Chillin' in Wroclaw, and the Hotlist's 1,000,000th page view

Hey guys!

Just woke up and it looks as though it's going to be a glorious day in beautiful Wroclaw! Man, it's nice to be on vacation for another month or so!!!;-)

While I knew it was going to happen at some point while I was traipsing around Eastern Europe, last Friday night saw Pat's Fantasy Hotlist get its millionth page view! Fuck me, but that is totally unbelievable! Not bad for a dumbass who writes short, pathetic, laymen reviews, eh!?!:p Once again, many thanks to all of you who keep dropping by, day after day. You certainly keep things interesting! But 1,000,000 page views???? That's decidedly over the top!

The seaside town of Gdansk was surprisingly beautiful and I definitely enjoyed my stay there. It was only meant to be an extra stop on the itinerary, just so I could say that I had seen a little more of Poland, but it was very neat. Unfortunately, it rained on my last day there, which prevented me from visiting Oliwa and its cathedral, as well as the Baltic seaside resort of Sopot. Hot damn, but I would have enjoyed watching Polish women in their bikinis while soaking up the sun on the beach for an afternoon! Alas, it was not to be. . . I did get to Westerplatte, the site where WWII began when a German battleship attacked the Polish garrison stationed on the island. Yes, I took the kitch pirate ship to get there, but please don't tell anyone!

I got a few messages pertaining to Polish girls and how they can't be that great. Well, let me disabuse you of that notion! I've been to both Hungary and the Czech Republic, and there's no way in hell that those women go one-up on the Polish girls! Ellestra, you're right! They should put that on the posters to attract tourists. Then again, you'd probably get more British stag parties, which are starting to become a plague in Eastern Europe. Brits don't seem to have a clue when it comes to the women here. Acting stupid and boozing till you puke all over the place rarely sends the chick running after you while tearing their clothes off, you know. . .

No, I like the way Polish girls are stylish, whether they're wearing jeans and a tank-top or designer clothes. They're not trashy like some other Eastern European women (no, I won't mention any city, though everyone knows what I'm talking about). And unlike North America, which has become a "skinny" culture, Polish girls seem to understand that you can have meat around the bone and still be beautiful.:-) What can I say!?! I'm a meat lover! Girls in the USA and Canada sometimes have chickenbone legs and waists so thin you fear you'll break them in two if you hug them too hard. . . Polish girls, on the other hand, look like they can be hugged again and again! Hopefully I'll get to hug one or two before I leave Warsaw next week!:p And I'm an avowed leg-man, and boy do many of them have nice legs! The fad appears to be the tanning salons here. . .

Poland's biggest problem is that the trains are atrociously slow. We're talking quasi-Third World speed here, with an average of less than 50km/hour. For fuck's sake, it took me more than 7.5 hours to get from Gdansk to Wroclaw, when such a journey should take 4 hours at the most. Another problem is that no one speaks English, meaning that it makes everything more difficult for tourists. I don't mind countries that make foreigners work a bit to appreciate their charms, and Poland surely falls into that category. But the tourist infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired, especially if there is not a soul in a train station that can help you by telling you from which platform your stupid train leaves. I had a connection in Poznan yesterday, and I nearly missed my train because no one could/would help me out. Every traveler you meet will say that the Polish don't offer the warmest of welcome to tourists, but that's the way love goes, I guess. It's probably why the hostels's staff are so nice and helpful. I mean, this is my third Polish hostels and the folks here are fantastic. They all deserve a raise, and that's a fact!

I saw the Dutch lose to Russia last night, along with a few hundred soccer fans on a giant screen near Wroclaw's immense market square (the second biggest in Europe). There were a lot of Dutch partisans, but it was not to be. Perhaps I should refrain from watching games involving the Netherlands, as they always lose when I do so. I'll always remember that game during the Euro 2004, when the Dutch faced the Czech Republic. I was in Amsterdam and the Netherlands led 3-0 at the half. If you know the Dutch, you know how those guys can party. Well, they loss 4-3, and you've never seen a city go dead like that!

As for Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I enjoyed the second part more than the first, which is to say that I didn't dislike it as much as the other. This book is extremely overwritten and overlong, even though I enjoy her witty writing style. Interesting that some people are happy to overlook flagrant flaws (snail pace and absence of plot) that would be inexcusable otherwise, just for the sake of mannerism. . . I'll plod on, just because I want to finish the novel. But I have to agree with Rob and say that this is probably the most overrated book I have ever read.

Okay folks, Wroclaw awaits and the sun's out. This looks like a wonderful city, and I certainly intend to make the most of it. To all of you looking for a new place to visit, Poland is surely a country worth discovering. It has a lot to offer, even if you have to work a little harder to reach it. . .:-)

Again, don't spell-check me, as I have no time to proofread myself.:-)

Have a good one!