Comparisons and Statistics

I've been collecting observations over the past 9 days about my return to the US.

First, a glimpse into how long 99 days really is:

• When I left home, the high temperature for the day was a scorching 106° F, which was very hot even for an Indiana summer.  When I returned, the high temperature for the day was 67° F (which occurred at midnight) and then fell to about 39° F.
• The interstate numbers have changed because a new section of I-69 has opened.
• My grocery store moved across the street.
• The Olympics started and finished.
• A tree fell in my backyard.
• The front of my house changed, as Laurel did some landscaping.

Some observances on differences between Europe and the US which I see now.  It's the little things, really.

• Light switches are different.  Yes, the plugs are different, too, but the light switches are also different.
• Difference from the UK: you don't have to turn on a plug with a tiny switch at the outlet.
• Prices here are given without tax.  I got used to walking up to cash registers and paying what the sign said, not 7-8% more.
• I walk so much less here.
• There are no trains!  In general, public transportation is much more limited in Indiana.
• I actually have to plan out my meals.  This is not only because I ate out more in Poland, but also because stopping by a store on my way home requires more work.
• I can't think of anywhere in this city with a walk-up food-order window open regularly.  At least, not one that you wouldn't have to drive to first anyway.

Other notes:

• I have been on 12 planes in the past 100 days, covering a very approximate 13,000 miles.
• I have explored three countries and passed through a fourth.
• I have seen buildings and artifacts that are centuries older than the US's entire existence.
• My smartphone feels so powerful again.  I recognize that it's now a year out of date, but having used this for the past 90 days or so, it feels like a beast.

• I'm pretty sure every single app on my phone needed an update.  Oh, and the O/S, too.
• My key ring is so much heavier here.
• I've added new Facebook friends, including two Belgians, two British guys, one Omani, one Australian, and several Poles.  Some of them have moved on from Poland, just like I have.  Laurel and I now have friends literally all over the world.

This will likely be my last post to this blog.  Thank you all for coming along with me on my journey.  It's been a wonderful experience and a summer to always remember!

Read more »

UK Day 8 - London

London is huge.  It's not something you can see in one day, or even 1.5 days, which is the amount of time I have here.  Earlier, I decided to go to Buckingham Palace and a museum.  Quartney went with me to the palace (she had never been) and then took off to head home while I went to the British Museum.

Buckingham Palace is everything you would think proper British royalty is.  Enormous rooms?  Check.  Fancy staircases?  Check.  Huge portraits of your family tree?  Check.  More forks than you can shake a scepter at?  Check.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow photography of the exhibitions, so I don't have many pictures to share of the occasion.  I can tell you that they have an enormous collection of art, furniture, tableware, and gold rope...

Oh, and they have diamonds, too.  We saw a large collection of the royal diamonds, over 10,000 of them, in various articles of royal attire.  When the British want to make something glitter, they know how to do it.  In any other context, I would have thought I was looking at the world's largest collection of costume jewelry.  Instead, I shuffled by several, several million pounds worth of bling.

Outside the palace, you can take as many photos as you want, so I've got some of those to share:

The palace guard (you know, the guys with the funny hats) were out but well beyond the gate.  I was kind of hoping to put Quartney next to one of them for the comical height difference in a photo.  However, it didn't appear that any of these guys were actually outside their gate.  Oh well.

Before I left Poland, I spoke to some British guys about what to see in London.  The British Museum came highly recommended.  One fellow described it as "imperialistic kleptomania," and that's a pretty good assessment.  There are a lot of things here that you really stop and wonder why they're in Britain.  I took a lot of photos, but let's hit the highlights here.

First of all, the grand hall in the museum is enormous.  It's really hard to get a good sense of the size, but I've tried.  This is from the upper level.  Notice how small the people are.

I got to see Cleopatria.  Yup, that one.  She's been hanging out in London since the early 1800s.  She looks pretty good, considering her age.

I also got to see the Rosetta Stone.  No, not the software to help you cram for a Spanish test - the random laws written in triplicate that helped crack the code of hieroglyphics.  Here it is.

I also got to see pieces of the Parthenon in Athens.  Again, what are they doing in England?  Not really sure, but they're here.

