Day 6 - Imogen's birthday! (and Trakai)

Today was my birthday! (Imogen) it started in an eventful way with a very dramatic thunder storm at 3 o'clock this morning! So after a McDonalds breakfast, our "B & B" turns out to be just a "B", we got the bus to Trakai castle. It was really beautiful. When we arrived who should we see but some Lithuanian sea scouts with some scouts from Germany! So we took the opportunity for a photo. We then went on a boat tour a round the castle which is situated on an island. Then we entered the castle itself and learnt about its history and explored its nooks and crannies. We then had a break and played more cards! (Helena won a game! Then we taught her yet another new one) After that we bravely embarked on a pedalo adventure, once again saw the castle from different angles. We names the two pedalos 'Vesty's Vessel' and 'Spencer's Ship'. Then we headed to the restaurant to have a nice birthday meal, we all changed into our glad rags in the lovely toilets! Then it was back on the bus to Vilnius where we went to the old town for an ice cream dessert.  Where we were complemented on the quality of our grasp of the English language, much to the embarrassment of the waiter when we explained it was because we were from England! It has been another great day in Lithuania and a birthday to remember  :-)

Team Lithuania

Day 5 - Vilnius

Finally got chance to lie in this morning!!! Well, most of us- Spencer decided to get up at 8, and spend 40 minutes in the shower. After the 11 clock wake up call, it was another hour before we moved towards productivity - although Emily did teach Helena a new card game! We walked to the old town square, not far from where we stayed. Lunch was a huge meal sitting in the shade of a parasol, watching other tourist groups go by. The waiter seemed nervous round us (we'd regained our energy) but he was nice. After that we headed deeper into the town, where we came across the cathedral and a museum, which contained information on the lords and rulers of Lithuania. Some of us had more fun colouring in. Since we needed a drink, we went to Yo Yo, the frozen yougurt store- something I'd never tried before. None of us knew what 100g felt like, which made it a little more expensive. The drinks idea didn't really work out, but the spoons were cool. After that, we went to the cathedral, but we couldn't get any photos due to the mass. Then we trecked to the top of the hill to see the tower castle. The view from the top was amazing. The old town looks like something from the set of a Persian film, or  a venetian city in Shakespeare; a beautiful sight. Tea was La Crepe. The meals were nice, as was desert, though Imogen managed to get her finger stuck in a glass bottle. Never laughed so hard in my life!  We then headed to the bus station, but it was closed, so we all twisted our hair into buns and walked back to the hotel like that; half of us had too much hair, and half too little. Back at the hotel, one of the other lodgers caught Spencer dancing in front of the huge mirror in the hallway whilst he made a cup of tea, which was embarrassing for her. She didn't realise he spoke English either. Tomorrow, unfortunately, we have to get up earlier so we can get the bus to Trakai. Can't wait.

Love, Becky xx

Day 4 - to Vilnius

Today was a travelling (rest!) day. Up and packed by 6.15am and our first train took 5 hours. We then got a bus and another two trains. Most trains are very rickety but the last train was a posh, air-conditioned double decker! The journey seemed very smooth compared to the other the journeys. Sadly upstairs was first class only :(
We eventually got to Vilnius and found our hotel, then went out for a meal. Imogen and Rachel T were very adventurous and had pig's tongue! They ate it all but they are not sure they would choose it again (to the relief of everyone else - the shape and tastebuds made it resembled a tongue a bit too much!). We then got ice cream on the way back.
Team Lithuania x

Day 3 - Warsaw

Today is our first day in Warsaw. The first thought of the day was “what shall we do today?“. Luckily we had a lie in and were able to make a decent choice. As usual we had made our lunch with these rolls that seem to be very nice and fluffy even though Rachel Spencer seems to pick the middle out. Some of us had been on the internet to find the best places to go. A discovery was made that there was a GirlguIding HQ. After our visit and also some badge shopping, our minds and bodies were  challenged with coping with the hear but also to figure out the bus and metro system within Warsaw. On our journey we crossed a bridge that had interesting pillars that we saw as we came into the city by train. We took a long walk past the university to go into the old town.  During the old town we got some free time and decided to go to Costa and then get ICE CREAM! By this time we were very tired and needed some tea, so we decided to be adventurous and try pizza hut. We figured out that the menu was in English and German. But also discovered water melon lemonade. Becky and Emily had this interesting drink and found it was rather nice. Travelling back we had to stop at the train station to get for Vilnius. Within the train station we had met some Czech Scouts. Which I must say were very shy as only one was speaking. We gave them some badges to brighten their day. The shopping centre was our next stop. The trollies were rather interesting as they were more like metal frames with basket in top. The idea if the shopping trip was for food and drinks to last us 10 hours on the train to Vilnius. Off to the hotel and by this time we were all rather tired and an had early start in the morning

Team Lithuania x

Written by Linda

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