Krakow, Poland
I just got back from a wonderful trip to Krakow, Poland! For this entry of "Andrea Abroad" I am going to write what I wrote in my diary. Pictures will come at the end. Enjoy!
I can't even begin to tell you all how wonderful Krakow was. It is was my favorite trip in Europe so far. I went with my good friend Neal (NOT MY BOYFRIEND!) who is from Georgia and studies German and Children Psychology at Vanderbuilt University.
Our bus to Krakow left at 11:45 PM. Neal and I stood in front of the deserted train station until midnight, guessing that every bus or van could be our bus or van to Poland. We had no idea what a bus to Poland looked like. Our only clues were our tickets and a rusting rustling sign that said "AutobusyPolan." When a bus eventually stopped in front of us, we were pleasantly surprised that everyone spoke to us in Polish. We were given the back row of seats only to discover that we were sharing this back row of seats with another man. He wore a jean jacket with black sunglasses (at night!) and gave us a long stare before falling back asleep. He had tattoos on his hands. I think this means he was in jail before boarding the bus to Poland. Or that's just my imagination having too much fun : ).
We brought drinks, nutella sandwiches and gummy bears for the bus ride. These were enjoyed while a version of When Harry Met Sally dubbed in Polish played from a single TV in the middle of the bus. The Polish dubbing is amazing because it is only done in one voice. With the dubbing, the film was more like When Polish Harry Met A Polish Sally Who Sounds Just Like Harry.
And there were all the typical characters on this bus. The former inmate next to us, the man vigorously picking at his ear, the heavy sleepers, the well built drinkers-- all of us snoring together as the night went on. We were like a dysfunctional family that stumbled out of the bus every time it stopped and the driver muttered something in Polish to us. The stops were terrifying, because whatever he muttered in Polish could have either been "you have 10 minutes" or "you have an hour" or "line up outside of the bus and give me your passports."
When the sun rose over Czechoslovakia, it glowed a blushing orange. I looked into it until my eyes started to water, or maybe I was just crying. Either way, it was one of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen.
Our youth hostel is my new favorite youth hostel. When we got there, we discovered that the youth hostel was just an apartment with one bathroom, a kitchen, free bottled water, free internet, TV room, and lots of beds with Ikea bedding on them. It felt like a real home away from home. We were given a great map of Krakow that everyone we met wanted to draw on. They would draw good restaurants, bars, sights and falafel stands. I will keep this map forever.
Neal and I quickly met a girl named Georgina who was staying in our room. Georgina is from Manchester, England and became an instant best friend to us. She was gorgeous, stylish and very interesting. With Georgina, we went for a walk to the old market square in Krakow. This area is streaming with tourists, children carrying those foam lizards on sticks all over the place, school field trip groups, street performers galore and pigeons. While there were a ton of tourists, most signs and conversations around us were in Polish. I really loved the language. I had fun judging words by their number of consonants alone. My arbitrary trick of thumb was: the less vowels, the more serious the word was.
Our next stop was lunch at cheap Polish restaurant. Polish food is amazing: lots of potato, cabbage, dumplings and beets. I had borsch with every meal. They serve it bright red, warm, sweet but tangy, with white beans floating all around. Nicer restaurants serve it with a little cilantro on top. Then you eat pierogies. These are dumplings filled with veggies, meat or fruit. They are so tasty. Like a ravioli without sauce.
Every meal we had was about 10 zt.'s, which is about $3.33, which is wonderful compared to my life in Euros.
After exploring the old Jewish quarter for a while after lunch, we went out for another meal of borsch and pierogies before heading out to a bar. All the bars in the old Jewish quarter were filled with Polish students. The one recommended by the youth hostel were too full, so we found ourselves at a bar called Singers Bar. The theme was old singer sewing machines on every table, foot petals and everything. The bar was hip, with old lampshades all over the place, red wallpaper and dim lighting. We shared a table with a couple who turned out to also speak English and then opened up to the VODKA section of my Poland guidebook.
It said the best vodka is this vodka called BISON VODKA (zubrowka), flavored with the grass from the Bialowieza forest on which the bison feed. The man at our table overheard and started congratulating our choice. Zubrowka is his favorite vodka, and he has lived in Poland for years doing research, originally from Boston. His girlfriend, also from Boston, was so pretty, learning Polish by reading Mademoiselle magazines.
