5 days and four countries, I'm off to a flying start. Left B'lava tired and hungover on Saturday morning. Thank you to everyone for all the good times and good memories. I'll never forget you all.
Prague was busier and brighter than I remembered from 6 years ago, and at times I wasn't quite sure which city I was in, there were so many loud Brits and tour groups of French and Spanish. Went to the Mucha Gallery and the Museum of Communism. Wish there had been something similar in Bratislava to help make sense of how life had been like there. The museum was pretty good but only focussed on Prague and Czech Republic (fair enough I suppose!) .

Stayed on an island in the middle of the Vlatva which was pretty cool, listened to the jazz boats floating past in the evening.

Took the overnight bus to Warsaw. My body was already aching with the unaccustomed backpacklugging and after a night contorted onto two seats I was feeling very old and battered.

I asked a guy in front of me on the bus how to get into town. Turns out he is a Venezuelan who has been living in Poland for a few years. Ready made tour guide! After dumping my bags we wandered around the beautifully rebuilt old town, has breakfast in a traditional Polish milk bar where we had to distract the old ladies from their gossiping in order to get some pancakes and curd cheese (yummy tvarok).

Did you know that in Poland they get 26 days holiday per year. 22 are for going away etc and 4 are reserved for hangovers!!! Jolly good plan that I think!
Warsaw definitely has one of the nicest collection of lush green parks I have ever come across in a big city. Spent a pleasant afternoon strolling through the beautiful Lazienki parks. With a mini palace on an island in a river, peacocks, squirrels, huge ancient chestnut trees it is enough to please even the most hardened.

Met Liam, from Armargh via Barcelona at the hostel and we popped into Morgan's Irish pub for one!!! Many guinness later we stumbled home! The owner Ollie is an absolute riot. Manages to cram in more swear words per sentence than anyone I've ever met before!!! He had us in stiches with his battles with Polish bureaucracy though. Also had one of the nicest Indian meals ever, cooked by a lovely guy from the Himmalayas. Quite a surprise for the basement of a Polish palace!!!

http://www.gonzo.org/articles/other/scottyoung6.html

Check out this article about the infamous Ollie!

Took an overnight train to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. Got a sleeper compartment to myself. It was very neat and comfy and I slept the whole journey through except when the customs guys came through. They couldn't get their passport swiping gadget to work on my passport and well, suffice to say, there seem to be similar swearwords in Polish as there are in Slovak! They were a little bit alarmed when I said d'akujem out of habit instead of thankyou, asking me if I spoke Polish. It's surprising that even here in Lithuania the little Slovak I know is useful. But now to say thank you I have to say achoo (spelt differently though but this keyboard doesn't have the right keys).

Vilnius isn't so exciting Apparently has Europe's largest old town. Looks like all the other old towns too. Went to the Museum of Genocide Vicitms, walked through the old prison cells and torture chambers. Lithuania lost a huge amount of it's population thanks to old Joe Stalin.

Off to the coast tomorrow to chill out and catch up on some sleep.