There were many, many other items I didn't take pictures of (I'm not building a catalog here) or that weren't of such wide interest.  I've never been to the Smithsonian in Washington, but I think this is basically the British equivalent of it.  It was really nice to see, and I didn't get to experience anywhere near all of it. 

Tomorrow is the flight back home to Indiana.  I've had a great time in Europe, and I'll write a few closing posts at some point (but probably not tomorrow).

One thing I want to say before I step off this continent is thank you to all my friends who made this summer memorable and helped me out along the way.  If you had a meal with me, thank you.  If you explained how some silly, ordinary item worked (especially translating Polish), thank you.  If you walked home with me, had a conversation with me, or invited me over for awhile, thank you.  If you told me the best route to take or the thing I had to make sure to see, thank you.  Although the massive buildings, the graves of heroes, and the historical artifacts are great, it is really friends that make the experience for me.

Read more »

UK Day 7 - Brighton to London

This morning I got to try a "full English breakfast" which consisted of two poached eggs, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, sausage, and toast.  It was pretty good and a nice way to start the day.  I also got to try "brown sauce" which is apparently common over here in the UK.  It tasted a bit like barbecue sauce, only a little sweeter than average.  Interesting, and OK on eggs.  I still have no idea what the baked beans are doing at breakfast.

We also walked around and got a few photos of Brighton's beach, which was nice:

The next stop was the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.  I got a photo of it (through the rain) from the outside, but they allowed no photos on the inside.

The Pavilion is the doing of George IV of England (the son of the one America wrote that well-worded "screw you" to in 1776).   It was basically established on a farmhouse and expanded into a palace suitable for a young king to entertain guests.  It was sold to Brighton some years ago, and although most of the royal stuff was removed when they moved out, the queen has lent it back to the Pavilion for exhibition.  How nice of her.

The palace is very ornately decorated in Chinese style, or rather, what an Englishman who had never been to China thought was Chinese style.  There are lots of dragons, snakes, and bamboo throughout the palace.  The most impressive piece to me was the large chandelier in the dining hall.  It was constructed to look as if the entire 30-foot, one-ton piece was being held in by the claws of a large, silver dragon.  Suspended from that was a lower ring of six smaller silver dragons, each with an oil lamp (now electric) in their upturned mouths.  When the original oil lamps were lit, it would have looked as if they were breathing fire.  Now that's cool!

After going through many other rooms in the Pavilion, we headed to lunch and then on to London.  For lunch, I got to introduce Quartney to the wonderful world of Spanish tapas.  Needless to say, she's now addicted like the rest of us that are familiar with them.

In London, the first stop was the London Eye.  This massive Ferris wheel overlooks the entirety of downtown London.  It's a huge, glowing, blue circle along the Thames.  We went on it and tried to get photos, but they may be a bit blurry due to the constant motion, darkness, and rain (did I mention we were in London?).

Tomorrow is Buckingham Palace, probably something else, and saying goodbye to Europe.  One more bonus photo of Big Ben!

Read more »

UK Day 6 - Warwick to Brighton

Today started with picking up the rental car in a nearby town.  Quartney and I were headed out for Brighton and London, and considering the cost of rentals, train tickets, and Quartney's recently-acquired UK driver's license, it made more sense to rent a car rather than use trains.  I, of course, will not be driving.  Firstly, I don't know how to use a manual, and secondly, UK driving would be hazardous to my blood pressure, insurance rates, and ego.

The rental car is lime green with a racing stripe.  Quartney was excited about this.  Take a look and see if you can tell why...

The drive from Kenilworth to Brighton was surprisingly quick, especially when compared with the drive from Inverness to Kenilworth.  It was still three hours, but the time passed quickly.  Slowly but surely I'm getting more used to the cars being on the other side of the road and the right turns being the tricky ones.

Brighton is a lovely little beach town.  I got to have authentic, seaside fish and chips!  What better place to have it!  In the afternoon we went out to a local pier which was like an old-time arcade and amusement park.  Several parts of it were closed probably due to lack of tourists, but it was still very charming.  I haven't been in an arcade like that in years, and it was delightful to pass an hour or so with those games.  We also walked out to the end of the pier and got a few pictures.

The weather in Brighton is as British as everything else around here.  The wind today is something else.  It's the kind of wind that makes you walk at an angle, that bites your fingers, that pushes your jacket into your chest until you feel the zipper.  Add to that the spitting rain and you get the perfect idea of today's weather in Brighton, a poorly-named city (today).