Needless to say, it was the best vodka I have ever tasted. When you buy it with a little apple juice mixed in, it takes on a cinnamon flavor naturally. Two drinks into the night, people began to tango in the bar. A man from England overheard Georgina's accent and sat down with us. He has lived in Krakow for years, hasn't learned much Polish, loves the city. He drew all over my map with a blue pen to recommend the best late night Polish food.
We stumbled out of the bar, found some fast food, met a man in a suit he claimed was Armani in broken English. He told us that he spoke 5 languages but no Polish yet, too hard. We found a taxi (a word found in all languages) and headed back to our hostel.
The next day was pouring rain and, naturally, our day trip to Auschwitz, the former concentration camp about an hour away. The cheap shuttle bounced through the countryside leaving me nauseous beyond belief. The driver randomly stopped from time to time to do lord knows what behind the van.
Auschwitz was really very disappointing. It was overrun with tourists complaining about the cold and the rain. Families posed under the Arbeit Macht Frei sign to have their pictures taken, smiling. I feel sick just remembering. It was like-- Okay, everyone, line up and look at this display of human hair that the Nazi's collected from the dead. Now line up and take pictures of the room in which prisoners were gassed.-- It was hard to create an emotional connection with what happened in the space because of the tourism. I didn't feel the presence of anything that had happened there other than hundreds of post-shindler's list visitors gawking at the cement toilet rows and crumbling cremation building ruins.
Back at the youth hostel, we opened a bottle of Bison Vodka and made some new friends. There was Simon: came to Krakow to visit, fell in love with the skinny redhead polish girl who works at the youth hostel, and then moved to Krakow. He and Georgina taught me British phrases that I will use for years to come. There was Matt: born and bred Polish, overly confident in his English, works at the hostel but stayed around when drinks were offered. There were the three Italian girls who were living in Berlin and spoke fluent English. There was the prettiest and smartest one, the less pretty and smart one and the least pretty and smart one, in that exact order. They were marvelous and interesting. I will remember Olivia's dark skin and understanding eyes forever, she was perfect and made me feel amazing.
Somehow, our motley crew of Italian girls, Brits, hostel employees, Neal and I all left for a bar together. The one we were first led to was called Hands and Feet. It had plastic limbs all over the place. From there, off to another bar for pop music of course. The top floor was called Kitsch, appropriately, and we had a blast dancing on the center stage.
We walked home as the sun rose over Krakow. I looked into it until my eyes watered.
The next day Neal and I went to Wawel castle, were everything was kind of boring except for the random women singing in the courtyard and their disinterested husbands. Then came the best part of all: the dragon's cave!
Here is my first picture for this entry, even though it is really scary (haha!). Neal and I are pretending to be dragons!
As one walks through this dragon cave, you hear dragon sounds until you come to the end, where a giant dragon sculpture greets you as it blows fire out of its mouth. It was awesome. From there we met up with our friends from the night before and went to a Milk Bar, a once government subsidized mostly vegetarian cafeteria for workers, still very inexpensive and traditional. I ate cauliflower soup.
My Cheap Souvenirs
1. A button that says "girls rule" in Polish. I bought it not knowing what it said. I lucked out since it could have said anything.
2. A neckless with red wooden beads, like the one worn by a character in one of my favorite books.
3. A real carved chess set- under $7!
4. A book of polish poetry published in 1968 from an antique shop that I will never be able to read. I later discovered it was signed by the author.
The bus ride home was miserable. I was wet from walking in the rain all day and we ran out of time to buy decent dinner foods to take with us. They played The First Wives Club also dubbed in Polish by the same one man show who dubbed the last movie. This time Neal and I were crunched into one row of seats. Around 3 AM, too uncomfortable to do anything else, we listened to music together from a single set of headphones and looked out the window as fireworks randomly went off in the distance.
Here is a view of Krakow from the top of the bell tower over the Old Market Square.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz
The Castle
View from the castle of cathedrals in the distance
This is a picture of me under "Magic Bones." The legend is that the builders of this cathedral dug up these bones during construction. They believed that they were magical and would protect the cathedral from being destroyed. I guess it worked.
And that is all the pictures that are worth showing! Krakow was so rainy and gray while we were there that all my pictures came out very ugly. Still, I had such a good time because of all the interesting people and sights along the way. I would love to go back someday, even if it is just for the food!
