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Diana Kot's travel journal. Some pictures www.instagram.com/catidiana Articles www.facebook.com/catidiana Videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHI8QPW7XQDwz4hwN2B7z-A
If you have never been to Israel and you are wondering what it is like here, I can give you a characteristic that describes Israel with 99% accuracy - Israel feels like Turkey.
Climate, nature, cuisine, culture, architecture, local traditions - everything feels like Turkey. Strange religious rules that some of the population completely ignore, and some can throw stones at you for violating them. Like in Turkey.
And of course, discrimination against single women. When we walk down the street, we are constantly openly stared at. One can even ask you to marry him on the street. In general. Israel is like Turkey.
Today we visited Haifa, a city in the north of Israel. Because of the war in the north navigator was working very poorly - half the time our location was determined as "Beirut airport". It's time to use paper maps!
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Story about my experience of entering Israel. I came to visit my friend for 2.5 months. I had with me: an invitation, medical insurance, a return ticket, a copy of her passport, registration of work and rent, various copies and certificates.
At the border control they asked me several questions, after which they took my passport and asked me to sit and wait on the side. After me, one Ukrainian girl, a family of 4 people and another Ukrainian were also recalled. When the pool of victims had gathered for a new performance, we were taken to the office for an interview.
I was left with an extremely unpleasant impression from the person who interrogated me. But it seemed that she was extremely enjoying her work. A young blonde who spoke perfect Russian. Funny thing that the mother of my friend Dasha had an interview with her as well and was very irritated as well.
The questions were mainly about who I am, how much money I have and why the hell am I going to live with my friend for 3 months. That this is not normal. Then there were questions about my friend: when is her birthday, what are the names of her parents, children, a bunch of very personal questions that are not asked in polite society. Then there were outright provocations: I was asked questions based on false information and the blonde accused me that how is it possible that I don’t know this about my friend. There were threats that I would now be deported and that my friend’s mother would not be allowed into Israel again.
In general, it really feels like you’ve been dipped into shit. From Dasha’s point of view, this story is very tough but expected. But from the point of view of Alex, my friend who met me at the airport, the story is very light: one time, upon arrival in Israel, his wife was forced to undergo a gynecological examination.
What I would like to know before visiting the Tatras: you can buy a tourist passport and have it stamped at the Tatra shelters.
How I found out about this: when I was standing in line for sharlotka in the Ornak valley, I saw a tourist putting a stamp. In Ornak's shelter the stamp is in the form of a bear's paw print.
I tried to Google some information about these stamps, but no luck. Perhaps I should Google it in polish. Photo from the Murowaniec shelter where I was today.
Let's talk about laundromats. Usually these are uncomfortable rooms in which you don’t want to stay for a long time. In Krakow, I found a cafe + laundry format "Frania cafe" - this is a cafe that has a laundry in the back room. So you can do laundry and have a snack while you do it, and the waitresses seem to be keeping an eye on things so that everything is in order. Perhaps the fact is that in Krakow in general there are few laundries; the place is super popular - when I arrived, there were no free machines.
And please don't blame me for having breakfast at 2 pm, I recently have digestive problems again because of the stress.
Here I am 35 years old. A very strange age. It seems that by this time I should already have a career, a family and some property. No, no and no.
I tried really hard to write some kind of life-affirming post, but nothing came of it. It didn't come from the heart. We are all slaves to a terrible capitalist world and a network of stereotypes and beliefs, and if you don't fit into that network, you shouldn't even try.
Everything that has happened since my first job has only upset me. I considered 3 possible scenarios: becoming homeless, becoming a gypsy and becoming a pirate. I even found where I could buy huge rings, tarot cards and incense.
But all I really wanted since I finished my 2nd degree was to go study again. The only thing that stopped me was the money issue - as a student I could barely make ends meet and paying for international exams seemed like something unaffordable. And money is still an issue. I understand that at my age, finding a program and getting a grant is very difficult. And it’s unlikely that this will be done quickly, given that I haven’t studied for a long time. And that I will have surgery soon.
So I still need to look for a job. And I will be grateful for your support and that you are staying here, reading this channel.
