How much can a person write about a day-long train ride? When we awoke to rain in Berlin, we decided to skip a full visit to the zoo and, instead, head for Poland. Barry had tried to book a hostel and various 2 star hotels in advance, but no one responded to e-mails. So, we decided it was better to get there early and seek shelter at 7:30 p.m. rather than in the dark.

The train ride was…interesting. We like riding the trains, so we hope this experience doesn't turn any of you off, because that is not our intention. We got onto the first train with the destination of Angermunde and headed for first class seats, as always, with our western Europe Eurail pass. However, it was jam-packed with backpackers, most of whom, OK - all of whom, did not have first class tickets. However, because the entire train was packed, they got to sit wherever they could. As usual, close quarters mean shared sentiments, so we ended up talking with Maran from Stuttgart, a social worker on her way to a northern island in Germany where three-quarters of the rest of our train were also headed.

Soon thereafter, we traded trains and headed for Szczecin Glowny in Poland. We sat in second class; again, because first class was full. We got a nice booth together and then watched five or six people get kicked out of first class. A very strange man kept closing both doors to "protect" himself from the lower classes. We were tempted to go sit in first class after our tickets were checked - just to drive him crazy - but decided against it since we really were quite comfortable the way we were. There was only one w.c. (bathroom) on the whole train, so Margaret met some interesting people in the line up including an elementary teacher from Germany who was travelling with her boyfriend. She teaches Polish in a German school but had never been to Poland, so that was funny.

When we changed trains again, we saw a very big difference from German to Polish trains. However, we must admit that we only have 2nd class passes for Eastern Europe. Anyhow, the countryside was gorgeous and we saw storks, big rectangular hay bales, and every town had someone leaning out of their window watching the train go by. Barry decided to do the same, so every stop we made, he would go to the big window of the train, open it, and look out. At one point, we sat with a young couple from Gdansk who shared fresh blueberries with us. When we finally arrived in Malbork, we were blown away by a quick peek at the incredible castle as we rolled by.

Getting accommodations turned out to be more difficult than we had planned. Almost every hotel and hostel was fully booked, and the two hotels we did find were Canadian priced - not what we'd expected in Poland! However, tired and anxious to settle in, we had a nice meal in downtown Malbork (Barry had beet borscht and pierogis!), and then we checked into Zbyszko Hotel. We watched the movie Frequency on the laptop, and then went to sleep in country number seven!!