about how it was like for the Allies during WWII, but rarely get an insight into what is was like for the occupied regions. I encourage everyone to visit if they have not done so already as it is a stark reminder of what should never be repeated again.

Poland in summary

So to finish on a lighter note, here are some of my observations on Poland:

* Very open and friendly people, which I didn't necessarily expectgiven their harsh recent history

* Seems like a very safe place; little police presence in major areas

* Poles spend a lot of effort looking their best - when I went to the barber shop, I was surprised it was costing me £10 for a haircut. It's cos they love their hair and are willing to spend serious money on it.Everyone was getting funky hairstyles; I felt quite lame with my Grade 1 shave, so I decided to grow a goatie instead

* The girls have the best legs I've ever seen ... with no exception!

* There are zillions of kebab shops, and the kebabs taste great

* Almost everyone smokes, girls more so than guys

* Some famous Poles: Pope John Paul II, Roman Polanski, Nicholas Copernicus, Fryderyk Chopin, Maximilian Kolbe and Robert Kubica

B&B ... Brussels and Berlin

I had never been to Brussels before, and to be honest, it was uninspiring. Thankfully, they have some great cafes/bars (my favourite: Mappa Mundo on the corner of St Gery place), which were surprisingly busy for a Monday afternoon. Some people were having food and a bite to eat, others working with their laptops, and some just reading a book in solitude - all in all, a very good atmosphere. I spent most of my 12hrs in Brussels cafe-hopping before catching an overnight train to Berlin.

I had visited Berlin before so I was less interested in seeing the usual sights in town. Lucky that as I spent the best part of the afternoon in a hospital getting a second opinion on why my ear was aching (doctor I saw in London just before I left was unconvincing). Same response though: "no major issues, here's some penicillin", except in German.

That evening was a big event - France vs Italy in Euro 2008. I saw the same teams do battle in the World Cup Final 2yrs ago at the Olympic Stadium less than 10 miles away from where I was watching it this time round, a cool bar I stumbled upon near Senefelderplatz which had no name or flag. It was obvious it was French though - 500 fans outside watching on the big screen screaming "marchons, marchons" as La Marseillaise played out, oh and the only beer on tap was Kronenbourg 1664. Same result and just like 2yrs ago, I ended up at a quirky and very cool nightspot: 8mm (www.8mmbar.com), where I met Tim, a photographer from Islington, and Petra, a Romanian girl who is in love with India and its people following a 8mth visit there.

I headed out of town the following day to a place called Potsdam, the former residence of the Prussian kings. The place is well worth a visit. Beautiful gardens, fantastic architecture (influenced by the French, Dutch and even the Chinese) and a great place to play around with my new camera for the first time. That night, I settled down at a local campsite that had a huge TV projector screen (and a few happy Russians too)! to enjoy the football and a quiet drink.

I was now ready to move on. I took the 570km train journey from Berlin across the seemingly never ending green pasteurs of Poland to my next destination, Warsaw. Here I am, checked in at the Oki Doki Hostel.

The journey begins ...

Equipped with visas to Russia, Mongolia and China, all of which were hard-fought for, and some small change for coin-operated showers on trains (among other things), I now leave for my journey across the Eurasian plate to Beijing, China.

I leave behind my comfortable bed, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 on the Playstation 2 which has kept me good company over the past several weeks, and my car which I may never see again.

The few luxuries I am allowing myself include a BlackBerry phone, a sexy new Canon G9 camera, an iPod with loads of movies and great TV shows such as Only Fools and Horses, toilet tissue (scarce on some trains) and PG Tips to accompany the boiling water provided on the Trans Siberian Railway.

By the time I return, Holland will have been crowned Euro 2008 Champions (hopefully), Obama will be the new President of the US (hopefully), Europe will have won the Ryder Cup (hopefully) and Liverpool will be top of the Premier League (certainly).

I’m very excited although I have to leave home very soon to catch the 8.05 train from St Pancras to Brussels. Let’s hope I make it!