We drove to Krakow from Prague and it was the longest bus ride ever! It took us like 9 hours! Tobi, one of the guys that works for IES who was in charge of this trip, decided it would be a good idea to make sausage on the bus.....and it was! There was a broiler and he cooked us all sausage.
We got to Krakow in the evening and had dinner. Then some of us went to a pub and a night walk with our contact Chris. The pub nautical themed and underground which was really cool! Most pubs and clubs in Europe are underground because the street level has risen a lot since when the buildings were originally built. The big thing in Poland is to put Raspberry or Ginger syrup in beer. I tried the Raspberry kind which was really good! Beer should always taste like raspberry.
9/15
We had to get up real early to eat breakfast at 7:30am and then we went an a walking tour of Krakow. Our tour guide was really great and told us a ton of awesome Polish legends. Basically, what I learned is that everything in Poland has a legend and a real history. Here's one legend....so every hour a trumpet player plays a tune in 4 directions from the top of the tall tower on the Basillica of the Virgin Mary; however, he stops the tune in the middle and it is left unresolved. In olden times the trumpeter used to announce when the city was being attacked and the legend is that the trumpeter saw the enemy and started to play but was hit in the neck with an arrow and he died in the middle of the song, which is why today they stop in the middle. I can't actually remember what the actual story is, but I think the legend is pretty cool.
The "head" of the old entrance way. People used to have to enter in here, then go through a tunnel and then through the main city gate to get into Krakow
The weather in Poland was super overcast and kind of rainy while we were there, so my pictures are kind of dreary.
A super old church in the town square. You can see what I was talking about with the street being a different level. The guy in the picture is on street level and the door of the church was where the street level used to be
Then we went to the Jewish ghetteo, Kazimierez Town. The Jewish population of Krakow used to be 60,000 but now after WWII it is 160 people. They all go to one synagogue in this area.
The oldest synagogue in Krakow, now a museum
After our tour we had lunch and then we went to Auschwitz and Berkinau in the afternoon. I wanted to take pictures but once I got there I just couldn't do it. It was an extremely difficult experience for me, but luckily I had friends to help me through it. I think everyone should be required to go to a concentration camp at least once in their lives to experience it so that something like the Holocaust will never happen again. After that we went back to the Jewish area for dinner. The food was great and we had a trio of musicians (violin/viola, accordian, and bass) play Jewish music after dinner! It was super awesome!
9/16
We had the morning to do whatever we wanted, so Jodie and I slept in a little and went down to the old town to eat breakfast in the Green Balloon Cafe that our guide had said is a must in Krakow. It was awesome!!! I had hot chocolate, which was like hot wonderful pudding with whipped cream. I had to eat it with a spoon! I also got apple cake with extra whipped cream. Poland is great because they don't put nuts in their desserts!
Jodie with her hot chocolate and cheesecake
After the Salt mine we had some more free time and then dinner! We had a traditional Polish dinner, which basically meant lots of meat! We got a huge platter of chicken, pork, and potatoes. We also had a plate of cabbage made several ways, pickles, bread with a lard spread, and soup!
The next morning we left for Budapest. Krakow was cool, but the weather and Auschwitz made it kind of depressing. It was my least favorite city of the tour, but maybe I'll go back one day and have a different experience.
Well, I'm off to go do homework!
Auf Wiedersehen!
ps. Heute ist mein Geburstag!! Today is my Birthday!! WOOO 21!
