Bratislava

I left for Bratislava on a later bus than I'd intended. I arrived in the evening with no Slovak money, nowhere organized to stay and not able to speak the language! However I met a Slovak who spoke excellent English and he suggested somewhere to stay. When I got there it was about 11:30 and they told me it was "finito". In a mixture of languages (French and Italian I think - I was tired at the time) they told me where else I could go. So I walked quite a bit and eventually found the hotel; it seemed expensive at about 3 times the price of the price I had heard for a hostel, but at only €16 it was still very cheap!

The next day I checked out (having missed breakfast which finished at 8:30 - how early?!) and headed for the railway station hoping to meet others so that I could have company. I met some British guys (including one from Rowner, near Fareham!) but they were just leaving Bratislava. I later met some more people, including 2 Slovene girls and we all found a hostel together which was great value and had a kitchen. I went around Bratislava with the Slovenes and we did meals together. It was good fun. Bratislava had less to do than I'd hoped - it was not as impressive as Prague.

On my last night I decided to go to the Tatra mountains but didn't know who to travel with - I didn't want to go by myself. So I prayed and a little later met some English students who were heading that way and we teamed up together.

Back to Prague

I had a day to recover after Auschwitz. I looked for a church in Krakow, but didn't manage to get to a service.
I decided to go back to Prague on the Monday as Mum and Dad were visiting there for a few days. It's worth noting that I had been finding things rather tough for over a week, with a number of temptations to go off the rails a bit. Also, I felt that although I had been enjoying my travels, I had not really been taking many risks in trusting God like I have on previous journeys. So I took a small step of leaving for Prague with nowhere booked for that evening.

On my way I missed a connection by 5 minutes because the train was late in. So I took some other trains to the Polish border. I got off and went to buy the onward ticket only to find that I didn't have enough Polish money, they didn't take bank cards and there was no ATM, and there was a wait for 2.5 hours before the train. I was feeling frustrated at my situation and quite angry. I decided I should use this opportunity to pray, which I did with some passion as I realised my attitude was bad. I'm so glad I did! From then, things started getting better. I managed to get on the next train. I tried to pay with Czech money but they told me to wait, and then I was at the station I wanted so the guard told me to pay at the station counter. However the person at the counter wouldn't sell me the ticket, telling me with a smile not to worry about it even though I tried to buy it!

Now I had a wait of another 3 hours. Someone came up to me and started talking to me and we travelled together. He turned out to be a Christian and used to work at the hostel I was intending to stay at in Prague. We arrived in Prague at 3:17 am (good job I hadn't paid for a hostel that night) and slept at the station. I woke up once and saw people hovering around me looking suspicious. Another time I woke up and my guitar was gone! However I saw the thief and ran after him and got it back, and said "Thank you"! Someone else was standing by my bags but I didn't have anything permanently stolen. God was clearly looking after me.

I had a good few days with Mum and Dad in Prague, and today I am going to Bratislava in Slovakia.

Auschwitz

Travelled from Cesky Krumlov to Prague by car with a couple of Germans I had met in a restaurant! Then went on the overnight train to Krakow in Poland. Although this train route has something of a reputation for theft, I was not burgarled!

Krakow is a nice city, and I was especially impressed with the mobile phone system which showed me where I was (on my phone) to street accuracy in some places. The old town boasts the largest square in Europe and a very pretty castle.

My main reason for travelling to Krakow (apart from visiting Poland which I'd never been to before) was to see Auschwitz. The morning was suitably atmospheric with a persistent light drizzle. The concentration camp itself was quite moving, as one would imagine. Before going I had prayed that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by it as I had thought this was a possibility. When I saw the various artifacts and exhibits I was nearly in tears a couple of times. I went on a guided tour and one of the others in the group had actually been a prisoner in Auschwitz and had survived. In fact he'd been shot whilst trying to escape from the "Death March" (when prisoners were evacuated on foot to Germany as the Red Army was advancing), but had pretended to be dead and thus got away with it. It was a very informative visit and quite tiring, but I'm glad I went.

Czech

I'm in Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, Czech republic. I was in Prague for
about 4 days. It is a really beautiful city. The hostels I found did not
have a curfew and so people kept coming in at all times and so getting a
good night's sleep was not always easy. I have now moved onto Cesky, which
is also beautiful - it has a very medieaval feel to it - even the music in
the internet cafe is of that style!
Not sure where next. I'm booked in for one more night here, but I would like
stay with some other Christians, as the hostels I have been staying in have
been attracting the party crowd (the bar in the current one doesn't close
til 3 am and I was staying my first night in the room next to the bar).

Soul in the City

My travels took an unusual turn a couple of weeks ago. I checked flights
on-line whilst in Slovenia and by the end of my 15 minutes' Internet time I
had booked a flight to London so that I could do the "Soul in the City"
mission! So the following day I took a train to Graz in Austria and then the
day after I took a plane to England!
The train from Stansted to Mum and Dad's place in Bromley (one side of
London to the other) cost as much as the international train journey from
Ljubljana to Graz! Anyway, cost of Soul in the City booking, buying a tent,
flights, trains and food over the 11 days I've spent in England still has
come to less than my budget per day (helped in part by Mum and Dad's
generosity, who fed me and let me stay at their place for free)!

The mission was great! The main emphasis of it was to show London that God
loves the people there, by doing practical jobs etc. I was placed on a
project at Swanley in the South-East, with a group of 20 other delegates. I
did litter-picking, gardening, a kid's club and detached youth work. It was
very rewarding. We heard all sorts of stories of how people had been touched
to have these Christians coming in and helping in their communities. For
example, there was one place where a group had been doing a lady's garden;
they went into the kitchen and found her crying because she was so touched
at the love shown her. On my own project I saw a very thankful man whose
garden we had done. Some of my team not only weeded and cleared up a garden,
they also put in new plants that people from the local churches had bought
for this purpose.
Having done litter picking and really clearing up one area in particular,
I've then found it hard to walk past litter on the floor without wanting to
pick it up and throw it away!
Twelve local churches were working together on the project I was on, and on
the Thursday night we had a band playing (Replenish from Lee-on-Solent -
what a coincidence - Ross and Andy hadn't even known I was in the country so
were rather surprised to see me!). On the Friday we took a group of local
children and teenagers to an event and the gospel was preached - when asked
if anyone wanted to become a Christian, several of them went forward;
however they were turned away because I think the stewards had thought they
were just messing around. Undeterred, one of the girls went off by herself
and prayed alone! It was good to see her afterwards and the following day
and she seemed to have changed. I'm also encouraged that the leaders of the
project in Swanley will follow up on her and the others.

I also celebrated my 33rd birthday in London. I had so many people wishing
me happy birthday - at one point a whole train carriage of people was
singing to me! I think it may rate as my best birthday yet!

I'm flying out to Prague this evening. The travels continue...