Hello from Warsawa, where I received the wonderful gift of 2 hours back into my life thanks to the time difference. How nice! Flew out of St. Pete's just fine, although my flight was delayed a little bit.

They made me check my bag, but followed my request to only check it to Warsawa (instead of Gdansk, my original final destination) so all was well. Going to head off in search of dinner now. Tomorrow I will do a little sightseeing (I am actually close to a Botanical Garden) and then catch the train to Krakow.

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I am just updating this post, since it was a short one. It is now Friday (I think), anyway it is the day after the post above. Last night I ended up talking to a Canadian from Edmonton (munklie's stomping grounds) for quite a while, and then we hooked up with a girl from the States who is here with a group of other volunteer English teachers who were having dinner in a jazz bar at a hotel nearby. Was actually a really nice place, so had a yummy dinner (salmon and pierogi) and got to have some great conversations with interesting folks. Back at the hostel stayed up late talking to two Brits in my room who are travel agents and sick of booking other people's trips to Florida so are backpacking Eastern Europe. Didn't get a lot of sleep, but got up early to explore the city.

Went to Marie Curie's museum (did you know she was Polish? she just married a French guy, hence the last name) and also this interesting Museum of Polish Literature and Culture which had some really intriguing paintings by Polish artists as well as a bunch of exhibits in tribute of Poland's great romantic poet Adam M. (can't spell the last name off the top of my head). Walked around Stary Miestro (Old Town), saw some of the memorials in honor of the Ghetto Uprising (sad) and WW2.

The main thing that I have been experiencing here in Warsawa is total culture shock. It is so developed and the streets are so EMPTY compared to Saint Pete's. Didn't anticipate the big difference or how it would affect me. Really kind of feel some changes from traveling kind of coalescing in me right now. For example, yesterday when I flew in I didn't even think about a taxi, because I had already got directions for the bus. Found the bus stop, checked the route, caught the bus, asked a girl to confirm how to buy the ticket (using hand signals and my meager polski), changed buses, and got to the hostel. And really, wasn't nervous at all the whole time. Don't know if this is because I have been in Poland before, or if I am finally getting used to everything being in a foreign language and over my shyness about it, or if it is a bigger change re: my self-confidence. Probably it is all three.

Anyway, it is POURING here AGAIN. Had thunderstorms and lightning last night. So I am waiting for it to lighten up and then I will head to the train station and buy my ticket and catch the train to Krakow. Not sure yet if I will stay there one night or two. After that, definitely going to Praha, and then, Budapest, and then, Wien. So...thanks for all your thoughts. Hope you are all doing well. And, G, I want a FULL REPORT when I get back. :) Love you all!