This series will go country by country through my two-year trip. I plan on sharing some experiences, thoughts, and photos of each country that I visited.

Country by Country 05: Poland

I arrived in Gdansk, Poland at night. I dropped off my bag and went out for some food. Gdansk instantly blew away all expectations that I had. I thought things would be a little run down and... I don't know... poorer? I was wrong. The cities that I saw in Poland are absolutely gorgeous.

The prices in Poland were quite a bit lower than the western Europen countries that I had visited. I thought Poland would be a good place to save money, but there was one thing I didn't account for. The women in Poland are extraordinarily beautiful and I felt compelled to visit a few of the "strip dancing" establishments. Poland ended up being more expensive than the other countries after a few visits to strip clubs. It wasn't a very wise way to spend money, but I'm now convinced that Poland is home to the most attractive women in Europe.

Here are some of my photos of Gdansk

After a night or two in Gdansk, I went to Sopot which is also on the coast. Sopot was OK, but it didn't really have much to offer me besides the beach.

Sopot beach.

From Sopot, I went back to Gdansk to catch a ride that I had found online. A Ukrainian couple was driving down to Wroclaw, so I caught a ride with them. This was during the time when Ukraine was going through its independence protests. The female half of the Ukrainian couple had her fingernails painted in a very patriotic manner.

Wroclaw turned out to be another beautiful city. When I was there, I didn't do a whole lot. I did a walking tour and got lots of photos. I may have also visited a strip club. Here are some of the photos from my visit. I love the details on the buildings!

This dog spent all of his time in the window above a funeral parlor.

The guy photobombing the lower left cracks me up.

The more I try to understand this, the funnier I think it is.

This is the ceiling of the big market in Wroclaw.

I left Wroclaw by bus and made my way to Krakow. The city of Krakow is beautiful and there are a number of things to do, but by the time I got there I was a little burned out on taking photos of buildings. Here are a few photos from my time there.

Don't ask.

While in Krakow, I went out for some beer. I ran into a group of guys and started talking with them. I started out by sticking my foot in my mouth and asking if they were Irish. Their accents were so thick, I thought they were talking a different language. It turns out they were from Northern England. They were fun to hang out with. We saw a baby hedgehog run by at one point.

A new friend, and me.

I spent most of my time in Poland with a view very similar to this one.

Eventually, it was time to move on. I saw this great graffiti while I was waiting for my train to leave. Stay tuned for my next installment when I visit Slovakia.