From: sracer@media.mit.edu (Andy Hong (Go Speed Racer!))
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: EASTERN EUROPE TRIP: The touristy (and hellish) stuff  (LONG)
Date: 15 Dec 92 04:10:41 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: M.I.T. Media Laboratory

OK, I got enough email from people who wanted the touristy info about my
Eastern Europe stuff (after having seen my post about ATM's, Credit Cards,
etc.).

So here it is.

In my most recent travels, I've been somewhat lazy about writing down
names of places/restaurants that were mediocre or less--so this report
(like my two previous posts) might not be as detailed as you might want
it.  (Hey, did anyone like my Bonaire post??? That was my last
superdetailed one.)

In the next four months, I'll be on trips to London, Amsterdam,
Switzerland, and Costa Rica--if anyone out there wants to flow me some fun
info 'bout Amsterdam and Costa Rica, please do so!  Thanks!

Anyway, here's the report.

--andy

P.S. If any of y'all have any questions or comments, please respond via
email directly.  I don't read this newsgroup.  (I think it's got to have
one of the lowest real-information-vs.-funny-questions ratios of all
time--the Disneyland stuff isn't for me.)  But I do post to it (since some
people out there do have enough patience to read thru even long-winded
stuff like mine).  And since I write up reports for my group-o'-traveling-
friends (including one of my travel agents), it's just as easy to mail 'em
off to the net.




OK, it's the Eastern Europe Trip Report from Hell!

9.5 days of cruising around by train and foot (neither skateboard nor
SCUBA this time) thru some of the most beautiful and dirty places in
Europe!

-----
Table-o'-Contents

Berlin
Warsaw
Krakow
Praha (Prague)
Karlovy-Very (Carlsbad)

Languages
Money
ATM's
Credit Cards
Phones
Trains
Race
Toilets
General Recommendations



-----
Berlin

We stayed at the Berliner Congress Hotel near the Alexanderplatz (the main
square in what used to be East Berlin).  The two people with whom I was
traveling had both been to Berlin numerous times.  I'd been to other parts
of Germany numerous times.  We all hate German food, and we were there on
business, so therefore, I don't have much to say.

The Alexanderplatz only two years ago had been very grey and barren.  Now
it's covered with bright neon signs advertising various Japanese
corporations (Toshiba, Sony, Epson, etc).  It reminded me of Tokyo.

The train station that services Polish-bound traffic, Berlin Lichtenberg,
was one of the scummiest stations I'd been in.  The people working there
were also the least helpful people (other than the United employees at
London Heathrow) that we encountered on the trip.  We ended up going there
three times.  Once to reserve tickets (we wanted to purchase them, but the
credit card machine was not accepting any of our 10+ cards).  Once to
purchase the tickets (after we traveled a couple stops on the S-Bahn to
get cash at an ATM--the nearest ATM according to the station employees).
And a third time to board the train.  Luckily, we had all-day passes, so
we didn't have to keep on buying fares.

Everywhere near the former border crossings, there were Turkish gypsies
hawking Russian paraphenalia.  Watches, toys, clothing, military surplus.
Everything was cheap (much cheaper than in Prague).

At night, a friend who lived in Berlin took us to some of the hip and
trendy East Berlin bars.  Some killer hole-in-the-walls with scratchy punk
rock records playing and graffiti covered walls.  My kind of place.  We
talked music the whole time.  I'm definitely gonna have to go back.


-----
Warsaw

We took an all-night train (operated by the Polish WARS) to Warsaw from
Berlin.  The first-class couchette included towels and bedding.  This was
by far the cleanest train that we had experienced.  Our conductor spoke
perfect English, and he recommended some hotels and sights in Warsaw.

We checked in at the Hotel Polonia at 6AM.  It was a three-star.  If it
had been in the US, it probably would have been a no-star.  It cost us
about $60 for a three bed room and toilet/bath.

The old town was about a ten-minute walk.  We purchased a walking tour
book at a bookstore in the main square of the old town... and spent the
rest of the morning and early afternoon checking out the old city.
Although all the buildings seem authentically old, all of them were built
("rebuilt") in the 50's and 60's--most of Warsaw was destroyed during
WWII.

We had lunch at a deli.  Bread, cheese, juice--came out to about $1 per
person.

