Paying the bill in the hotel today the woman went through the things I’d eaten or drunk then started saying two and a half hours internet, three hours internet etc.. They had wifi access and I’d been sitting there with my laptop, assuming it was free, not realizing they were noting down how long I …
All Posts Filed in ‘Europe’
Hunting muslims in the Carpathians
Sitting on the sofa of the small common room area of the hostel in Lviv with my laptop, a two year old Mac Powerbook whose battery has pretty much died so it now needs to be constantly connected to a power supply. In the area just outside, covered by a leaking plastic roof, where building …
Lviv, Ukraine
Things are difficult in Ukraine. Even though I didn’t understand the language in Slovakia, Poland or Lithuania, at least I could read the letters, and then it’s often possible to get an idea of what’s going on. The culture here is also quite different. East Europe by comparison is very European. I’m in Lviv now, …
Chop, Ukraine
I got on the train for Lviv at Kosice, Slovakia, at 7:24 but I didn’t have a ticket. I’d gone to what I think was the Kasa, ticket booth, in kosice station but the woman behind the curtains didn’t speak any English. I showed her my print out with the train I wanted to get …
Email to Gordon Brown
Re: Government response to petition ‘NoVATonBikes’ Dear Gordon Thanks for the reply. It’s good of you to get back to me. Tony never did. However, I’m a bit disappointed you don’t want to go for this, and your response that you can’t because the EU won’t let you sounds a bit lame, and plays into …
Message from Gordon Brown
You recently signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to “Encourage people to cycle by removing VAT on bicycles, tricycles and human powered vehicles and on all cycling parts and spares.” The Prime Minister’s Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here:
High Tatra Mountains, Slovakia
I walked out of the pension and turned right. I walked up the hill, past two small churches and several hotels and pensions, to the cable car station, where there are a load of snack bars, a tourist information office, and bureau de change, and the ticket booth for cable cars that go up the …
Srara Lesna, High Tatrys, Slovakia
The food in Poland was generally not that good, slabs of dry boneless meat with potatoes, though I’d taken to having salad, but it was always in a salad bar and seemed to have been sitting there for days. But on the last night in Krakow I ordered ribs, potatos, cabbage and pickled cucumbers, and …
Zakopane, Poland
The main pedestrianized street of Zakopane, whose name I forget because I don’t know how to pronounce it, is full of people walking up and down not seeming to be going anywhere, many of them going there with ice creams, binoculars, cameras and pushchairs. Most of the shops are restaurants, either fast food burger kebab …
Zakopane, Poland
A week in Krakow is more than enough, particularly if you’re staying in a hostel that seems to have been set up to cater for the stag party crowd: groups of between 5 and 20 British and Irish men. The hostel laid on a booze cruise 3 nights a week (90 zlotys to eat and …