Needless to say, the evening was relegated to indoor activities.  We decided on a movie theater, as they have specials on Tuesdays and don't have wind.  We saw Looper, which is a nice film if you don't mind a bit of blood 'n' guts.

Tomorrow is the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, and then on to London!

Read more »

UK Day 5 - Warwick and Stratford

Monday was a day of sightseeing and friends in the UK.  I stayed with Sagar and Quartney, and as soon as we were dressed Quartney and I headed to Stratford.  The folks in the US may better recognize Stratford by its longer name, Stratford-upon-Avon.  As I'm sure you're straining your brains to remember, this is the town of Shakespeare.

Stratford is not terribly far from Warwick ("Warrick"), so we took the bus over.  I got to ride on the top half of a double-decker bus!  It's slightly terrifying at first, but then you get used to it.  The British bus drivers should really be commended on their skill in maneuvering around corners, by cars, and through low-hanging branches.

Quartney is turning into an unofficial tour guide for Stratford.  Being so close to her apartment, she's been there many times with friends. Thus, she was able to quickly locate Shakespeare's grave and birthplace for me.  I got to see the famous words from Shakespeare's epitaph in person:

Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare

To digg the dvst encloased heare

Blese be ey man ty spares thes stones

and cvrst be he ty moves my bones

Stratford reminds me, in some ways, of Hannibal, Missouri in the US.  It's kind of a small town, and although they have other things there, people really only seem to go for one reason.  In Stratford's case, that reason is Shakespeare.  For Hannibal, it's Mark Twain.  Everything in those two towns is built up around their respective authors. It was a delightful visit, but the three or so hours allocated to it were sufficient for me.  Here are some other photos from the journey:

I should also mention that through all of this, Quartney is walking around like a mixture of John Wayne, C3PO, and the tin man.  She's a bit stiff from her marathon the previous day, so little things like, say, going up to the second floor of a tea room for lunch are much more challenging than they should be.  OK, truth be told, getting up there isn't the hard part; getting down is the hard part.

I then got to see Quartney's university work in Coventry.  (The university of Warwick is not actually in Warwick.  I don't understand British logic.)  She has some cool engineering stuff that I'm not really well-equipped to describe, but I did get to see a racecar in the shop from an overlook!  The school looked a lot like an American university, with the major difference being that I almost got hit by a bus while walking on the left side of the street, instead of the right side of the street.

That evening, we went to quiz night at the pub.  After about 1.5 rounds (of 5) it became obvious that I needed to completely forget about this quiz thing and just enjoy being in a British pub.  Although I'm a little rocky at sports, TV, and movie questions in the US, I'm incredibly bad at them when they all surround British culture.  For example, the first task was to identify up to 20 British Prime Ministers by their pictures.  I think I got three.  Questions on British TV shows went about as well as one would expect.  Through the evening, I got one question right by skill and one by spinning a coin (lucky guess).

Read more »

UK Day 4 - Inverness Race

Yesterday, I woke up and the first order of business was to complete the 10k race I had come to Inverness for in the first place.  The Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running, unfortunately, does not have a half-marathon to complement the marathon, 10k, and 5k events.  I usually run a half-marathon (about 21k) in the spring and fall of each year, but this time I had to make due with a 10k race.

Quartney (I keep forgetting to link to her blog.  You can find it here.) is more hardcore than I am, so she was running the marathon.  Thus, she also had to be up and out the door earlier than the rest of us.  Sagar and I were running the 10k event, and Amy was our injured cheerleader (otherwise, she would have been in the marathon).

Sagar picked me up about 8:30 and we went to the start  line for the 10k, where we promptly waited about an hour and 45 minutes for the start of the race.  Although it was sunny, it was windy and kind of chilly.  About 1 hour and 15 minutes into the wait I started shivering, something I can't remember doing that much in the past few years.  Needless to say, by the time the race started I was quite ready to run.

The race course did a good job of showing Scotland's natural green color.  The marathon course was basically a straight 26.2 miles along the Loch and the river to the ocean.  The 10k course wound around through a park before merging with the marathon course towards the end.  So, despite the name, I didn't actually see much of Loch Ness proper; instead, I saw more of the river from the Loch to the ocean.

