Warszawa

Finally, and after several months living in Poland, I faced the capital, Warszawa. The city which suffered so much exactly 60 years ago, when after the uprising of the Warsaw's people in 1944 the nazi occupation decided to eliminate absolutely every building in there. So we are now talking about one brand-new city, but keeping the style and architectural line it had in the past thanks to Bottarello.

The first thing I realised is that Warsaw is big, pretty big. So forget about going on foot from one part to another if you don't have so much time to spend, because probably you'll spend it walking and getting tired. Since many important places to visit are really separated it gives to the city...

Thanks to the cousins of Olga, we could leave our backpacks in the dormitory and start sightseeing Warsaw having as first choice the Palace of science and culture, the old communist style building, giving as a present by the soviets. The interest part of the building is its height. 115m which allow you to have a very good view of the whole Warsaw, of course, after paying 15/20PLN for the reduced/normal ticket. We are in the capital, life is not for free...

Detail “The palace of Culture”

Detail “View of Warsaw from the Palace of Culture”

After a nice talk with Adam and Kamila eating in a vegetarian restaurant (which very nice enchilada!), we went to the Uprising museum of Warsaw, where you may see how the Polish population stood up and started to fight against the German occupation. A complete collection of media is placed there, which is really worth it to see if the topic interests you a bit.

Another place, or I maybe should say icon, in Warsaw is "the palm", placed in one central round about where you're always passing by when moving from east-west or north-south parts of the city is needed. I guess you are thinking the same I did, a palm doesn't really fit in an Eastern-Europe country, but it's there. Globalisation... :)

Detail “The palm”

Museum of Katyn (Muzeum Katynskie)
Unfortunately, after going pretty far from city centre, and from the place we were sleeping, the museum was closed and we could only took some pictures from the outside :(

Łazienki park
This was one of the parts that I liked the most. Maybe because in Krakow there is no such a park and I really missed it, but I felt so good walking in this park. Many people, trees, flowers, even animals.

Detail “Hungry Squirrel”

The Lazienki park was a place where the king had his own summer palace, nowadays called palace on the water.

Detail ”Palace on the water”

And it has another building called white house really worth seeing.

During all these moments, we’ve been travelling by bus, tram or metro, seeing all the big streets that Warsaw has all over itself.

Detail “Long streets in Warsaw”

Actually the trip was a bit fast as lightning, going at 6:10 on Saturday in the morning and coming back on Sunday at 17:10…
But I think that I really enjoyed the trip. And one of the main reasons was that I had been reading about Warsaw in my lovely Lonely planet and we had the organized plan as well as very good guides who took care of us in the big city of Warsaw. Thank you guys!

I would also like to thank Olga, without you we hadn’t been in Warsaw and I could write these words as I’m doing.
I have to say that her improvements in Spanish are becoming bigger and bigger… ;)

And last but not least, I’d like to say welcome to the blog world to Alejandro, my roommate here in Krakow. Who is becoming a professional photographer since he bought a DSLR camera.
I have no doubt he will be a good one! Go Alex go! :)

Detail “The professional in Łazienki park”

You can read him here: http://aleromar.blogspot.com

I guess he’ll prepare some surprises for us as well. So, enjoy reading!

More pictures can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.es/f.martin.85/Warszawa25th26thApril09#

Thanks everybody who is following me. I really appreciate it!

Warm greetings from Krakow.

Weekend in Kyiv!

Old Soviet union, cruel WWII fights, not lucky 26 of April 1986 in Chernobyl, old Polish city L'viv, huge Dnipro river, currency called hryvnias, big and green city Kyiv and lovely people who greet saying privet! Can you guess in which country I've been recently? I guess it's easy with such an information written...
Ukraine host me during last days and I wanted to talk about it.

Starting from Katowice and this beautiful sunset, all was going on normally. Bus to Katowice airport, checking in, and waiting for my Wizzair plane.


Once in Kyiv, no problem occured since AEGEE exists!! :)
Olga picked me up and since that time, everything was prepared, lovely and in time!
Thank you Olguita!It was great!



When Kyiv people told me that the city I was sightseeing in that moment was one of the greenest of Europe I was very surprised, but you only need a few hours getting yourself lost in the city centre to feel the green in your own body. And if you have the opportunity of visiting it in Spring, don't hesitate!
Here I upload a very good proof of it.


Souvenirs have a place and a proper name. Andriyivs’ky, where you can buy typical Ukrainian clothes, Easter eggs, handmade plates, wooden boxes, and hanging decorations to bring good luck to your home :)

I hope mum and sister will like what I got there for them! :)

Orthodox churches are spread all around Kyiv, and you can recognize them since they have a peculiar shape from the outside. Here you can see one of the most famous ones just next to the street I’ve mentioned before. It’s really nice to see it, and even more if you have good weather like I had!



If the WWII is a topic you like, don't miss the museum located on the top of one of the seven hills of the city.
You'd see some of the battles in Ukraine well explained, and the power that the soviet union had in that time. Thank you Irina for the well explained tour!!

I also want to thank Choranova who had to get up early for me not to get lost in Kyiv!
thank you Ola!



воля is the word you can appreciate watching the national emblem,
which means liberty. Another thing that I know thanks to AEGEE Kyiv people!

http://www.aegee.kiev.ua/

http://aegeekyiv.blogspot.com/

http://aegee.kiev.ua/Press.aspx

I also have to say that they are working so hard in AGORA preparations and since Magusa one has finished, all of you should be thinking of coming to Fall Agora Kyiv 2009 ;)

In the picture, one of the brave guys in AEGEE Kyiv board. Keep going Petya! :)

Summarizing, I have to say that I really liked Kyiv.
And I only have one word to the fantastic people from AEGEE who took care of me:
Спасибо!

More interesting pictures: http://picasaweb.google.es/f.martin.85/Kyiv16thApr09#

My first Birthday since I have blog...

Yes, I am getting old... but It doesn't mean I'm not happy.
This is my first Birthday abroad, far from my family and friends, and someones could think that it's sad or not the way it should be.
But actually I'm feeling really good, a guy beloved even being abroad, receiving greetings from many places, in many languages and by different means of communication.

And this feeling couldn't be possible if you weren't there guys, all the ones who make me happy, make me laugh, make me think, and also make me get angry, but in the end, I can resume it:
you make me feel alive! so I can enjoy this life, full of different situations and emotions, made for living it in every minute of our lifes.

So, I want to thank you all again, the fact that you remembered me in this day keeping me more alive than anytime before.

THANK YOU!


Picture corner:

Here I add a picture of Kopiec kościuszki where I've been yesterday, watching how the sun went down during the day of my 24th birthday.
This is a very nice place to stay calm, think and enjoy the views...

If you want to see more:
http://picasaweb.google.es/f.martin.85/KopiecKosciuszki1stApril09#

And also I took a look around Rynek Glowny with my tripod, and I took a couple of nice pics from there:


Kocham Kraków!

P.S. If you want to see more pictures of Kopiec and Ryne...
http://picasaweb.google.es/f.martin.85/KopiecKosciuszki1stApril09#
http://picasaweb.google.es/f.martin.85/RynekGlowny1stApril09#