nibot | Krakow, Poland

Left Slovakia and cut through the Czech Republic with a one hour stop in a little Czech town, came into Poland when the last three cars of the Warsawa-bound train were cut off and sent here to Krakow (as intended). Here I am in the ancient city of Krakow, it's a fun place. On the train I met lots of interesting people (Slovak student of English; Estonian who just quit the Estonian SEC to form his own investment bank, who was shocked that I knew where Estonia is let alone have been there, who learned English at UC Riverside; American guy from North Carolina - while talking we discovered our shared interests in urban exploration and esperanto, imagine that! we may meet up again 'cause he's on his way to st.petersburg; Girl from Singapore who annoyed the other american guy and I by incessantly bringing up the subjects of president bush, september 11, etc, ad nauseum [which is to say, at all]; Polish guy wearing a ``Mission Viejo'' t-shirt -- no joke, his friend's on the swimteam). Now I'm staying with my boss's nephew and being shown around the city by my CERN colleague Pawel who lives here. On Tuesday to Warsawa, on Wednesday to Vilnius, I think. Send me email, I like it.

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You've been to Krakow? I really need to get a resume of your various travels.. I knew about St. Petersburg but then it keeps coming up that wherever I am, you've been. It's amazing!

Speaking of which, it's ever so slightly possible that I might get to St. Petersburg on this trip. Some of my Swedish plans now prove to be impossible to execute, so I might re-route for a week.. know anyone there still? I was planning to avoid Helsinki on this trip since it's so incredibly expensive but I might have to go there for the Russian visa.

I think you can get a Russian visa anywhere there is a Russian consulate, so you really shouldn't be forced to visit Helsinki again (actually, Poland might do quite nicely). The most important bit (and I'm sure you already know this) is that you need to get your invitation secured _early_. The main hostel in Saint Petersburg should issue you one for a "fee", but I think you'll still have to pester them a bit about sending you the paperwork once you've given them the money. Oh yeah, and don't bring any tatty or stained US money with you. The banks won't exchange it. As for people I know in SPb, there are a few, but I'd have to email them to find out whether they're still around. Let me know if you decide to go and I'll send off some emails. Hope you're having fun!

Krakow, Poland

Krakow

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