I ran a pretty good time: 44:43 according to the chip time.  I think that works out to a 7:12 mile pace, once of my fastest races ever.  There were a couple of factors helping me out, though.  (1) I was cold and wanted to get warmed up quickly.  (2) The grade of the course was pretty much downhill all the way.  This was not true for the marathoners, but was helpful to those of us in the 10k.  (3) The 10k is roughly half my usual event distance, so I felt like I could push a little harder.  Regardless, I'm still pleased with the result.

After Sagar and I finished, we met up with Amy, took some photos, and got some food.  Then we went out to find Quartney on the route.  Sagar actually ran the last mile with her, while Amy and I tried to take photos.  I got one good one, but Amy has a few more on her camera.

Here are my best photos from the event.  I should mention that Sagar ran the race in a green "morph suit" which is apparently based on some British TV show that I am incapable of understanding.  Also, by some twist of fate, his number and mine are one different.

The rest of the day was a long, determined drive back down to the city of Kenilworth, where I stayed with Quartney and Sagar.  Although watching the rolling hills of Scotland slowly taper down to the flatter lands of England was interesting, it wasn't great for pictures.  On some evenings, one goes to sleep; this was an evening where we simply all passed out from exhaustion at the end of the day.

Read more »

UK Day 3 - To Inverness!

The first part of my day was boring and consisted mostly of getting myself to the train station.  At this point, the hills of Edinburgh are a little annoying because I have to lug a suitcase up and down them in order to get to the train.  Oh well.  I would prefer to travel lighter, but this is a cross between vacation and moving home, so some additional weight is a necessary inconvenience.

On the train to Inverness I was seated in a group of four seats, two front-facing and two back-facing, with a table in the middle.  This is the sort of setup where conversation is inevitable if the languages allow.  The other three seats were filled in by a family going also to Inverness, where the mom is going to run in the marathon tomorrow.  They were very helpful to me, since they had race information packets on hand (received presumably by mail) and thus were able to get some of my questions answered.

Upon arrival in Inverness, I bid my traveling partners adieu and went in search of my hotel.  Booking a hotel in Inverness was not as easy as I had hoped.  Even though I booked it a month in advance, many of the locations were sold out by the time I had started my search.  I found a bed and breakfast that had a minimum two-night stay, and while expensive, thought it was basically my only option.  Fortunately they were flexible on that rule and let me stay for just the one night.

The Westbourne Guest House is a most accommodating place.  The proprietors have several awards for "best landlord" on the wall, and I can see why.  First, I have yet another room upgrade.  That's 3/3.  I'm currently in a room with two beds (one twin and one double) all to myself.  Secondly, the landlady (it's an older couple that owns it) apparently likes to bake and leave baked goods out for the guests.  The shortbread is great.  Third, apparently guests of age are welcome to take a nightcap of port or sherry in the evenings.  Fourth, they know they have runners in the place, so they're asking what time we all want breakfast (because it's earlier than they would usually make it).  This place is awesome.

I registered for the race (I had to go in person since I'm "overseas"), where they remarked that I was from Poland.  I corrected this, although I would have thought my accent would have given away that I'm not from Poland.  I then spent some time walking around Inverness, the local castle (now a courthouse), and browsing shops.  Photos below.

I got to meet up with my friend Quartney and her boyfriend Sagar and their friend Amy here.  We went to a Turkish restaurant for dinner, which was good but a little slow on the service.

Scottish, thus far, has not proved as challenging to navigate as I had originally feared.  Maybe the locals are just being kind to me.

I've got to sleep now in order to have some energy for the 10k race tomorrow!

Read more »

UK Day 2 - Edinburgh

This morning started out with a few surprises for me.  First, I knew the hotel was providing free breakfast.  I was expecting what happens in every other hotel when they say "free breakfast" - a buffet line with various dishes.  Nope.  Instead, they had a couple young ladies who took orders. That was fun, and I noticed that they had a familiar accent.  I asked, and one was from Romania and the other from Poland.  I gave the Polish girl a surprise when I said "dzien dobry!"

I got out of my hotel a little earlier than I had expected, so I had some more time to explore before reaching the castle.  My hotel is halfway down a hill (Calton hill, specifically), and the main part of the city is up-and-over the hill.  I thought about trying out that journey last night, but it was getting dark and I didn't want to try it.  This morning, however, was a great time to explore.  I started up the hill looking rather silly with my umbrella on this beautiful sunny Scottish morning.