After lunch, we walked back downtown to the tallest buidling.  From the
top, we could see all of Warsaw, and the factories and power plants
surrounding it--spitting out tons of smoke.  We were surprised to see an
IKEA furniture store only blocks away (near the largest (and most crowded)
McDonald's we had ever seen).  At the base of the building (I can't
remember its name), there's a huge open-air market.  Levin's, Livin's,
Live's, Livi's, etc... lots of counterfeit Levi's variations were being
sold.

A big supermarket (Marc Pol?) next to the open-air market had a good
selection of groceries.  And as usual, most everything (except meat) was
cheap.

We ate at two restaurants.  One was supposedly Korean (it had Korean
letters and everything on the facade).  We we sat down, we asked if any
Koreans were on the staff.  Our waiter said no, but that at one point, the
chef had been married to a Korean (all this was spoken in broken German).
Not surprisingly, the food was a far cry from Korean.  (Lesson, don't eat
Korean food in Warsaw.)  The other restaurant was a Polish Pub/Restaurant.
The food was not too memorable, albeit cheap ($15 for food and drinks for
three people).  I didn't bother writing down the names of either of these
restaurants.

Other random memorable events of the day:

I got kicked out of the Warsaw Marriott because I was wearing Chucks
(canvas Converse All-Star Hi-tops).  But before leaving, I asked them
where I could get authentic Peirogies.  They pointed me to the Pizza Hut
(Marriott operated, of course).  The Pizza Hut had pretty poor peirogies.
And the waitress smelled like she hadn't showered in days.

I almost got kicked out of the Warsaw "castle".  It's not much of a
castle... but it was rebuilt and refurnished beautifully.  All tourists
are required to wear these leather slippers, to protect the floor.  The
slippers are extremely slippery (slippers, hmmm).  So I had a good time
sliding around until a guard grabbed me and threatened to throw me out.

The next day, we checked out of our Hotel and took our bags to the train
station.  The station did NOT have working luggage lockers.  Apparently:
(a) inflation is so high that no coins are worth anything; (b) the lockers
could not be retooled for tokens; and (c) by having a baggage holding area
staffed by two people, the train station could hire hire and pay more
employees.  The baggage holding was a total scam--the people behind the
counter demanded a certain amount of "insurance" for each piece of
luggage.  When asked what this insurance guaranteed, they replied that it
guaranteed that the bag would be there when we got back.  Needless to say,
I didn't check my bag.

Luckily, my bag was light, so I didn't mind carrying it with me as we
toured some more of the city.  That afternoon, we took one of the many
trains to Krakow.

My recommendations for touring in Warsaw: don't bother going.  And if you,
don't eat Korean food.


-----
Krakow

The first thing we did when we arrived was go up to the informacion booth
to ask for directions on how to train it to Prague the next day (since we
had to meet up with a friend there).  Boy, what a hellish experience.  The
one person behind the booth who could speak English just rattled off one
entry in the train schedule, and then refused to answer any more
questions.  The itinerary that she gave us was totally useless, since it
got us into Prague too late.  So I finally just asked her for the schedule
book, and I worked out another possible (but not ideal) itinerary.

When I politely pressed the informacion person for more info, she
literally got up off her chair and walked away.  She didn't come back.

So I went to a ticket counter and luckily found a woman who spoke German.
Together, we worked out a much more reasonable itinerary.  In the end, we
ended up going a totally different route (once we got into Czechoslovakia,
we got access to Czech train schedules, which were much more detailed).  I
tried to tip her $5 (a heckload of money!), but she refused to take it.

Anyway, once that was out of the way, we found accommodations--or shall I
say, the accommodations found us.  A woman came up to us, and in very
broken English, offered the three of us an apartment for $20 US a night.
We went for it, figuring it couldn't be much worse than the 3-star hotel
we stayed at in Warsaw.

It turned out to be in a really excellent looking Blade Runner -like
apartment complex.  All greyish, with leaking pipes and steam and water
everywhere.  Everything was too huge and somewhat retro-future looking.
The apartment was inhabited by a family who gave us one room to ourselves,
towels, and use of the shared toilet.  The original woman got $10, and the
family got $10.  We got a key to the place and were told we could come and
go as we pleased.

The apartment was about a 7 minute walk to the train station, and about a
two minute walk to the Centrum.  In fact, everything is in walking
distance.

Like everywhere in Poland, the toilet didn't flush completely and the
bathroom was not much better than an outhouse.