I should have at least one photo with Eiffel Tower.
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I went to all the museums from the survey. The most interesting was the Banksy Museum. The one you voted for:) The museum made me look at his work in a new way and get inspired by him. I am attaching a photo of the museum.
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I'm in love with Brugge. I haven't seen "In Brugge" movie but it's my top priority now.
Wish to spend here much more time. Today is crazy because of the holidays so I didn't get to the boat tour. But found a lot of cool waffle places:) In one of them Ukrainian guy worked and he served me additional ice-cream 😊.
Belgium is another multilingual country. So far I think learning French or German would be really useful.
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My top 3 fast food places when traveling in Europe:
3. Falafel at a kebab shop. Cheap, nice, always available.
2. Nordsee. In countries where it is.
1. Poke places. I'm very glad that they are becoming more and more popular. Now I’ve arrived in Brussels, I don’t have much time to explore the city, but I need energy - therefore poke.
There is exactly 1 tram line in Luxembourg city/country. Check out its rainbow interior.
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Louvre is the most visited museum in the world. And this is the first time I’ve seen a museum with such a developed internal infrastructure. Several restaurants and shops that can only be accessed from inside the Louvre.
Amount of people is incredible. Huge queues everywhere. The line of people to enter the pyramid, without tickets, is just hell. I bought my ticket online and entered very quickly through the underground Carousel shopping mall. But inside... Queues for the toilet, queues for the souvenir shop, queues for coffee.
But the most epic is a queue to Mona Lisa. A lot of people take a loooot of selfies for a loooong time.
And while you’re watching my circles, here’s the last story from Marseille Provence Airport (I’m so glad it's over).
The airport is under construction. Terminal 1 is divided into 2 sections: A (almost finished) and B (looks like it's not even started). I flew to Warsaw from Hall A.
This time I was checked in Hall A, but sent to board in Hall B. After following the arrows for a rather long way, a mix of an underground parking and a Fort Boyard, I found myself in Hall B: lonely Starbucks, grinder sound and security control.
Having passed this security control, I found myself... in exactly the same hall as on last Saturday. Only from the other end. So what was it all for???? I have 3 theories:
- to test the stability of new constructions;
- create customer demand for Starbucks;
- create several additional job places for security control.
Not less absurd was boarding procedure: rows 1 to 16 entered the plane through the front door, through the jet bridge; I and the others were asked to leave the terminal, go down on the field and go up the stairs through the plane's back door.
Random grandpa in Jerusalem: "Your mama Jewish? Your mama Jewish?"
We: "No..."
Him: "Er....." - walking away.
Today we visited Jerusalem and drove through the religious quarter of the city.
When you get there you feel like you are in a parallel reality: 80% of men are dressed in traditional religious clothing: a white shirt, a black suit and a hat. It is +30 degrees outside and it looks and feels really unusual. The rest of the men are in casual clothes but with a kippah on their heads. Women are in long-sleeved dresses, often with a scarf on their heads.
But in the tourist part of the city this flavor is almost not felt - a lot of tourists plus a lot of residents of the Arab part of the city, already in Muslim clothing.
When you are a house wife and your only job is to make sure your working wife is eating well.
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Never in my life have I been so humiliated and mixed with dirt as at the border control when entering Israel.
When you come to any other Asian country: "Welcome pretty lady, stay longer". When entering Israel: "we had never heard about human dignity and personal space".
I’ll describe the details of the fucked up things that happened to me a little later, when I can talk about it without constantly swearing.
I'm planning to go to the beach with my super-hot friend Dasha this summer and I think that I need to choose some kind of sexy swimsuit to replace my sports one.
Choosing a swimsuit with size 5 breasts means the next options:
1. Threat of losing breasts on the side.
2. Transparent from tension.
3. Threat of losing breasts in the center.
Write your guesses in the comments which one I chose.
Reading news about Japanese prefecture passing law asking residents to laugh daily. Meanwhile me during the day:
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Lifehack for traveling Europe: if tickets to your destination city are too expensive, check tickets to neighboring cities. I didn’t want to pay $300 for a ticket from Paris to Warsaw, but I found a ticket to Gdansk 2 times cheaper.