At the crest of the hill, there were great views of the city.  Here are a couple shots to give you an idea.

I also found a monument to Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.  It looked interesting, so I also took some photos of it.  At the time I didn't realize it, but that monument was going to become more interesting as I reached the castle.

I have to say that I was really tempted to forget about all my pre-booked tickets and just go climb up the massive chunk of rock protruding from Holyrood park.  Not the peak known as Arthur's Seat, but rather the closer, jutting rock that forms a backdrop to the city for anyone looking to the east.  I decided against it on the grounds that I need to run 10k in 2 days.  I also have no idea how long it would take, but I'm guessing at least an hour to get to the base and an hour to get up it.  Here's one of the pictures of this thing.

Instead, I proceeded along my planned route towards Edinburgh Castle.  The castle is really nice and has a lot to explore.  I was a little put off by the £16 entrance fee I pre-booked, but it turned out to be a good deal because once inside they let you in to everything.  This is a contrast to Poland, where Wawel castle is more pay-as-you-go.  I got to see castle defenses, museums on Scottish regiments, prison conditions (some of which housed soldiers from the Revolutionary War), and a wonderful example of medieval cannonry.  For my computer-gaming friends out there, this is the medieval equivalent of the BFG.  My foot is in the picture for perspective to the cannonballs.  Also, it's now raining at this point in my journey, so I feel vindicated for carrying the umbrella in the earlier sunlight.

I should also explain where Nelson's monument comes in to play here. It turns out that ships in Edinburgh's harbor needed a really reliable time signal to set their chronometers.  The chronometers in the castle (on nice, stable ground) could be easily calibrated at noon.  Therefore, at 1PM, the castle fires a shot from a cannon.  (You can't fire it at noon because you're busy setting your watch when you should be shooting the gun.)  That's all fine and dandy, except that sound takes awhile to reach some of the far parts of the harbor.  This delay apparently caused enough of a problem that they needed to institute a fix for it.  The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, so they set up a visual representation of the time change: on the top of Nelson's monument is a time-ball.  Think of Times Square at New Year's with a lot less pomp and flashy lights.  Each day about 12:55, this stone ball rises to the top of a spire on Nelson's monument.  Then, at 1PM, the same electrical signal that fires the gun tells the ball to fall.  They happen essentially at the same time.  Ships in the harbor can see this easily with a telescope, since it's at the top of a hill, so that's how they can set their chronometers.  Of course, if it's foggy, you just have to adjust for the delay and get on with sailing.  I have some pictures here of the process.  Pardon the post-cannon shot - the blast startled me a bit.

After the castle, I decided to investigate another monument along the Edinburgh skyline.  Having no idea what it was, I went there and found it to be a monument to Sir Walter Scott.  I was thinking it was a church or something because of the gigantic gothic spire protruding from it.  Nope - it's a monument to a writer.  Furthermore, for £3 they'll let you climb the 287 steps to the top in order to take photos.  Anyone who has walked up stairs or the side of a Polish mountain with me knows inclines don't bother me much, so this was a nice little deal!  I have lots of pictures of the city from up top of the monument, but this is one to give an example:

I also love to take straight-down shots from these sorts of places.

Tomorrow it's on to Inverness!

Read more »

On to Scotland!

Written earlier today

I usually write my blog posts in the evening after the day has mostly finished, but I'm currently writing from on board a train bound for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Surprisingly, there is wifi on this train, although I don't intend on using it much.  The first-class passengers receive it free, and the coach passengers still get 15 minutes free, but then us peasants have to pay for more than 15 minutes.  One very nice bit of information, though, is that on the sign-in screen they display the current location and speed of the train.  I can proudly report I'm moving north at 110 MPH.  Also, I've seen some items that look surprisingly like home.  For example, we've passed by several fields of wind turbines out on farms, which is strangely reminicent of US 30 in Ohio.  Then there are other things that are not so normal, like children playing soccer and cars on the other side of the road.

One of the most dramatic parts of the train ride happened when I looked up, looked to my right (east), and saw the ocean.  I knew I would be traveling north along the eastern coast of Britain, but I just wasn't quite expecting to see the ocean until I reach Brighton next week.  There was a pretty little coastal town with weather-worn houses lined up along the hilly background, and then the ocean behind it.  It looked like something out of, well, New England to me.