We ate at one of the two restaurants recommended in Let's Go.  (The other
was closed for renovations.)  The food was excellent!  Soup, salad, killer
stuffed potatoe-pancakes, two beers, and shot of vodka each.  For three of
us, it came out to less than $15 total!  (Polish vodka is *very* good.
Definitely have a shot of it before dinner.)

Much of the original Centrum, including the amazing Barbican, is still
standing.  The main town square is HUGE!  And the castle was beautiful.
There's way too much to see.  We were bummed that we had even bothered
stopping in Warsaw--we all wished we had spent the time in Krakow.

There are a number of bookstores in the main square that sell walking
guides to Krakow (at about $2) in English, German, French, Italien, and
Spanish.  We purchased one and found it most useful and quite interesting.

As in Warsaw, the WC's are labeled.  In any of the main parts of the town,
there are signs that point to WC's within a block or two away.

Also, because of the somewhat liberal (relatively speaking) bent to the
town (due to the high student population) there's also a very high-profile
right-wing contingent.  I was hassled a couple times by skinheads.  And
just about every other building is covered with skinhead graffiti ("SKINS
OK" was everywhere).  (But this was no big deal, since being hassled by
skins is something I've experienced way too many times here in the US (at
punk rock shows).)

The $50 that we changed over in Warsaw lasted us to the end--two and a
half days in Poland.  Polish money is worthless outside of Poland.  So we
bought lots of gifts.  And we spent our last $1.50 at a local grocery
(they're at every other street corner) for two bags of groceries--water,
bread, cheese, and yogurt--for our train trip to Prague... enough food to
feed three hungry people.

My recommendations for being a tourist in Krakow.  Don't bother buying a
guide book in the states.  You'll be able to find a more detailed one in
Krakow (at any of the bookstores on the main square) for much less.  If
you want a restaurant listing, just write down the names and addresses of
the places listed in Let's Go (I wouldn't bother purchasing it).  Eat lots
of goolash.


-----
Praha (Prague)

Prague is an amazing beautiful city.  It's also the most touristy of the
places we visited (and therefore, the most expensive).  Lots of small
footpaths winding up and down hills.  Lots of artists and vendors hawking
their ware.  Lots of Americans.

All the hotels were *incredibly* expensive.  We arrived at one of the
three smaller train stations.  The accomodations desk there did not have
too many choices.  So we walked with our bags to the main station--about a
10 minute walk.

There, we checked at three different accomodations desks--none of them had
anything affordable or acceptable.  While coming out of the third
accomodations booth, I was stopped by two men and a teenage boy.  The
spoke very broken German (no English) and offered to set us up with a
place to stay.  We agreed on a private flat two stops away on the subway
for 20 DM per night per person ($15 US) for four of us (a friend of mine
met the three of us in Praha).  It worked out well.  It had two bedrooms,
a kitchen, a shower/bath, and a toilet.  We had the place to ourselves.
It was relatively clean (much cleaner than any of the other places we had
stayed (other than the Berliner Congress Hotel)).

We each purchased a three-day tourist railpass that came out to about $4.
The subway system is efficient and clean (much more so than Boston's, for
example).  We had no problem going places.

In the Centrum, we purchased a walking tour book and made our way around
the city.  Incredibly beautiful (and incredibly dirty).

We ate at a couple small restaurants throughout the city.  About $5 for
lunch per person, and $10-12 for dinner.  Expensive.


-----
Karlovy-Very (Carlsbad)

After two days in Prague (and 6 days in other cities), we were burned out
with walking through polluted streets and seeing city sights.  So after
joking about wanting to pamper ourselves in a decent hotel with at least a
hot-tub, we decided to bail out of Prague and cruise to Karlovey-Very.

We took a morning bus to Karlovey-Very--it took about two hours.  Once
there, we took a taxi to the Grande Hotel Pupp.  The best hotel by far
that we stayed in.  Cozy.  Great balcony view of the valley.  Sauna.
Massage.  And actually quite romantic--I fell in love (with my friend, not
the hotel).  About $80 per night per double.  Four stars.

