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Italiano (Italian)
I happened to sleep with snakes in the house on the occasion of my second time in Poland. But I have yet to finish the story of the first one. For our non-Italian reader friends, the term binone stands for when someone makes a commitment and then does not fulfill it, so it is a rhyming pun.
I had booked the flights and defined the itinerary, only later and calmly did I worry about the accommodations. I had believed that I would not find particular problems, especially in the cities I considered minor.
The midgets of Breslau
The vast majority of Italians have never heard of Wroclaw. Imagine my amazement when I realized that for the date I planned to spend there, there was not a single bed at a decent price.
Eventually I was answered by a couchsurfing chick who also enlightened me as to why I was struggling.
A concert by a German heavy metal band was scheduled for that very day. I was unaware of its existence, but apparently it has such a following in those parts (we are on the German border, 3 hours from Dresden) that it filled a stadium and even the accommodations.
The chick would also go to the concert, but she would have time for a tour in the afternoon and could leave the house to myself in the evening. She was very kind, and took me around her beautiful city, which notably has as many as 150 statues of cute gnomes intent on various activities, such as the one featured.
She absolutely wanted to take me to a mall where we stayed quite a while to eat immense ice cream, said by her to be the best in the world.
After the home evening spent fighting with the Polish remote control and dining on junk food taken from the nearby supermarket, the next day I went to see the city’s other special feature, the Ractawice Panorama. It is an immense painting depicting a famous battle in the late 1700s (against the Russians of course). Of particular note is that all along the inside wall of a circular building. So, it’s kind of like being in the middle of the battle and you can see it by turning 360 degrees. There are also objects and effects both light and sound to enhance the sense of reality.
Warsaw and Gdansk (Gdansk), the shadow of history
Between and within the various cities I moved by train or bus, all very efficient and punctual. Having studied the history of World War II quite a bit, I cannot help but have sympathy for such a battered nation. First they were invaded and subjugated (most heavily) simultaneously by Germans and Russians and then recaptured by the Red Army.
Warsaw even had 85 percent of its buildings destroyed, so much so that they thought of abandoning it and rebuilding somewhere else. And even in the past they suffered from being in the midst of two historically strong military giants like Germany and Russia.
For those of my generation, it is natural to think of it as an Eastern country; in fact, one only has to look at the map to see how European it is. The architecture of the cities is often a curious mix. There are colorful buildings rebuilt after the war such as they used to be; gray communist mansions and the gleaming modern all steel and glass. Warsaw and Gdansk did not disappoint me at all and I wanted to go because of their historical importance. Very modern with a small old (rebuilt) center Warsaw; characterized by the river and having been an important port Gdansk.
In Warsaw in particular, as an example of the classic Soviet-era palace, one cannot forget the hideous and gigantic Palace of Culture and Science. It is called the Elephant in Lace Underwear because of the elaborate sculptures in the parapets.
Not to be missed is the Warsaw Uprising Museum. It tells with touching testimonies, when at the end of the war, with the Russians very close, the inhabitants attempted an insurrection. Never Russians did not want to intervene, leaving the Nazis to react by further massacring and destroying. By the end of the war 800,000 Warsaw residents died, double the casualties of the entire U.S. Army.
Snakes in the house in Poznan
The first time I was supposed to be hosted by a Couchsurfing chick in Poznan. Then she told me she could no longer, but proposed to meet me in another city. I agreed by varying the itinerary especially for her. A few days earlier she stood me up.
After a couple of years she wrote to me apologizing again for what had happened. With a ‘friend she was going to pass through Ravenna, and proposed that we meet for coffee. They slept at my place for a couple of days; I visited Sant’Apollinare in Classe with them, we spent two pleasant evenings, and a beautiful friendship was born.
From time to time she had suggested that I visit her. I was a little hesitant, both because I had already taken an exhaustive tour in Poland and because she lived with her son and several serpentines whose photos she had sent me.
Poznan is very nice, and then touring places with someone local is always more interesting. My friend had also been very nice, minus the 12 pythons, iguana and boa. Her son in fact had moved, but without reptiles! He told me about the time the boa had attacked him because he had not washed his hands properly after preparing his meal (mice, once alive, now frozen that he has to heat with a hair dryer).
As she told me about this episode, I was imagining her loading her son with the boa attached to her arm (actually just biting him) onto her pandina (100% passionate about Italy). In the end, I didn’t feel like picking them up, although she reassured me that by eating once every two weeks, they were full and therefore not dangerous in those days, I only petted one of them.
For those who would like to learn more about this topic, here is a comprehensive article.
I plan a crazy itinerary
In the spring of 2023 I was pawing more than usual for tours, partly because it was always raining in my neck of the woods and for one issue and another I had hardly even made my treks in the area. When she told me that her son was no longer staying with her, I got the crazy idea.
I left home for Padua by car on Friday right after lunch with a mini leave at the office. I spent the afternoon/night with my friend from Padua. Saturday morning I woke up at 4 a.m. to catch plane from Treviso bound for Poznan.
All of Saturday and Sunday morning I spent in Poznan from which I took the plane to Bergamo at 2:00 pm. From Bergamo I took the bus to Brescia, then train to Treviso, shuttle to airport to pick up car and evening in Padua. On the morning of Monday I did smart work from my friend’s house. By the time I decided and planned this madness it was too late to ask for more vacation time and take things more slowly. Everything went smoothly and I pleased myself with the organization.
Previous stop In Poland there is one place you absolutely must visit
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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