British pounds look weird to me.  The notes are not completely unique, unlike most US notes which look relatively uniform from one to another.  Also, I've heard that Scotland has some different notes, maybe a £2 or £1 note that isn't present (although still legal) in the southern part of the island.

I'll arrive in Edinburgh after most tourist attractions have closed; my primary goal is to find the hotel, get checked in, and explore the area a little.  I'm staying two nights, so Friday will be my primary day of sightseeing in Edinburgh.  I've learned that there is a "royal mile" from the nearby Edinburgh Castle to another palace about a mile to the east.  I've booked a ticket for the castle and a whiskey tour on that street between the two.  I figure if I can find that area, I should be pretty good to go.

It's still weird to think that I'm not in Poland.  Don't get me wrong, the signs are all here - everything is in English, I can understand people, prices are higher, scenery is a bit different (I've seen many sheep so far today).  I guess what may be the weird thing is to think I'm not going back to Poland.  I've spent three months trying to acclimate myself to Kraków, and it was getting to be pretty "normal" by the end.  I was still a foreigner with language problems, but I basically knew how to get myself to work, feed myself, have some fun, and where a good variety of shops were.  I know it's not really home, but it was getting to be a close imitation  with the notable difference being Laurel's absence.

Written this evening

The actual arrival in Edinburgh was pretty uneventful.  Once some tourist-info-people pointed me in the right direction, I was able to find the hotel easily.  I was surprised to find that I am now 2/2 on unexpected hotel upgrades in the UK.  Let's hope this trend continues!  However, my room is on the top floor of a no-elevator building, so getting to it was an unexpected exercise.  Also, the free wifi is spotty, so we'll see how uploading pictures goes.

The room has a view of the ocean.  Don't get me wrong; the ocean is probably a good 1-2 miles away, but the hotel is up on a hill and I can see it pretty clearly.  I'll try to get a picture in the daylight; it was cloudy and near sunset when I arrived so a picture wouldn't have been very clear.

I got to explore the Royal Mile a little bit.  Shops seem to close surprisingly early here.  Starbucks closes before 9PM, for example.  I did hike around a bit and find the Scottish Parliament, though.  I managed to get a picture of it in spite of some teenagers apparently filming a nighttime skateboarding video around the building.

Tomorrow - Scottish breakfast and then the castle!

Read more »

Poland Departure and UK Arrival

Although Wednesday was my last official day in Poland, it was pretty much going to work and then waiting for the plane to take off.  My group at work got me a t-shirt, though, and that was unexpected and sweet of them.  Other than that, the day was pretty typical.

My last night in the city center of Kraków, on the other hand, was Tuesday evening.  I had dinner with John at the Sukiennice terrace restaurant on this clear, barely-autumn evening. The terrace restaurant provides a great view of the eastern half of the main square.  It's so good that during the day they charge a cover, otherwise it would be overrun with tourist-photographers.  During the evening, though, it hardly seems like anyone knows about it.

After awhile, John's sister-in-law Ewa and cousin-in-law Karolina joined us at the restaurant, where I was able to get this picture of the four of us together.

I flew Ryanair to Stansted airport (28 miles north of London) at 10PM on Wednesday.  Ryanair is a low-budget Irish airline known for advertising stunningly low fares and then giving you every fee known to mankind in order to get the ticket up to what it should actually cost.  They would be great for weekend trips around Europe.  I got away with only one fee (a checked bag, but within the weight limit), and so my fare, in total, is still pretty good.  However, one cannot, say, reserve a seat without paying a fee for it.  Thus, you just get on the plane and find a seat.  Also, forget about anything free during the flight.

On Facebook, I posted that "flying on Ryanair is like browsing the internet without a pop-up blocker."  If you've flown on this airline, you know exactly what I mean.  If not, let me explain:

• The inside of Ryanair's plane had many advertisements.  The overhead bins were covered with ads for a visit to Rome and the drink cart.
• When I first boarded the plane, I was surprised to hear one of the Brandenburg concertos playing over the speaker.  Then, periodically, the nice music was interrupted for an announcement, usually regarding the upcoming drink cart service.
• There wasn't just a (pay) drink cart offered during the flight.  In-flight sales pitches for food and drink, perfume/aftershave, and scratch-off lottery tickets all happened for roughly the first 75 minutes of the flight.
• The landing was immediately followed by (loud) trumpets and an advertisement explaining why Ryanair was awesome and you should never fly with anyone else.  Sure.

