Gdansk-Sopot and Hel

My 2nd trip to Poland, still struggle with even the token pleasantries in the language.

Sopot nice sea side resort, with a long pier, while the weather was very good, the town had an end of season feel, and that its rumour party reputation was not as evident as you would have thought.

Gdynia and Hel, I like travelling on trains when I am abroad, and the trains in Poland I found quite efficient but our venture into Gdynia was cut short by us missing the train, and while promised to return later, our prolonged trip to Hel put paid to that.

Hel I found very nice, the end of a long bar, spit of a peninsula poking out into the Baltic Sea sand, sea, sun, seals and schnitzel. The Seal Sanctuary I am not sure about, they looked pretty lazy languishing in an artificial place for them.

Gdansk was a real surprise, the old town is a must see if your in that part of poland, how the buildings survived or were revived is testament to the spirit of the poles. The history of the war, of the communist era and of the shipyard strike. Everywhere from churches to the shipyards you see pictures of the Pope now St. John Paul II, the pride and respect they have for their pope and what he represented and gave to them during the final years of the communist era is tangible. There seems to be a lot of investment and development going on and time will tell if it is being well spent, so far they seem to be doing a good job.

It is a place I hope to return to some day, i missed the chance to get over to see Kaliningrad/Koingsberg but maybe next time.

Oberjoch Specker Ski trip 2014

Well I decided to go again on the Ski trip to Oberjoch in Germany. The weather was very nice maybe too nice the area could have done with more snow, however the slopes were finely pisted and good skiing was had. I had the new experience of guiding a blind skier for 4 days, and calling the turns from a few meters behind him, eventually we worked out a pattern and we traversed the mountains easily enough stopping off for the mandatory currywurst, hot choclate, Ski wasser and goulash on occasions.

For two days i was with a V.I. skier who followed me trusting soul he is. Had a few burns on my own which was when i had my traditional couple of spills, thankfully no one there to witness these;) Also the mandatory couple of visits to Josefs had to be done.

Good restaurants as I have always found in Germany, and evenings such as the mad frenchmans restaurant, Schnitzel Night as well as a couple of sing song nights, a few musical darkhorses there, as ever if invited i promise to learn a few songs for next year. A big thanks to the Dave and Eileen for organising, much appreciated.