Behind the Glass Curtain

The Iron Curtain may have lifted but the contrast between Germany (and the former East Germany at that) and Poland is stark Perhaps it's more of a glass curtain these days - you can see and travel through but the curtain is still there nonetheless. Germany is uber-cool, the third highest gay population in Europe, doner kebabs on every corner, nightclubs so trendy we didn't feel able to go in (actually we were just knackered ;-)) and Poland Warsaw Wschodnia railway station is one of the more depressing places I've been, rivalling Birmingham New Street for its bleakness. The entrance hall consists of a series of small stalls selling everything from Gabriela Sabatini branded perfume to cigarettes at about GBP 1.20 per pack - but no seats.
The cafe is functional but half the items on the menu were unavailable - the girl behind the counter spoke no English but employed the very British technique of repeating what she was saying louder and louder in the hope that somehow I would understand Polish! Anyway we managed to buy a Hot Dog and Pizza for lunch and logged on here for about 1 pound - quite an expensive item for Poland.

Anyway, to backtrack... we're on day 6 of our travels having taken the ferry from Harwich (luxurious and great value at GBP 44 for an overnight journey to Hook of Holland). Steve arrived fully laden with a rucksack bulging and sandals, mosquito net and sleepsack all attached to the outside, plus wobble board in a plastic bag (for rehab of his knee) and another bag of stuff... he could hardly walk!

Were met and treated like royalty by our friends Kirsteen and Alasdair in Amsterdam who showed us around and took us out for a great meal. Amsterdam is brilliant, so relaxed and really fun to cycle round. The red light district was educational - the standard of ladies of the night there is, how can I say it, very high. I understand why all those stag groups go to Amsterdam.

Next day we travelled by excellent trains to the pretty walled town of Neustadt-an-der-Aisch in Bavaria, southern Germany where our friends Carolyn and Frank showed us around the town and kindly drove us around and paid for dinner and drinks (including a proper glass of Bavarian beer in a pottery flagon). I tried out some German, quite successfully.... Carolyn works at Adidas international HQ and showed us around which was really interesting. Adidas employees undoubtedly work hard but as a result get to hang out in tracksuits all day and play tennis and basketball on the staff courts at lunchtime. According to Carolyn showing up in Nike would get you sent home straight away.

Later that day we travelled to Berlin on more excellent trains and successfully booked onward travel to Moscow for the 21st, arriving midday 22nd. The girl was concerned there wouldn't be any tickets until I pointed out we arrived after the champions league final...

Berlin is a fascinating city - its recent history being the most interesting of any city I think I've ever been to. Seeing the actual Berlin Wall sends shivers down your spine. People actually died trying to cross that shabby stretch of insignificant looking concrete. We cycled around on a guided tour all day which was fun although I would have preferred a bit more exercise... the group size was such that you couldn't get any speed up. Still bike is an excellent way to get around Berlin - a very flat city with heaps of cyclists. We would have liked to have spent more time in Berlin but the cycling tour was all we could manage in the time. Found out some interesting things though - during the Berlin Wall years the U-Bahn and S-Bahn (underground and overground trains respectively) used to run across the line of the wall but the stations were closed to prevent people escaping to West Germany without permission - and East German guards patrolled the stations.

So without making this toilet paper as Pete helpfully pointed out I'd better stop. Will try to upload some photos when I get somewhere with a USB port...
Train to Moscow in a couple of hours.... I wonder what delights or shocks will await us there...