A pleasant bonus: a night in Gdansk. An unpleasant bonus: departure from Paris Beauvais Airport, which is 70 kilometers from Paris. And the flight delay.
I returned to Paris and continue to fill out my to-do list: today it's the Musée d'Orsay.
For me now, this is one of my favorite museums, because I adore the impressionists: I walk and sigh how beautiful are Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Pissarro and other painters here.
What is strange for me - in Belgium they don't write the number of the train. So let's say you bought a ticket for Intercity to Ghent. You should also know time and train destination.
But what is cool - if you missed your train you can take another one - time departure is not fixed in a ticket, only day. But probably it doesn't apply to international trains.
Update. Train tickets are quite expensive, but they don't check it... I was checked only once, when crossing the border with Luxembourg.
Metro in Brussels is honestly terrible and cost €2.6 for one ride.
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I hope you didn’t think that I’m in Brussels for poke.
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99% of tourist city cards are scams. But this 1% is the Luxembourgcard. The card includes free entry to 84 attractions throughout the country, and for 1/2/3 days costs 14/22/31 euros respectively.
Day 1. Museums.
My first day in Luxembourg was very rainy and I hid in museums. I visited 3 in total:
- The Bock Casemates. A defence system made up of kilometres of tunnels and balconies cut into the rock, absolute must see (€8).
- Luxembourg National Museum of Natural History. An educational museum for kids, everything is in French/German, and a bit too much taxidermy. But I liked riding the slide between floors (€5).
- MUDAM. The Museum of Modern Art, from which I took videos. Local contemporary art is fun, but paying money to see it... No thank you (€8).
Day 2. Castles.
There are a lot of castles in Luxembourg and 4 of them are included in the Luxembourg Card. At first I was very ambitious to visit everything, but after checking the public transport schedule I realized that I would be lucky to see 3. Bottom line: I advise you to choose 2. See Vianden in the first half of the day, and another castle and surrounding area in the second.
- Vianden Castle. The most popular castle. Very beautiful, with a cozy cafe, classic historic exhibitions (€10).
- Vianden Cable Car. Takes you to very beautiful view of the castle and the city. The town of Vianden itself is cozy and cute (€9).
- Medieval Castle Beaufort. It is under restoration. There are almost no exhibitions inside; you can climb the floors and basements and read what used to be there. There is a beautiful park around. It has cool atmosphere but couldbe skipped (€5).
- Larochette Castle. Same as the previous one. But the town of Larochette is very nice, and opposite the castle there is an observation deck on the rock, which I didn’t have time to visit (€7).
Result: I spent €22 on the card instead of €52 on all attractions separately.
You've probably heard that Luxembourg has free public transport. And this applies to the entire country, including trains! Today I will travel by train for 0 euros. Luxembourg is the first country to make public transport free on a national level.
There are also free public toilets; free public Wi-Fi; drinking water stations to refill your bottle for free. This country is a paradise for tourists*
*This statement applies to those who loves hiking, cycling, and going to bed in a reasonable time.
I'm in Luxembourg. 2.5 hours by train from Paris. The first impression is that the country is very beautiful, very calm.
Luxembourg is a bilingual country; they speak French and German. There is also the Luxembourgish language, which I haven’t figured out yet, but it seems that there is more French.
I want to break the myth about the high cost of Luxembourg! This morning in Paris I paid 6 euros for a cup of cappuccino, and now in Luxembourg I drink it for 3.
Unusual situation that happens to me very often in Paris: I hear Americans/English people speaking English. Then they come up to me and start talking to me in French. This has never happened before, in other countries. Now you know what language native English speakers learn.
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The Paris transport system is expensive and confusing. Interesting fact: you can buy a weekly pass, but it will be valid from Monday to Sunday. That is, if I buy a pass today, it will become invalid the day after tomorrow.
The same applies to monthly passes: they are valid from the first to the last day of the month. By the way, the Olympics are coming soon and everything will become even more confusing: there are rumors that such tickets, with which you can save money, will become unavailable to non-residents of Paris.
Anyway wish me luck to get home asap.