First, an explanation of the title: Skócia is Scotland in Hungarian, and the title was made from the mixture if this and the word olimpia, as originally I planned to view a competition in real, but finally I didn't find any ticket, thanks to the errors of the English organisers. So my route was a Warsaw to Prague circle with several stops in Great Britain and a short brake in Norway.

Warsaw, old town

I think I should write a diary about my journey in English as well, so I try to do it, although it won't be as detailed as the Hungarian one. Writing these lines on a public blog I won't write any real name in my diary. I am grateful for my hosts though, but I don't want to mention them without their permission.

Morning at the airport

Poland is an old friend of Hungary. It is hard to tell in English, but there is a strong historical and traditional good connection between the 2 nations, that you can hardly understand if you don't live here. There is a saying in both languages: in Polish "Polak Wenger dwa bratanki, i do szabli i do szklanki", and in Hungarian the same: "Lengyel s magyar két jó barát, együtt harcol, issza borát". In English it could be like this: Polish and Hungarian are two brothers/friends, they are together in swords and also in glass. This means if there is a battle, threat, something trouble, we help each other, and we are happy to be happy and drink great wine together afterwards..

Old town, Warsaw

So, my first destination was the Polish capital, for the first time. During my whole journey I used couchsurfing.org to organize my accommodations. As a scout, I always tried to look for scout hosts because that means we have the same foundations and have many thoughts, experiences in common. In Poland I found the perfect host: she was a scout too! :-) I could definitely feel home at them: I think I got a father a mother and a sister. I bless God I met them.

We started our day by visiting the Museum about the Warsaw Uprising, but instead of Monday it was closed on Tuesday. So we went up to the Palace of Culture to enjoy the view of the city from upstairs. I could see the modern city (only the old town and some major buildings were rebuilt after the war in original style, because the city was completely bombed during the war), but the thing I liked very much that there was life among those. Trees, benches, people around, so no matter not all the houses are nice, Polish people could fulfil them with life and that's he point.

We went around the old town, enjoyed a meal in a cheap traditional bar, had ice cream, walked though a water jet, laughed a lot, climbed a tree, so enjoyed the time and got tired together. In the evening we were singing Polish and Hungarian song, it was such a nice evening, I enjoyed it very much and will remember it for sure. I am very grateful for my host, and her parents, as her father took me to the rail station at really dawn, we woke up at 2am!

I arrived at the airport at 4:30, my plane to Sandefjord was scheduled to 6:05, so I had a little time to make some nice photos about the 5 pink-purple wizzair birds standing on the apron. After about 60 minutes of baggage affair we were ready to take off. Our plane flew over the Baltic sea and Sweden, and finally landed next to a fjord. I hitchhiked to the town and started to discover it. Norway is extremely expensive, and sadly I couldn't have rented a bike - the daily price was 125NOK, so I thought 40NK for 3 hours is a generous offer, but they wanted 100. What a rip off??!? I went away and started walking. The town is a small place itself, but it would have been nice to ride to the end of the fjord.

There was a big whale hunter boat I could visit for free (really??), and I also saw a unique building: the Bryggekapellet, which is the only chapel on a boat in Europe. The person on duty was happy to show me the church, and he also remembered they had been to Hungary in a thermal spa and enjoyed Hungarian wine very much.

I climbed "up" a "hill" over the town, which was not higher than 30 meters, but this was the highest point all around so I could enjoy the panorama.

I went to visit the graveyard (it is interesting anywhere in the world and shows how people care/like their ancestors).

The big dark cloud persuaded me to try the service of the NSB, the national rail, so finally I bought the most expensive ticket on my journey: 40NOK to the airport instead of walking/hitchhiking 8 kilometers. It was a short distance, but now I've tried the train a well. :-)

I enjoyed the free wifi at the airport, and I said goodbye for Norway and left the country for my beloved Scotland.