While my friend and I are were marveling at all the Baroque architecture
(she and I had been architecture students together), the other two in our
party went to the casinos and hit the crystal shops.  Placeware and lead
crystal (Bohemia Crystal is based there) can be had for incredibly low
prices.  We had to purchase new carry-on luggage to get it all back to the
states.  The same stuff would have cost FOUR times as much in the US.  On
the second day, we saw lots of servicemen and their families literally
rolling around handcarts full of boxed crystal--apparently, a platoon (or
whatever they're called) was going home to the states, having completed
its German tour... and lots of crystal was being shipped back with them.

On one of the afternoons, we climbed up the hills out of the valley.
There are labeled footpaths behind the Grande Hotel Puppe that lead up to
an observation tower.  The tower was closed for the season, but the view
was fantastic nevertheless.

And of course, Karlovy-Very is famous for its hot springs.  Yup.  They're
there.  And the water that comes out of them tastes terrible!  Each of the
jillions of springs has its own mineral content and temperature--and each
one supposedly cures its own set of ailments.

The day before our flight back to London and the states, we started our
journey by train back to Berlin, from where our flight departed.  The
train to Prague took four hours (it stopped alot), and from there, we took
an all-night train to Berlin Lichtenberg.  A total of 29 hours (of almost
non-stop traveling) was spent from the minute we stepped on the train in
Karlovy-Very to the minute we stepped back into the house in CT.  Hellish.

My recommendations for touring in Karlovy-Very.  Bring a handcart if you
plan to do shopping.  Bring someone with whom you want to fall in love.


-----
Languages

Almost no one speaks English in Poland or in Czech.  About a quarter of
the people in the service industry (train, restaurant, hotel, etc) spoke
German (some as poorly as us!).  Almost no one spoke French or Spanish
either.


-----
Money

Everyone accepts USD and DM.  Not too many establishments accepted
traveler's checks.  These had to be changed at banks or exchanges.  There
were money-exchanges everywhere.  Gypsies tended to hang out in touristy
spots, trying to sell money at incredibly piss-poor rates (are they
stupid?--or are the tourists that stupid???).


-----
ATM's

Every city had a couple ATM's.  Most of them were labeled with Plus,
Cirrus, and Mastercard.  Four of us had a total of 12 cards among us.
Only ONE worked consistently, my AT&T Universal Masterard.  Other credit
cards and all of our Plus and Cirrus money-cards failed to work MOST of
the time.  NONE of the Citibank cards EVER worked (as explained in the
credit card section below).

All of the ATM's (except a few in East Berlin) had an English language
option.


-----
Credit Cards

Only in Berlin could we use AMEX or VISA.  Not too many other places were
these accepted (except in four and five star hotels, expensive restaurants
(usually in hotels), and expensive shops... but in general, my Eastern
Europe trip didn't include these).

Citibank credit cards NEVER worked--they always failed the authorization
(you know, when the card is sent thru the card reader).  We were told that
Citibank has its own authorization network, and this network is not always
accessible from Eastern Europe (we did not verify this with Citibank--so
this could be totally bogus).


-----
Phones

I have both an AT&T and a Sprint phone card.  The Sprint card worked from
East Berlin, no prob.  But I couldn't get a Sprint connection from Poland
or Czechoslovakia.  My AT&T card (Univ) worked fine from everywhere.  (For
calls to the US only.)

In Czechoslovakia, I purchased a phone card (for 100 crowns--about $4)
that gave me a 100-sec phone call to the states.

The connections were always incredibly noisy--and didn't always come
through the first time.

Most private residences and small businesses do NOT have phones.


-----
Trains

We purchased 5-day, first-class Eastern Europe Railpasses in the states
for $160 each, thinking it would be a bargain.  Turned out to be a rip.
We could have done five days of traveling purchased in local currencies
for no more than $75.  And not only that, most train employees had never
seen the passes before--so it was always a hassle every time we got on a
new train.

Trains are incredibly cheap.  Like in the $1 to $10 range for a five hour
trip.  Buses are even cheaper.  Going 180 Km from Prague to Karlovy-Very
cost each of us only about 30 cents.

Polish trains tended to be cleaner and more comfortable than Czech trains.

We took couchettes on two of the nights--this saved us accomodation money.
Having taken second-class sleepers before (in Western Europe), I found it
efficient and enjoyable.  The three (four, by the end of the trip) of us
had our own cabin each time.  (A cabin sleeps six.)  On the second sleeper
trip, we bribed the conductor $10 (for all four of us to go to Berlin from
Prague) to let us have a 2nd-class couchette instead of the first class
seats that we were supposed to have.  (Bribing was about a quarter of the
price as actually purchasing the couchette tickets.)


