DBWI: Sight seeing in Poland

(Shameless ripoff of this thread.)

They always come in pairs.

The bad news is that I will have to spend my summer vacation with one of my aunts in Königsberg (my grandmother insisted, and, well, if I travel all the way to Breslau from Neuwied, I might as well just keep going).
The good news is that she cares as much about me as I care about her, so I think I will have plenty of free time to visit the countryside and whatever. Pretty much what I have done the last five years every summer.

Well, this time I have plenty of money to spend, so I'm going country hopping and have checked out tours through the Commonwealth.

I'm pretty partial to doing a three day tour to Kiev, if only to have travelled in the inter-commonwealth Magrail. On the other hand, a sightseeing tour of the Gothic churches in Torń sounds also appealing.

Fellow tourists, where do you think I should go? Do you have any better suggestions? Also, how harsh will the language barrier be (I know only bits of Polish, not enough to get around)?
 
Also, how harsh will the language barrier be (I know only bits of Polish, not enough to get around)?
Nie tak źle jak myślisz.* While Polish is indeed hard to grasp for a non-slavic speaker, most citizens of the Commonwealth are at least bilingual. Latin is probably the best choice here, and quite a few of the younger generation speaks German, Farsi or Yiddish.

As for sightseeing I’d recommend:
1. If you’re for the city views – marvelous, but often neglected by travel guides, adaptation of Steel Age** architecture and the old coastal fortress of Danzig.
2. If you’re more of a wildness guy – the Pripet Marshes. You won’t get there by Magrail, but it’s rewarding. Crimean plains are also very nice.
3. If you happen to be in the capital remember that The Sejm is open for tourists.

OCC:
* Not as bad as you think.
** industrial
 
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If you like technology, I recommend old Star Center near Poznań - the birthplace of Commonwealth's space program. It was closed about two decades ago, since that terrible "Brandenburg" tragedy, when Empire's shuttle tried emergency landing and crushed into the city. Someone in the Watch of Rights* finally decided that landing strip should be at least 50 km from any bigger town, so they buid new spaceport in Ruthenia**. The old center is now a great technology museum, with amazing collection of air- and spacecrafts, including "Zamoyski's Dream", first airship to fly around the world non-stop. The have a lot of other attraction too - you simply must take part in simulation of landing on the Moon - they have exact replica of "Archangel" there. Pity we didn't get there first, but at that time the Chinese were simply the best.
The comunication between the museum and Poznań is excellent - the best way is to take a mole-train***. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun. Oh, and don't worry about the language - they have guides speaking pretty much every language (even English - can you imagine?).



*Watch of Rights - goverment
** Ruthenia - Ukraine
*** mole-train - subway/metro
 
Wilhelmshaven...

If you're spending time traveling, I'd suggest Wilhelshaven. SMS Mackensen is well worth the tour--especially if it's one of the rare days when they actually fire her up. The missiles mar her classic Great War lines, but also show how brilliantly her builders wrought...how many ships of her era lasted until the missile age? HMS Warspite isn't in such great shape, but is at least adequately maintained, though some of the damage in her final battle was never repaired. The two ships make an interesting contrast.
 
I'd reccomend Warsaw's Jewish Museum myself, if you're in the city. Not only does it hold countless facinating artifacts from the Commonwealth's Jewish history, but it's in within walking distance of Renaissance Square and its outdoor cafes and fountains.

Not to be missed (especially in the summer)!
 
Well, I would spend as much time possible exploring the German heritage hidden in the Western portion of the country. For me it would be a must to visit the ruins of Tannenberg! I would give just about anything for even a rock or part of the ruins there. I envy you! I'm guessing you have seen a lot of the Baltic already as I think just exploring some the shore cities would be a pleasure too.
 
If you like technology, I recommend old Star Center near Poznań - the birthplace of Commonwealth's space program.

That's not true acctually. Not counting the multiple Polish inventors of rockets, the first Polish spaceport was planned and partly erected a launch facility in Ethiopia to take advantage of the rotation of the earth and the height the project was scraped when the Ethiopian Emperor sided with the Italians. The site in it self is mostly ruines but the railroad from Polish Somaliland is spectacular.
 
Originally posted in Berra
That's not true acctually. Not counting the multiple Polish inventors of rockets, the first Polish spaceport was planned and partly erected a launch facility in Ethiopia to take advantage of the rotation of the earth and the height the project was scraped when the Ethiopian Emperor sided with the Italians. The site in it self is mostly ruines but the railroad from Polish Somaliland is spectacular.
Well, the spaceport was to be build in Ethiopia, but the center for science and technology for Polish space program was always in Poznań or near it. Just like in that Harriet Pigeon's book about a country called United States: the spaceport was in Florida, but the center of space program somewhere else - in OTL Mexican Empire, i think.
 
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