Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
I did a lot of stupid but somewhat nice things during my life so far. One of these is exchanging my bahn.bonus points from Deutsche Bahn against a weekend of car rental once a year. It all started with me wanting to see the Mont St. Michel close to Pontorson, France. That is why I went there in 2012 by car from Köln, Germany with a pit stop in Bruges, Belgium.
Continue reading “Diagonally throughout Poland”
Olsztyn (Allenstein) is a small town in Warmia (Ermland) and capital city of the region of Warmińsko-Mazurskie (Ermland-Masuren). It is 160 km southeast of Gdańsk and only 130 km south of the Russian city of Kaliningrad (Königsberg). The city has 175.000 inhabitants, the river Łyna (Alle) is crossing and around the town you’ll find wonderful woods and lake regions.
Continue reading “Beautiful Warmia”
Gdańsk (Danzig) is a beautiful bead close to the Baltic, on the far northern east of Poland, only 160 km away from Kaliningrad (Königsberg). It has a wonderful old city center with small streets and narrow houses, fantastic gates (like the Brama Zielona) and churches. And lots of history to discover!
Continue reading “Like a fairy-tale”
Looking for a hotel in Gdańsk, Poland close to the city center? On an island between the old (stara) and new (nowa) arms of river Motława you can find the Villa Pica Paca. I associated the name much more with South America but in fact it is a nice flatlet hotel within a typical house of Gdańsk.
Continue reading “Villa Pica Paca”
The Westerplatte is a peninsula close to Gdańsk, Poland. It is well known because it is the place where World War II started. By that time Gdańsk (“Danzig”) was an independent state with mostly German residents enclosed by Poland and the exclave Königsberg/Allenstein of the Deutsches Reich.
Continue reading “No more war”
Located 60 km southeast of Gdańsk, Poland you will find Malbork (Marienburg) close to the river Nogat. Its prime feature is Malbork Castle, a fortification built by the knights of the German Order in the 13th century. It is constructed in Brick Gothic style, normally common in northern Germany.
Continue reading “Home to the German Order”
Toruń (Thorn) is a beautiful small town in the center of the northern half of Poland. It is one of the partner towns of my home town, Göttingen. I arrived here by car from Berlin on my way to Gdańsk in Pomorskie (Pomerania, Pommern). The city, located at the river Wisła, is well known for its old city center consisting of a lot of buildings in Brick Gothic style.
Continue reading “Toruń overnight”
If you get to Toruń, Poland from Germany, you will cross the river Wisła on Most drogowy im. Józefa Piłsudskiego – a big metal bridge. Directly at the end of the bridge you have access to the Hotel Bulwar, an absolutely nice design hotel easily reachable by car. It is no simple harbourage for road runners but a wonderful place to stay.
Continue reading “Hotel Bulwar”
The first question is always: why does one stay in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany? Not the Frankfurt in the heart of Germany, the one with lots of skyscrapers of banks and Äppelwoi, but the one close to the border to Poland. At first it has to be said that even Frankfurt (Oder) has some nice city quarters and a good university – but for me it was only a good stop because on the next day I had to travel early to Bremen for a soccer match.
It was one of these autumns when I decided to plan a trip to Poland and convinced my brother to join me in. We booked the Berlin-Warszawa-Express from Berlin, Germany with a stop at Wrocław. The train ride itself was an experience with different long stops within Polish no-men’s-land – because there is partially only one track and we had to let trains going westbound pass. Continue reading “Via Wrocław to Warszawa”