I can't even begin to tell you all how wonderful Krakow was. It is was my favorite trip in Europe so far. I went with my good friend Neal (NOT MY BOYFRIEND!) who is from Georgia and studies German and Children Psychology at Vanderbuilt University.
Our bus to Krakow left at 11:45 PM. Neal and I stood in front of the deserted train station until midnight, guessing that every bus or van could be our bus or van to Poland. We had no idea what a bus to Poland looked like. Our only clues were our tickets and a rusting rustling sign that said "AutobusyPolan." When a bus eventually stopped in front of us, we were pleasantly surprised that everyone spoke to us in Polish. We were given the back row of seats only to discover that we were sharing this back row of seats with another man. He wore a jean jacket with black sunglasses (at night!) and gave us a long stare before falling back asleep. He had tattoos on his hands. I think this means he was in jail before boarding the bus to Poland. Or that's just my imagination having too much fun : ).
We brought drinks, nutella sandwiches and gummy bears for the bus ride. These were enjoyed while a version of When Harry Met Sally dubbed in Polish played from a single TV in the middle of the bus. The Polish dubbing is amazing because it is only done in one voice. With the dubbing, the film was more like When Polish Harry Met A Polish Sally Who Sounds Just Like Harry.
And there were all the typical characters on this bus. The former inmate next to us, the man vigorously picking at his ear, the heavy sleepers, the well built drinkers-- all of us snoring together as the night went on. We were like a dysfunctional family that stumbled out of the bus every time it stopped and the driver muttered something in Polish to us. The stops were terrifying, because whatever he muttered in Polish could have either been "you have 10 minutes" or "you have an hour" or "line up outside of the bus and give me your passports."
When the sun rose over Czechoslovakia, it glowed a blushing orange. I looked into it until my eyes started to water, or maybe I was just crying. Either way, it was one of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen.
Our youth hostel is my new favorite youth hostel. When we got there, we discovered that the youth hostel was just an apartment with one bathroom, a kitchen, free bottled water, free internet, TV room, and lots of beds with Ikea bedding on them. It felt like a real home away from home. We were given a great map of Krakow that everyone we met wanted to draw on. They would draw good restaurants, bars, sights and falafel stands. I will keep this map forever.
Neal and I quickly met a girl named Georgina who was staying in our room. Georgina is from Manchester, England and became an instant best friend to us. She was gorgeous, stylish and very interesting. With Georgina, we went for a walk to the old market square in Krakow. This area is streaming with tourists, children carrying those foam lizards on sticks all over the place, school field trip groups, street performers galore and pigeons. While there were a ton of tourists, most signs and conversations around us were in Polish. I really loved the language. I had fun judging words by their number of consonants alone. My arbitrary trick of thumb was: the less vowels, the more serious the word was.
Our next stop was lunch at cheap Polish restaurant. Polish food is amazing: lots of potato, cabbage, dumplings and beets. I had borsch with every meal. They serve it bright red, warm, sweet but tangy, with white beans floating all around. Nicer restaurants serve it with a little cilantro on top. Then you eat pierogies. These are dumplings filled with veggies, meat or fruit. They are so tasty. Like a ravioli without sauce.
Every meal we had was about 10 zt.'s, which is about $3.33, which is wonderful compared to my life in Euros.
After exploring the old Jewish quarter for a while after lunch, we went out for another meal of borsch and pierogies before heading out to a bar. All the bars in the old Jewish quarter were filled with Polish students. The one recommended by the youth hostel were too full, so we found ourselves at a bar called Singers Bar. The theme was old singer sewing machines on every table, foot petals and everything. The bar was hip, with old lampshades all over the place, red wallpaper and dim lighting. We shared a table with a couple who turned out to also speak English and then opened up to the VODKA section of my Poland guidebook.
It said the best vodka is this vodka called BISON VODKA (zubrowka), flavored with the grass from the Bialowieza forest on which the bison feed. The man at our table overheard and started congratulating our choice. Zubrowka is his favorite vodka, and he has lived in Poland for years doing research, originally from Boston. His girlfriend, also from Boston, was so pretty, learning Polish by reading Mademoiselle magazines.
