Holiday in the Czech Republic
As it was in the last semester, we had again one week long holiday in the
middle of the semester. I used the time to go home to the Czech Republic to
enjoy real food and beer 
. The journey home was quite ok, I went by car with
my Polish friends. I was at home after approximately 12 and half hours. It was
a big surprise for everybody, because I had not told anybody before.
Miniuni – miniatures of famous buildings
In the middle of the week Alina came after exhausting journey by trains
through the whole Poland. In the next days, we explored my home city. We started
at the Black meadows fair grounds in the Fairy tale ghost cellar. It
was nice and prepared in a very scary way, as you can see from the pictures. If
I had gone there as a small kid, I would probably have trouble sleeping at
night 
. Our next stop was the aquarium with lot of fish and
some other animals like monkeys or a crocodile. After that we went to see
Miniuni. It is a place with many miniatures of the famous buildings in
the world. Our last stop that day was the recently repaired Silesian-Ostrava
castle. The „exploration“ was very interesting for me, because I had
no idea that some of the places exist .
Flamingos near the entrance to the Ostrava ZOO
Next day we spent in the Ostrava ZOO. It was expanded and rebuilt significantly since my last visit (I think three years ago). The places around the ZOO area were made into botanical gardens with several themed footpaths. On our was back home we stopped at the new town hall that also serves as a watchtower. The weather was good, so we can see a big part of the city.
Mining museum was our main stop on the following day. We saw a lot of interesting stuff there, like exposition of the rescue devices. We also attended the guided tour in the mine.
Ostrava city centre
After this wonderful time Alina had to leave. But it would not be „the genuine“ Czech Railways, if the train had not have one and half hour delay. One and half hour was too much to change train to bus in Warszawa, it was very upsetting (politely said). The only, but small, satisfaction was that I was able to get the money for the train ticket back. So Alina stayed for two days longer and then left by the direct bus Frydek-Mistek – Vilnius. I travelled back to Denmark by Polish buses just one day after her. It was over 18 hours long journey with two changes in Opole and Hamburg. I am glad it was without problems, just long.
I really enjoyed the holiday. But now I have to be in Denmark and get used
to bad food again .
Birmingham and Coventry
Quite some time ago I told myself, that I should go somewhere. I checked the Ryanair site and saw very cheap flights to Great Britain. I chose the city of Birmingham and bought the tickets (about 170 kr in total). I also booked a bed in a shared room of Birmingham Central Backpackers hostel in the city centre.
Last weekend it was the time of my flight. It was not flying from Copenhagen,
but from Billund, which is a small airport right next to the Legoland. The
drawback is that no trains are going there, I had to change to bus in Vejle. It
meant no discount and ticket at full price. I paid for the way to the airport
almost more than for the flight .
I did not know almost anything about Birmingham, maybe just that it is an industrial city in the middle of England. I was really surprised when I came there the city centre was very nice and shining with all colours. I was tired because of the journey, so I decided to explore the centre on the next day and go immediately to the hostel.
The hostel was very cosy. I was surprised again when I got a single room
instead of the bed in the shared room for the same price. I also came in time
for Wii competition. I have
never played it before, so I did not succeed so much, but anyway, we had a lot
of fun .
In the morning I got up early and ate breakfast. Then I headed to the city
centre. I walked about the main pedestrian zone for a while and at 10 o'clock
I went to the National Sea Life Centre (I found a brochure about it in the
hostel). The entrance fee was not exactly small (16 pounds), but definitely
worth paying. I was fascinated by all the fish (and other stuff), mostly by
„Finding Nemo“ part and by rays (hi all RAYNET people ).
The Chamberlain Memorial in Birmingham
After having some lunch, I got an impulsive idea to go somewhere by train.
After looking at the map I decided to go to Coventry. I bought a ticket and
after approx. 40 minutes i was there. Since the train station is not in the
city centre, I took a bus there. Close the the bus station there is Coventry
Transport Museum with hundreds of cars and free entry, I found it by accident
. After I finished looking at the cars, I strolled
in the city centre. I also climbed the church spire (191 stairs, ufff) to get
a nice view of the whole city of Coventry.
When I got back to Birmingham, it was time for dinner. I ate the at the urban pie. They had a nice menu of pies. I chose the one with minced meat, it was delicious.
Next day in the morning I was not feeling well. After the breakfast I stayed in the hostel „lobby“ and just played some Wii. I also checked the internet for the bus connections from Billund. And another surprise, nothing is working on Saturday night in Denmark. The last bus was scheduled to depart 10 minutes after my arrival (and next in the morning). I was lucky to convince my friend Martynas to come for me to the airport (thanks again!).