You could tell the flight crew had basically been beaten into submission of all this shameless advertising.  I mean, they have a captive audience that just saved a bunch of money on their fare, surely they want to buy some scratch-off tickets whilst flying.  I will never complain about Delta's SkyMall again.

Also, the seats were very, very cramped.  For my shorter friends, this would have been fine, but there was basically no way for me to sit without my knees hitting the seat in front of me.  Fortunately, the seats do not recline.  I expected this flight to be less-than-fun, but it came out pretty well, actually.  I was still happy to stand up after two hours.

As I was walking into the UK airport, I kept thinking, "it's in English!  All the signs are in (only) English!"  Then I was introduced to a very important British word: queue.  The queue (line) for the immigration was painfully long.  It was also like 12:30 AM for me, so that made it seem longer.  I got through, despite filling out a couple lines incorrectly on the form, and the immigration agent was very pleasant and helpful for it being almost midnight.  I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm making up that I'm an actuary, though.

I stayed overnight at the Radisson Blu hotel attached to the Stansted airport.  Although it's slightly (~$20) more than other hotels in the area, I knew I would be dead and need to basically fall over into a bed.  Radisson may have actually given up on my coming there, as it appears they gave away all of the type of room I booked.  Then, they became awesome, because they upgraded me to a suite for no cost. I basically have two rooms to myself.  Here are some pictures (sorry for the mess).

Radisson wins.  I'm impressed.  I owe them another stay at one of their other hotels.

Today is mostly a travel day.  I have a late-morning train which takes almost six hours to get up to Edinburgh (pronounced "Edinburough"), and I'll arrive there a little after 5PM.  

Read more »

Last Sunday in Kraków

Today is my last weekend day in Kraków.  It's hard to believe that time has gone this fast!

I decided that I should go and see a Kraków landmark I had yet to see here: Nowa Huta ("Noh-vah Hoo-tah").  The name translates to "New Steelworks."  It was a planned community by the Soviets when they were in control of Poland.  I'm getting most of the following information from the Wikipedia article on it, but it's an interesting story all the way around.

The Soviets were having trouble with Kraków, which had a healthy middle class, so they decided to bring up a large working class in a huge, planned, industrial suburb.  That was Nowa Huta's goal, anyway.  The choice of putting a steelworks (the largest in Poland, I believe) here is also interesting, considering there isn't really any iron ore nearby.

The first stop, therefore, was this steelworks.  Well, at least its sign.  Here we are with some pictures of it.  My friend John came with me through this trip, and you can see him in the first of the photos.

The town of Nowa Huta is planned in a grid-spoke pattern around a central square.  (At one time, later, that square was named "Ronald Regan Square.")  One item the Soviets did not plan for, not surprisingly, was a church.  Eventually there were protests, I think someone died, and a guy by the name of Bishop Karol Wojtyla got enough support to build one.  Never heard of the guy?  I think you might have.  He later took on the name (in English) John Paul II.

The church he built is called Arka Pana ("Ark of the Lord") and is loosely modeled after Noah's Ark.  I got some photos of it, but because they were having service inside I didn't venture inside the actual church.  I think a few tourists were sneaking in, but I hate doing that.

Also, randomly, on the way between the steelworks and the Arka Pana, we found a house with chickens in the yard.  It was worth a picture.

The ironic thing about Nowa Huta is that it backfired on the Soviets.  Everything about that community was designed to bring classes into balance and emphasize communist life.  Instead, it became a stronghold of the Solidarity movement in later years, which basically freed Poland from Soviet control.

The rest of the day wasn't too exciting.  John and I each got to chat with the ladies in our lives, then we went in search of some kielbasa.  Although we didn't find the glorious kielbasa van, we did eventually find a good meaty dinner appropriate for my last weekend night in Poland.

In the coming few days I may not post a lot.  I leave Kraków for a UK vacation on Wednesday, so I'll post summaries of how that is going when I have time to do so.  The summer has already officially ended, but A Summer in Krakow isn't quite done yet.  Almost, but not yet.

Read more »