Needless to say, it was the best vodka I have ever tasted. When you buy it with a little apple juice mixed in, it takes on a cinnamon flavor naturally. Two drinks into the night, people began to tango in the bar. A man from England overheard Georgina's accent and sat down with us. He has lived in Krakow for years, hasn't learned much Polish, loves the city. He drew all over my map with a blue pen to recommend the best late night Polish food.
We stumbled out of the bar, found some fast food, met a man in a suit he claimed was Armani in broken English. He told us that he spoke 5 languages but no Polish yet, too hard. We found a taxi (a word found in all languages) and headed back to our hostel.
The next day was pouring rain and, naturally, our day trip to Auschwitz, the former concentration camp about an hour away. The cheap shuttle bounced through the countryside leaving me nauseous beyond belief. The driver randomly stopped from time to time to do lord knows what behind the van.
Auschwitz was really very disappointing. It was overrun with tourists complaining about the cold and the rain. Families posed under the Arbeit Macht Frei sign to have their pictures taken, smiling. I feel sick just remembering. It was like-- Okay, everyone, line up and look at this display of human hair that the Nazi's collected from the dead. Now line up and take pictures of the room in which prisoners were gassed.-- It was hard to create an emotional connection with what happened in the space because of the tourism. I didn't feel the presence of anything that had happened there other than hundreds of post-shindler's list visitors gawking at the cement toilet rows and crumbling cremation building ruins.
Back at the youth hostel, we opened a bottle of Bison Vodka and made some new friends. There was Simon: came to Krakow to visit, fell in love with the skinny redhead polish girl who works at the youth hostel, and then moved to Krakow. He and Georgina taught me British phrases that I will use for years to come. There was Matt: born and bred Polish, overly confident in his English, works at the hostel but stayed around when drinks were offered. There were the three Italian girls who were living in Berlin and spoke fluent English. There was the prettiest and smartest one, the less pretty and smart one and the least pretty and smart one, in that exact order. They were marvelous and interesting. I will remember Olivia's dark skin and understanding eyes forever, she was perfect and made me feel amazing.
Somehow, our motley crew of Italian girls, Brits, hostel employees, Neal and I all left for a bar together. The one we were first led to was called Hands and Feet. It had plastic limbs all over the place. From there, off to another bar for pop music of course. The top floor was called Kitsch, appropriately, and we had a blast dancing on the center stage.
We walked home as the sun rose over Krakow. I looked into it until my eyes watered.
The next day Neal and I went to Wawel castle, were everything was kind of boring except for the random women singing in the courtyard and their disinterested husbands. Then came the best part of all: the dragon's cave!
Here is my first picture for this entry, even though it is really scary (haha!). Neal and I are pretending to be dragons!
As one walks through this dragon cave, you hear dragon sounds until you come to the end, where a giant dragon sculpture greets you as it blows fire out of its mouth. It was awesome. From there we met up with our friends from the night before and went to a Milk Bar, a once government subsidized mostly vegetarian cafeteria for workers, still very inexpensive and traditional. I ate cauliflower soup.
My Cheap Souvenirs
1. A button that says "girls rule" in Polish. I bought it not knowing what it said. I lucked out since it could have said anything.
2. A neckless with red wooden beads, like the one worn by a character in one of my favorite books.
3. A real carved chess set- under $7!
4. A book of polish poetry published in 1968 from an antique shop that I will never be able to read. I later discovered it was signed by the author.
The bus ride home was miserable. I was wet from walking in the rain all day and we ran out of time to buy decent dinner foods to take with us. They played The First Wives Club also dubbed in Polish by the same one man show who dubbed the last movie. This time Neal and I were crunched into one row of seats. Around 3 AM, too uncomfortable to do anything else, we listened to music together from a single set of headphones and looked out the window as fireworks randomly went off in the distance.
Here is a view of Krakow from the top of the bell tower over the Old Market Square.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz
The Castle
View from the castle of cathedrals in the distance
This is a picture of me under "Magic Bones." The legend is that the builders of this cathedral dug up these bones during construction. They believed that they were magical and would protect the cathedral from being destroyed. I guess it worked.
And that is all the pictures that are worth showing! Krakow was so rainy and gray while we were there that all my pictures came out very ugly. Still, I had such a good time because of all the interesting people and sights along the way. I would love to go back someday, even if it is just for the food!
posted by Andrea at 11:33 PM
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