From the hostel I slowly went to the airport, where i took my flight to Denmark. I enjoyed the trip, maybe I will go there again some other day.
Another week in Odense
After being ill the whole last week, I could again start enjoying my stay
here instead lying in bed. On Monday my friends had a task to get some material
for the school project. Destination: Kaltenkirchen near Hamburg, Germany. I do
not have any lectures on Monday, so I decided to join them. When we picked up
the stuff, we headed to the shopping centre near Flensburg. We stayed there for
quite a long time, because everything was so cheap (comparing to Denmark) .
On Tuesday we had a pool competition. I was in a team with my Italian friend
Alessio. Unfortunately, we did not made it to finals, maybe we will have better
luck next time .
Visit of my friends
My friends Kuba, Kate, Peter and Marta decided to come here for a weekend to
visit me. Unfortunately, Marta got sick, just a day before they were supposed to
go, and stayed at home 
.
The others started travelling on Friday early morning. After approximately
ten hours they were here, quite quick. They were all quite tired, so we did not
do anything „difficult“, just playing table football, pool and drinking gira
and beer . We also could not omit to go to the larmer bar (in
the basement of our dormitory).
Next day the weather was exceptional. Blue sky and Sun, it was sooo strange
. After we got up, we picked up Jenda and went all together to Copenhagen. On
the way we needed to pass the Great Belt Bridge. It was magnificent and also
really expensive, one way costed 215 kr. In Copenhagen we firstly walked
through the centre, then we headed towards the Little Mermaid.
The Great Belt Bridge
After seeing this famous statue we walked back to the car parked in the city
centre. On the way we ate lunch/dinner in the worst McDonald's I have ever
seen. Not mentioning the mess everywhere, they worked really slow, we
waited for almost fifteen minutes to get the food. Plus, at first they did not
have coffee. Then, they had coffee, but no sugar and no milk . Really good standards there . In the evening we again played table football and
also visited Larmer to try the „delicious“ Odense pilsner .
Today the weather changed back to normal – overcast, snowing and everything wet. We just went to see the city centre of Odense, but on Sunday it is completely dead, except some Danes drinking beer in the alleys.
I appreciate that they came here. I thank them for the visit and hope that enjoyed it here.
Week in Lithuania
In the beginning of February I went to Lithuania to visit my girlfriend
Alina for a week. The journey there was quite all right, except the fact
I needed to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning. For some reason I could not
sleep in the train, but I took a nap during the whole flight .
Alina and Antanas were waiting for me at the airport. When I stepped out of
the terminal, I felt a temperature shock. In Denmark there was around
0 degrees, in Vilnius –17. Hopefully, Antanas took us to the central bus
station by car. He also showed us, how to do wheelspin and burn tires even on a
very icy parking lot (shit happens, forgot a handbrake ). At the bus station we took a bus to the edge of
Vilnius.
First day we spent at place of the Alina's friend, Rita. We also went for a
trip to Trakai, which is a historic region with a lot of lakes and a castle. It
was very freezing weather, so our trip was short. In the evening we went to the
cinema for the movie „Yes Man“. When we woke up, we went to see the city
centre. It was still freezing, but we survived that .
Vilnius Cathedral
In the afternoon we travelled by bus to Alina's home town, Visaginas, where
we spent another three days. It is rather small town, but it has much to offer,
so we had lot of fun. It is also close to a very big lake. As you can see, the
weather was not suitable for swimming so much, just for walking on the ice .
Frozen Visaginas lake
Our next stop was Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. We met our
friends from Denmark Antanas and Vaida there. In the evening we again went to
the cinema, this time for the movie „Doubts“ and then to the hill to observe
Kaunas at night. Next day we walked through the city. I have to say, it was
much more beautiful in the night .
Kaunas
From Kaunas we travelled back to Vilnius. The bus stopped absolutely everywhere, so the journey took about four hours. In the night we explored Vilnius old town. We went to see it again on the next day again, it was my last day there. I was quite in a hurry to go shopping and then catch my flight and I did not have enough time to see a lot.
Just before leaving I bought lot of stuff that is hard to get or awfully
expensive in Denmark: alcohol, frying pan for our kitchen and a big light bulb
(12 cm) to my room. At the airport security check they really had fun because
of me. After I put the baggage into the X-ray, the security people were looking
at the monitor and laughing. Then the woman asked me to open the bag. She took
the light bulb and said something like: „Hey, he's really got a lamp here“
. I asked if it was a problem and she replied that
it was not, but it was highly unusual.
The plane had a delay of 25 minutes because of some problems on the Copenhagen airport. Because of that I missed my direct train and had to wait at the Copenhagen central station for more than half hour.