-----
Race

Not too many people had seen an Asian in real life--especially one who
doesn't tend to dress conservatively.  Anytime I was standing around with
nothing in particular to do (like while I was waiting), someone would come
up to me and try to pick up a conversation.  "Japan?" (pronounced
"yah-pon") was the first thing I'd hear.  And in Krakow, I passed by a
large group of school kids who, when they saw me, all pointed to me and
started talking amongst themselves, completely ignoring their teacher.  I
hadn't experienced such amazement at my appearance since venturing into
South Boston!


-----
Toilets

Like in Spain and France, it usually costs money to use a "public" WC.  In
Poland, the fee tended to be about 20 cents for the use of a toilet.  In
Czechoslovakia, the fee tended to be about 5 cents or less for the toilet
and about 2 cents for the sink.  Most "public" WC's did not have toilet
paper.  The few that did, had the extremely typical "sandpaper" variety,
and they charged a penny or two per wad.  I brought a roll of Charmin with
me from the states--needless to say, I was everyone's instant best-friend
when it came to bathroom time.

All of the private WC's, even in four and five star hotels, had toilets
that didn't flush completely.  The universal toilet design in Poland and
Czechoslovakia is similar to the typical German design with the "shelf" in
the bowl (people who've used this type of toilet know what I
mean--everyone else will have to just imagine, since I don't feel like
drawing an ASCII picture) except that the waste pipe does a bend "up"
before going into the floor or wall.  So even holding the flush knob down
for a minute or two wouldn't clear the toilet bowl completely.


-----
General Recommendations

Take the following:

     - An AT&T Universal *MASTERCARD*.
     - At least one roll of toiletpaper.
     - Cash in small increments (I took 75 singles and about $125
       in fives and tens--it worked out perfectly).

Don't bother taking:

     - AMEX or VISA (except for y'all five-star travelers out there).
     - Sprint card.
     - Traveler's checks.
     - Lots of clothing.  Just layer what you got.
     - Big tourbooks--they're just too heavy.  Rip out the relevant
       pages on restaurants and stick those in your day bag.
     - Skateboard.  Many of the interesting roads are cobblestone.
       And almost all of the roads are covered with horse and dog shit.

You can purchase guide books (walking tour books are the most useful) in
all of the cities that we stayed in.  Just make going to a book store one
of your first priorities.  These books are *cheap*--like $2 to $4.
Probably much cheaper than what they'd go for in the states.

Try bribing conductors to "upgrade" your train tickets instead of
purchasing the higher-price ticket at the ticket counter.  But if you do
this, find them before they find you (in the "upgraded" compartment).

Don't purchase advance rail tickets in the states.  Tickets are much
cheaper when purchased locally.

Only change money at official exchange stations or banks.

Don't eat Korean food in Warsaw.

Carry a day bag with you (like a small backpack or shoulder bag).  You'll
find it useful for carrying gifts, books, food, etc. that you purchase.

Buy food (bottled water, bread, cheese, meats, crackers, yogurt,
dumplings, pastries, etc) at local grocery stores and delis.  It's a very
cheap way to get good food--especially when you're traveling on the train.

The cheapest Russian goodies (watches, hats, jewelry, insignia, etc) were
in Warsaw and in East Berlin (pocket watches for $12, for example) .  The
cheapest caviar was in Prague (about $8 for the same tin that's sold in
London for around $50).

If you don't speak Polish or Czech, then at least learn German.

And finally, don't take United in/out of Heathrow/London.  United has the
most incompetent staff operating the most inefficient check-in system that
I've ever experienced (and I travel ALOT--I'm on a plane at least once a
month).  We arrived at Heathrow for our flight to Berlin an hour and a
half early--and we missed the flight.  During our wait in numerous
security and ticket lines, we informed three employees of the fact that we
had tickets for the flight--all of them promised we'd make it.  When we
got to the ticket counter, the person told us that there was no way we
could make it through the next level of security to board the plane--that
it was too late.  We argued, trying to get him to check us in--but he and
his manager stalled for 15 minutes until it was really too late.  My guess
is that they had prematurely given away our seats, and didn't want to
reimburse us.  (We did manage to get a Lufhansa flight in the afternoon.)