Georgia, Krakow, Rome, Barcelona - Yikes!


Holy guacamole, how time flies! Every year seems to go by more quickly than the last. Compared to when I was a teenager, a year seems like no time at all. Three years even less so! It's been about 8 months since I first hopped a plane to this side of the pond and it boggles my mind entirely when I think about how much has already happened. I've visited a grand total of 6 countries this year, including ones I have visited before.


One of my biggest dreams has always been to see a festival of lanterns. Warsaw delivered for the start of summer concert. Not just lanterns, but fireworks!


In order to make this a fairly brief entry (because if I went into detail about everything that has happened in the last five months, anyone reading this would probably faceplant into their computers with boredom), I'm going to do a summary by country. Pictures will be included, of course, since half the reason I began this blog in the first place was to show people the places I have visited. My words will never come close to being able to describe the breathtaking beauty of some of the things I've seen.



The view from my friend's balcony in Tbilisi. I could get used to a view like that!


It only makes sense to go chronologically, so I'll begin with my trip to Georgia back in May. I had not really been planning on taking a trip so soon after arriving in Poland, but when I found out the majority of my Hash (of the Hash House Harriers) friends would be leaving Tbilisi, I simply couldn't say no. As with all my whirlwind trips, there was very little planning involved (though my spontaneity is limited, what with the German in me insisting on at least one budget before leaving). I hopped the plane and somehow managed to explain to the taxi driver in my broken Georgian not only where I was going but why I was in Georgia, why I spoke Georgian and that I was currently a pre-school teacher in Poland. I was pretty darn proud of myself for that exchange.

The weekend in Georgia was as stereo-typically Georgian as I could make it, considering I was spending the vast majority of my time with people who were not from Georgia at all, but rather from various countries all over Europe. In the end, there were two 10 k hikes, one of which included wearing a red dress and sprinting through the rain. There was a little bit of throwing up behind the security booth of the Mariott. There may have been a bit of staying up until sunrise drinking and talking. And as happens with every single weekend that I am in Georgia, the night before my flight home consisted of a 2 hour drunken nap instead of any real sleep.


Yes. Yes, he is dancing with a wine bottle balanced on his head. No, he did not drop it. My clumsy self was thoroughly impressed by this show of balance.

All of that made for one of the best weekends so far this year, though it's fairly difficult to compare any trip when I've made so many in such a short period of time.




The Jewish cemetery in Krakow. The rain made it even gloomier, but also more beautiful with the wet stone contrasting the green grass.


Lovely wanderings in Krakow.

For June and July, I stayed in Poland and hosted a couple visitors. One of those visitors happened to be my best friend from the States who I have been trying to do a Eurotrip with for quite a long time. We decided on Rome and Barcelona. She stayed with me for two weeks in Warsaw (with one weekend trip to Krakow, as the photos above showed), flew out to Florence for a week and then I hopped a plane to meet her in Rome. (Side note: That is my absolute favorite thing about living in Europe. Being able to say, "Oh, we can just meet in Rome/Paris/London/Berlin since it's convenient.) We spent 4 days legitimately walking the entire city, eating as much pizza and gelato as we could, and drinking all of the prosecco. All of it. Somehow, we managed to see almost every single major site in 3 days, so the fourth day we took a break and took a train to the coast.


And now the touristy photos begin. Trevi fountain by night.


The Colosseum. Definitely worth the heat and crowds, just to see it.



Unfortunately, we were too burnt out after wandering around all day and walking through the Vatican museum to actually go inside St Peter's (I know, I know). Clearly, I'll just have to revisit Rome. Darn.



Absolutely worth the sand I found in all parts of my clothing for the rest of the trip.

After all those sites, a day spent lounging on the beach with an American brother and sister we met on the train was exactly what the doctor ordered. The next day we packed up and flew to Barcelona. Ah, Barcelona. Next to Istanbul and Dresden, Barcelona is absolutely one of my favorite cities. It has everything I could want! Beaches, sangria, tapas, sexy men, beautiful architecture (Gaudi, just...Gaudi), winding gothic roads, beautiful views , a museum of chocolate. What more could a person ask for? Our time in Barcelona was mostly spent drinking and eating and wandering near the beach. I had my first experience tanning topless on a public beach, which was much less embarrassing than I thought it would be. Who knew? We also visited the Picasso museum and I did my trek to Park Guell the day my friend left. 



Love this view. Gaudi's whimsical architecture is some of my favorite. It screams Dr Seuss and magic and imagination to me.


One of the many piazza's we visited during our trip. The Europeans truly love their squares and plazas and piazzas.


Sunset walk along Barcelona's beaches? Don't mind if I do. 


One of my favorite views of Barcelona. The hike to Park Guell is pretty wicked in the August sun, but it is worth it for the shade, the mosaics, the beautiful twisted columns and the view.

Coming back to cool, rainy Poland after spending a week in beautiful, hot, sunny weather was a bit of a shock. I made it okay, though, and had a second trip to Krakow at the end of August to look forward to. Some of my friends from Georgia are currently on an epic road trip through Europe. I am insanely jealous, as would be expected, but someday I hope to do the same. Well, I have managed to summarize my major trips, though I haven't said a single thing about my day to day life in Warsaw. Next time, then, I'll talk about that and my first week of school, which went even better than I could have expected. Hope everyone had a wonderful summer and is ready to be back in the grind!

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