Trip - Denmark, Hamburg, Berlin, Poland

Another long but fun day. I started the morning in Padborg, Denmark. First I went to Hamburg, which seemed surprsingly nondescript. I think I needed to dig deeper to really appreciate Hamburg and its history, but there wasn't enough time on a day when I still wanted to visit Berlin and had to get to Poland.

I liked Berlin very much. Not necessarily because it was a nice city. It wasn't all that nice. But it was different, and that's what I liked about it. The western cities in Germany felt like they almost could be in Britain. But Berlin definitely didn't. And just the thought of being in a place that used to be (or at least half of it used to be) communist, was very neat. While I was there I went up in the famous TV tower. Besides having a very interesting history and purpose, it gave me an awesome view of the city.

After Berlin I headed northeast to Szczecin, Poland (pronounced "cheh-cheen"). Wow. All of the things I liked about Berlin were much more true about Poland. I've never been to Russia, but I think I have a feeling about what it might be like after being in Szczecin. I thought that because Szczecin was so close to Germany it wouldn't be much different. I was way off. It's amazing how big of a difference just a few miles can make. I think Szczecin might even be more Polish than Warsaw.

Everyone who I had talked to about Poland said that almost everyone there speaks English. The people of Szczecin must not have gotten that message. The only person I met that night who spoke English was the lady who worked at the hotel I stayed at. Even the tourist information person at the train station... when I asked "Do you speak English?" the response was: "Polski".

One more thing about Poland and Germany. The food there is incredibly good. And in eastern Germany and especially Poland, it's very cheap. It made the food (& food prices) in the UK look like even more of a joke.


(click to enlarge)

posted by Matt @ 11:59 PM