During the stay I tried various meals, mostly Lithuanian specialities, but
also some Russian stuff. Is was really delicious 
. Now I am a little bit disgusted with just looking
at the Danish food (poor taste, high price).
The trip was amazing, I had lot of fun and I hope am going to return there very soon.
Trip to Nyborg
Today after waking up I told myself that it is time to do something else
than lying in bed. That lead to an idea, go to visit the city of Nyborg. It is
very close, approximately 15 minutes by train. When I arrived there, I headed
towards the beach. The weather was very nice today, the temperature was around
zero and sometimes I could see the Sun .
The Great Belt Bridge
After I enjoyed walking on the sandy beach, I went to the city centre. It
is really small, just two or three shopping streets and a small castle. When
I got tired of walking, I headed back to the train station. I was very lucky
to catch the train. It had two minutes delay. Without that, I would have to
wait another half and hour. The train brought me safely back to Odense. I think
the trip was successful (and a really good idea ).
Visit to Roskilde
This weekend I had nothing to do (except learning for exams of course), so
I decided to travel to Roskilde and pay a visit to my friends there. I could
not choose the better time to do so. The semester is almost over and lot of
people are going to leave and lot of goodbye parties take place. And Roskilde
was not an exception .
The RUC „main street“ towards the Korallen dormitory
During my stay there I met a lot of old friends and also a lot of new people. The parties were really nice (and quite crazy :D), it was very relaxed weekend for me. But now the fun must go aside, because I should start to learn for my last exam on Thursday. Wish me luck.
Here I am, on the road again
After spending marvelous Christmas with my family and „exhausting“ new year celebration I have to leave Ostrava and head back to Odense.
Main street in Ostrava-Poruba at night
My journey is starting tomorrow at 5.36 in the morning. I am taking my
chances (or let's say, lottery) with Czech Railways. After my expected arrival
to the airport I have got only 35 minutes to check-in. Please cross your
fingers for me .
Update 4.1.:
The journey was more or less as expected. Czech Railways surprised with only 10 minutes delay and the Sky Europe flight was on time too. Only annoying thing was my suitcase. On my last flight home it was a little bit trashed in a way that I could not use the handle. Of course I found it out just before leaving my place. It was very „funny“ to drag it through the entire centre of Odense, especially during heavy snowing that is very unlikely here.
The impossible – Snow in Odense
The snowy football field and rooftops are nice to look at, but I hope it
will melt till tomorrow, because I need to ride a bike to the shop .
Home sweet home
Yesterday at 9 o'clock I began my journey home with a train to Copenhagen
central station. There I changed to the airport train and met my Slovakian
friend Lucia and her brother. When we came to the airport and I saw the
check-in queue, my first reaction was „WTF?“. They just served four flights
at one counter. While I was waiting in the queue, I saw my neighbour Inese in
the café. Another incredible meeting. And later when I finally checked-in,
I met Kuba from EILC language course. We discovered we are on the same flight
and also got the seats next to each other . It was really funny.
My neighbour Inese at the airport.
The funny mood went away a little bit when I did not find my baggage in Prague. I wonder when will it come, because I called to the airport today and they said they had no report from Copenhagen. But they „assured“ me that I am not the only one, total 30 baggages from my flight did not make it to Prague. Rest of the journey was pretty boring, just waiting two hours for the train and sleeping three hours inside it.
Now I am just sitting at home, watching falling snowflakes outside and
finally enjoying the Christmas time .
Trip to Stockholm
Three weeks ago, we decided to go to Stockholm for a weekend. On Friday 21st we took a plane from Copenhagen to the capital city of Sweden. Because of the snowstorm over Arlanda airport the plane was delayed, but it was not a problem to check in at the hostel.
Next morning we got up early and went towards the central station to buy the
Stockholm card („free“ public transport and entrance to almost every
museum). At 9 o'clock we were almost the only people in the streets, because it
was snowing very heavily. After buying the card, our tour could start . During the next days we visited a lot of museums,
the Royal palace and the city hall.
I also experienced a very improbable/impossible meeting (again ). My friends Pavel and Juli (Erasmus students in
Finland) just happen to be in the city at the same time. We talked over the
phone and arranged a meeting at the Royal palace after changing guards event.
But we bumped to each other in the streets before that. Yes, Europe is
very small.
The whole trip was really amazing, except the way back. We came to the
airport just before 4 o'clock in the afternoon just to know, that our flight
was cancelled and the new one flew at 20.15. So we waited and waited. In the
end, the flight was delayed for another 45 minutes. The train from Copenhagen
was delayed too, so we were back in Odense at 2 o'clock in the morning instead
of 22.30 .