Krakow

To pick up where I left off on the last post, Krakow was the prized stop on my tour. I had heard nothing but good things about the city, and I was just dying to get a look at it. The train from Budapest left at 8:30 in the morning, and I knew I had a long painful trip in front of me. The ticket SAID 9 hours (I'll get to that in a bit) and I left the hostel too early to get the free breakfast, so I grabbed a jelly doughnut at the train station. Train station food is hardly anything to write home about. Ironically I am writing home about it, so let's just say it isn't that good. Besides I figured there would be a food cart on the train.

Well fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The trip in total took close to 12 hours, and there was no food cart. We stopped at every bum town from here to there. I did travel through the entire country of Slovakia though. I thought it would be a barren, flat nothingness. It actually is an extremely beautiful country, especially in the north where the Carpathian Mountains are. Picture is the view from the infamous train boxcar.

I have much the same to say about southern Poland as well. Very beautiful, green, and hilly. Still though, even the most beautiful scenery can't take away from the fact that you've been staring out a window for 12 hours without any food. Even people in line at the Pearly Gates would be yelling at St. Peter to get his act together and get this line moving. My personal favorite was the 25 minute wait at the second to last stop before mine. That was fun.

So again, here I was in a new foreign town in the darkness looking for my hostel. After I found my home, I threw my stuff on the floor, and quickly made my way to the center of the city to find food. I found this outdoor cafe, and ordered the biggest pizza and beer they had on the menu. I quickly realized though that I hadn't eaten anything all day and that if I took one sip of beer before the food arrived, I would pass out on the table.

I ordered a sausage pizza, and a sausage pizza in Poland literally means a sausage on a pizza. Picture a pizza crust complete with sauce and cheese and on top is a sliced up sausage. Two meals in one. I have to say though it was pretty good, and I left no evidence behind. The worst part though was that it was now late, and time to go to bed. So, I went to bed completely uncomfortable. My day would not be taught in any logistics course any time soon.

The next morning I woke up early to take a day trip to Auschwitz & Birkenau. That was the main point of the trip, and thus I will reserve a separate post for that one. Make sure to look for it. It took almost the entire day!

When I got back to Krakow, I headed to the city center, or old town as it is referred to, and enjoyed some dinner. I sat in this lovely square where there were tons of outdoor restaurants. I had a lovely dinner for one, and quietly enjoyed the scenery. I have been budget conscious, but I thought what the heck, some dessert and red wine sounds pretty dang good right now. Before I ordered though, a thought came to me. Europeans are very affectionate in public. It is not uncommon to see two people kissing or touching each other anywhere. Now I just realized that for the past 10-15 minutes, the guy sitting at the table next to me has been doing something to this girl's neck, which has thus caused her to close her eyes and twist her face in a manner a mother could not be proud of. I could either A) have my dessert and wine, and continue to witness this, or B) relocate. IIIIIIIII think I'll relocate.

Sooooo, I went to the other side of the square, where I enjoyed a candle lit moment for one along with some really bad cheese cake and Sutter Home wine from CA. I bailed before the couple next to me could start getting into it, and headed back to the hostel where I enjoyed a couple beers with some of the other hostel patrons in the basement bar. They were Canadians from Vancouver, so I made fun of their hockey team for about 10 minutes before actually introducing myself.

The next day I woke up early again and traveled with a couple other Canadians I was sharing the room with to an old salt mine on the edge of the city. The mine was a great sight, I believe construction on it began around the 1500's. Since it is a salt mine, everything is wonderfully preserved. Even the original rope and wood cranks used to raise chunks of salt to the surface were intact. We were told that the salt mines were actually what helped financially develop the town of Krakow. It was valued as currency because it helped preserve food. In fact, the word salary comes from the fact that salt was once used as a form of currency. Bet you didn't know that! (Neither did I until the guide told me).

The tour began with an 800 step decent into the mine (elevator ride back up of course). The guide took us through a cavern of tunnels. The interesting part is that Poland is a highly religious country, and there are multiple chapels carved underground. The end of the tour stops at the main chapel which is basically an underground church. Carved into the salt is an alter with various scenes such as the nativity and last supper. Very cool. Various caverns did have pools of water in them, which our guide told us has a salt density of just a little over 30%. Therefore, if you dove in, the water would basically throw you back up to the surface. It would be impossible to swim beneath the surface. A few brave souls did lick the walls, and they did say it was very salty. Felt a little like Willy Wonka. "The snoze berries taste like snoze berries."

After the tour we had a little lunch at the cafe which is located way below the surface. We only ate there for the blind fact that we were eating lunch and having a beer way below the surface. We thought we would be paying an arm and a leg for it, but it ended up being the cheapest meal of the trip. How does that make sense. You have people trapped way below the surface, and you offer them dirt cheap food. Ironic.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city enjoying its culture. I wish I could say I went to a bunch of tourist locations, but I didn't. The nice thing about Krakow is that it wasn't destroyed during the war (how I don't know), so it has that old European feel to it. Therefore, I sat in the main square and just relaxed and people watched. I already mentioned that Poland is very religious. There are pictures of John Paul II everywhere, and it is not uncommon to see priests and nuns walking around. It reminded me of grade school a bit. I even saw a priest and a nun walking together in a mall. Very funny!

There is a castle there, and a bunch of churches, but I have seen enough tapestries, crown jewels, and stain glass in Europe over the last seven years then you can shake a stick at. There is something to be said for just doing nothing when you are traveling. You find it to be very relaxing. After hours of sitting, I made my way back to the hostel to meet up with three Canadian travelers and an American. We headed back to the main square for dinner, and then conducted our own little pub crawl to check out the establishments. A very fun, and memorable time.

I woke up the next day a little bitter I had to leave Krakow. It really is a gem, and a very relaxing place to visit. I took my time checking out of the hostel, and walked to the train station to buy my ticket to Warsaw. Now, I encountered nothing but very nice people in Poland. I did manage to find a very crabby lady working behind the ticket counter though. She obviously did not speak English, and I surely didn't speak Polish, so much of the conversation was completed by writing departure times on pieces of paper. I selected the next express train out of Krakow, and now came time to pay. Here is the part where she was supposed to write the total on the piece of paper and show it to me. Instead in a stern voice she just kept speaking in Polish. I kept saying, "I don't speak Polish, how much?" Finally, it got to the point where I just started laying bills down on the counter until she took the money and made change. When the transaction was over, I nicely said thank you. She said something back, and the three people behind me started laughing. I'm thinking it was something along the lines of, "go away stupid English speaking person."

Flustered from my encounter the ticket booth lady, I stepped inside the tourist office to ask where the nearest post office was. My mind on the previous exchange, the conversation with the tourist lady went something like this"

American: Can you tell me where the nearest post office is?
Polach: Yes, it's just outside the main door, and it is the white building to the right.
American: Thanks. Can you tell me where I can buy stamps?
Polach: Umm. At the post office.
American: Right.

I finally boarded my train, and made the 3 hour trek to Warsaw. By this point in the trip I was starting to feel exhausted, and could have used another day to relax in Krakow. Although my upcoming post on Warsaw indicates that is a great city, if you have one place to choose to go in Poland, don't miss out on Krakow!