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*I know hardly anyone who would speak any Russian in Poland, apart from my friends studying either Russian studies or Eastern politics or guys doing business in Russia or Ukraine. I tried to use Russian in the street several times and was always asked if I could speak English instead. It may be different in the east of Poland but in Poznan you would probably make with Russian no better than with Czech or Slovak. [[User:85.221.209.245|85.221.209.245]] 13:39, 11 March 2007 (CET)
*Yes, that's fair. In the east of Poland many more people speak and understand Russian. However, situation is already quite different to my impression compared with my first visit to the country in 2001. Then I did not meet that many people who would easily speak English fluently without hesitation. Partially that also had to do with my way of travelling, which was camping on basic campsites and on bivouac fields (usually a field in the forest with a wooden toilet, sometimes also running water). Six years ago in my first visit to Poland, and first visit to a former "East block country" I described Poland as a country in a great transformation. The changes are going on all the time. Certainly, Poznan is more known as a city orientated on western Europe with many relations with Germany especially. There is a differnce between the west and the east of Poland in general. "Everything" east of Warsaw has been more under influence of Russian culture, Russian-Orthodox religion and historically wealth was always lower there, still is and as I suppose will also be. In the east of Poland I frequently got such answer like "No, but do you speak Russian?" when I asked if people spoke English or German. Five years ago I lived for three months in the village of Bialowieza, situated three kilometers from the Belarusian border. I rarely met local people speaking English there and even then there were people in the village who could only speak Russian (or Belarusian?), so I was told. Frank Verhart.
== Hiking in Poland ==
Frankly speaking throughout my life I've never been to a country where hitchhiking was so easy. I know that such experiences differ from person to person, but in fact very seldom did I have to wait longer than 1,5 hour. In fact, when leaving most major towns the waiting time usually does not exceed 30 minutes. Especially if you find the customary hitchhiking place. Most drivers in Poland know such hot spots and stop there even if they don't see you waving. [[User:Halibutt|Halibutt]] 09:11, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
