Day 2 - Salt mine and Warsaw

This morning we got a bus to Wieliczka salt mine. Although it was about 350 steps down we didn't mind because the further down we got the cooler it got! Parts of the mine showed how it was as a working mine and parts were very decorative function rooms and chapels - Rachel S has decided she would like to get married down there! Almost everything underground was made from salt and our guide asked if we would like to taste the salt. To do this you could either lick the wall or touch it then lick your finger. We can confirm it was definitely salt! We also tasted some of the water that flows through the rocks, which unsurprisingly is also very salty. Fortunately there was a lift (cage!) to take us back up a after our tour
Once we were back in Krakow we headed straight to the train station to catch or train to Warsaw. At first the thought of 5 hours without air con was not good but we soon realised that as long as the train was moving the draft kept us cool. Between us we had three compartments so we had plenty of room to spread out, which was good. We passed the time by reading, sleeping, playing cards, teaching Helena new card games and writing postcards. Unfortunately we also discovered that there are worse toilets than those on British trains!
We finally pulled into Warsaw just after 8pm. Trying to get the taxi driver to understand what we wanted was a challenge - Cath, Becky and Rachel T were walking to the hotel but the rest of us were going in taxis with all the rucksacks. It was much further than we thought so it took those who were walking quite a while to reach the hotel! We had a meal in the restaurant then did some clothes washing before bed - its pretty difficult to wash in a sink that doesn't have a plug and our tops seem to be much bigger than they were before! Tomorrow we are having a bit of a lie in then going to explore Warsaw :)
Team Lithuania x

Day 1 - Auschwitz

We got up this morning and had breakfast, then got a bus to Auschwitz. The lady told us we had to change buses, then we taught Helena a new card game, which is becoming a pattern of the trip so far!
We got to Auschwitz and had a guided tour around the camp -seeing all the buildings and the museum made us realise how awful the treatment really was. Although we've been told what happened, being there is very different.
On the coach on the way back we made sandwiches as we didn't have time this morning. The man sitting next to us pretended not to notice but it was rather obvious - "Who's got the knife? Can you pass the cheese?" We reckon he was very relieved when most of us had a snooze ;)
Once we were back in Krakow we had a look around the old town, which is very pretty. Poland is really cheap, we wish we could get 10 ice creams for about £6 in England!
Today was very hot so when we spotted a water fountain we all had a quick run through to cool off.
We spent an hour in the shopping centre near the hotel then dropped some stuff off before going back to the old town for tea. We chose Hard Rock Cafe and had very tasty meals, then did a bit of souvenir shopping in their shop!
Getting packed tonight ready to move on tomorrow!
Team Lithuania x

We're here!

We arrived in Krakow this afternoon and its 30°c! After dropping our bags off at the hotel (once we eventually worked out how to use the lift, with the help of a polish lady) we headed out to the supermarket and amused the checkout man by buying 20 big bottles of water, plus some lunch for tomorrow. For tea we decided to go into the old town but passed through a shopping centre where we stopped to look at shoes, the Pandora shop and had a turn on the kiddy play area :) As we were hungry we stopped at the first restaurant we came to - a pizza place. Some of us were more adventurous by having pizza with polish sausage, onion and pickled cucumber on, which was actually quite tasty!
Tonight we're having an early(ish) night ready for our first full day tomorrow.

Team Lithuania x

This time next week...

We should have arrived in Krakow!

Final briefing!

It is very exciting to think how fast this has come round, we have been planning for ten months and have less than a month to go!
On Saturday afternoon we arrived at Ness Guide HQ, then headed to the local guide shop for badges and neckers.

Hadlow Fields Guide campsite

Rachel S arrived and we went down Nicholls Famous Ice-Cream shop at Parkgate for some delicious ice cream, we can definitely recommend it :)

Yum!

Rachel P enjoying ice cream

We then went to Sainsbury's where we emptied the shelves to find our names on coke bottles (not very successfully - we became Gurpreet, Barry, Sam...). Next we went to Cheshire Oaks but on the way we spotted a calf looking very lost and scared at the side of the road so we pulled over and Sara went off in search of the farmer. He wasn't to be found but luckily the calf managed to squeeze back through the fence.

We had tea at pizza hut then, after a bit of a palava to hide our shopping, we watched Despicable Me 2 at the cinema. We laughed, a lot - it was very funny!

The next time we all see each other will be at the airport, but until then we have plenty of packing to keep us busy!

LOTS and LOTS of badges!

Hello!
We have been very busy since our last briefing raising the rest of our money - £1000 is a lot! We have been selling hundreds of badges (yes, hundreds!) to local units and guiders and they have been very popular.

Our badges

We have done lots of fundraising over the year, including holding quiz nights (Linda and Imogen), holding Lithuania-themed evenings (Helena), raffling a giant cookie monster cupcake (Rachel S), selling knitted stockings (Catherine), selling knitted chicks (Sara) and selling lots of cake in a mug mixes (Emily).

Knitted stockings

Knitted chicks

Cake in a mug mixes

We now have a couple of hotels booked, as well as day trips to Helsinki in Finland and Stockholm in Sweden. Our final briefing is next weekend then after that it is just three weeks until we go!

3rd Briefing - Manchester!

Yesterday we had our third briefing.

We met at Chorlton scout hut and after a quick look over the kit list and itinerary we headed into Manchester for a team building game. We were given a monopoly style board and map with locations around Manchester and our challenge was to take photographs of as many places on the orange route as we could.

First stop: Piccadilly Gardens! Rachel S and Becky went straight for the fairground ride so the rest of us hid from the rain in Cafe Nero, which explains why the photo was taken through the window ;)

Piccadilly Gardens

We then hopped on the metrolink and went to Victoria Station, Urbis, some windmills, the triangle shopping centre and St Anne's square (five more ticked off our list!). We then looked for an alley with some umbrellas but ended up in the Arndale food court for some lunch :)

We got back on the metrolink and went to Manchester art gallery and central library.

Manchester Art Gallery

We then went to China town see the oriental arch and we spotted a Chinese newpaper!

Oriental Arch

With a couple of minutes to spare before we had to be back we popped into Krispy Kreme donuts and bought a box of twelve to share.

Donuts!

We went back to chorlton to eat our donuts, then had a quick parents meeting.
Really looking forward to our next (and last!) briefing in July!