2023 – The Chicken Scratches

Europe 2023: Warsaw, Krakow, and Bratislava

by Pat & Ray WhydeSeptember 30, 2023November 14, 20231

This post is a continuation of the previous post: Europe 2023: Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. From Vilnius, Lithuania, we boarded a train toward Warsaw, knowing we would have to switch trains before crossing the border between Lithuania and Poland. The Lithuanian train was clean and comfortable; the Polish train, not so much. Whenever the Polish train stopped on the way to Warsaw, the air conditioning shut down – and it was a hot day. The announcements, besides being in Polish, were garbled and full of static. Not sure Polish speakers could understand them. Warsaw (17-22 Sept) It was raining …

by Ray WhydeSeptember 25, 2023November 14, 20233

Pat and I decided to visit the Baltic countries this year, with stops in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After these, we extended our vacation into Poland and Slovakia (covered in another post). We planned the trip for the full month of September. We left Salt Lake City on September 1st and returned on September 30th. Helsinki, Finland (2-6 Sept) We arrived in Heksinki about 5:30 PM, after a 5 hour layover in the Amsterdam airport. We bought HSL 72-hour, public transport tickets (covering buses, trams, local trains and a ferry to Suomenlinna) at a convenience store before catching a …