Polska (Poland)

Tuesday evening I returned to Berlin from 5 day excursion to Krakow, Poland. Krakow is Poland's 3rd largest city and lies just near the eastern border of Poland, a little south of Berlin. It is normally about a 3 or 4 hour journey from Berlin, however it took far longer for us to reach. We traveled to Krakow from Berlin on regional trains (also took the same type of trains back to Berlin) to the journey lasted 10 hours. Although long, the train ride wasn't too too bad. I did some work on the train, as well as socialized and got some rest. We left Berlin just before 10:00 AM and arrived in Poland a little after 8:00PM.

The first thing we did, was walk about 15 minutes to the hostel we were staying at. We stayed at the hostel known as "Any Time." The hostel was very hospitable and perfect for our group. We had a total group size of 17 people......fairly large. They split us up into 4 rooms. All the girls stayed in one, and the guys split themselves up into the other three. I stayed with 5 other guys in one room. The rooms weren't too bad. They were actually somewhat cozy. There were individual bathrooms for the toilette and shower. There were both wicked tiny, but usable and clean. The only thing that I didn't like about our rooms were the beds and pillows. The beds felt like there was absolutely no padding whatsoever, and was just a box of springs. The pillows were wicked old and was basically just little clumps of padding. Other than that, our stay was really nice. The hostel served us complimentary breakfast every morning and allowed us to come and go as we pleased.

After quickly settling in, we heading for the nearest bank and ATM to withdraw some money. Although Poland is a European country and is a member of the European Union, it is not yet part of the Euro-Zone and has its own currency. The currency they have is known as the złoty (pronounced swaty). The exchange rate is about 4 złoty to one Euro. So needless to say, it is relatively cheap in Poland and the bills for restaurants and things looked really big. For 5 people or so, the bill was between 100 and 120 złoty.

After withdrawing some cashola, the group split up because we were just way to large to be able to get a table in one bar or restaurant. The group I went with ended up going to a little pizza place. The place was really nice and the pizza was excellent. The table we ended up getting happened to be in the basement, which turned out to be very common in Krakow. Most of the bars and restaurants in Poland all had their main seating and serving areas in the basements. We all filled up on pizza and a couple of us ended up having a deep political convo. It was a pretty good night. After that, it was about midnight so most of us headed back to the hostel to turn in. I went to bed, but a couple of people went next door to do some dancing.

The next morning we got up at about 8:30am and headed downstairs for some breakfast. We talked about our day and what was ahead while we ate. This particular day, Saturday, we were getting a tour of the center of Krakow from a local expert. I can't remember the name of the guide, because I couldn't really read his name or pronounce it. He was a great guide though. He knew everything about everything in Krakow. He was a bit intimidating and scary at first glance though. He was tall and wore dark clothing. He had buzzed gray hair and white wrinkly skin with yellowing teeth. He was mostly all black with dark blue jeans and a long black pea-coat. His voice was deep and he had a thick polish accent. Despite looking like a mofia boss from Moscow, he was quite funny and polite. We got to see a bunch of old churches and buildings. We toured the newly built town hall, the oldest cathedral, the largest town square, and many of the old side streets. He told us many old legends, gave us the historical background of Krakow, and explained a lot of the culture. Krakow is very very very old. Many of the buildings, churches, streets and squares are still remaining from the Medieval times. Streets in Krakow were much smaller and older looking. Krakow was also a lot smaller than Berlin and more central. The city is also EXTREMELY Catholic. Everywhere there were catholic churches and young nuns and priests walking around. At the end of our tour, our guide showed us the former city gates and fortress that used to be surrounded by a giant moat. He then recommend a traditional Polish restaurant and bid us farewell until the next day.

After the tour we went to the restaurant our guide suggested. It was really nice and actually appeared quite fancy, but wasn't too expensive. We ate downstairs as usual. The waitresses wore traditional Polish dress and the setting was very old. We sat on short wooden benches and ate on a short wooden table. I ordered the perogies. This is a traditional Polish dish, very similar to raviolli, with meat inside. It was very good and very filling. After that we walked around the massive square for a little while and checked out the shops. We then met up with the Program Director for the study abroad kids in Poland and the students. We all made our way over to a little historical cafe for coffee and cake. The cake was amazing and we learned a lot about Krakow, the cafe, and the other students. After that we checked out a bar we wanted to go to later in the night. That night our entire group and some of the Polish students ended up going to a bar called C.K. Browar. It was a half bar, half club. I just stayed with a few other people in the bar and we talked, watched some sports, and drank beer. The best part was the way the beer was served. Everyone gets a 3ml glass. We then choose one beer everyone wants, and they bring it out in a huge 5L glass tube with a tap attached. So we basically serve ourselves. Its amazing. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. We turned in at about 1 or so.

The next day, the same guide from the day before showed us around the quarter of Krakow that we were staying in. It was the Jewish quarter and is known as Kazimierz. We visited a bunch of synagogues, and some Jewish Cemeteries. Later in the day, we toured the old Castle and Cathedral that still remained. They were both enormous and fantastic. We were able to walk up to the top of the bell tower and look at the city from high above. After that some of us, including myself, went back to the hostel to take a nap. One of the students was having a birthday that day and we planned on going out. We went out to a bar just outside the main square. It too was underground and really cool. The walls were all stone and it looked like a cave......or the inside of a brick oven haha. I had only one drink, because I had a headache and wanted to make sure other people didn't over do it. I had a margarita. It was delicious, yet very weak haha. The bar also had a dance floor and some good music...they even played Cotton Eyed Joe. Overall it was a pretty fun night. The next day, we didn't have to get up as early, but we had a much longer day. On Monday we traveled to Auschwitz - the former and most famous Nazi Concentration Camp. There's a lot to tell about Auschwitz, so I'm going to write about that in a different post.

Berfor I finish up, I just wanted to make some observations about Poland. I noticed that almost every house and apartment had a satellite dish. Apparently they love them. I also learned that Poland and Hungary are pretty much the bestest of friends. The two countries have had good relations for centuries. The relationship is really hard to describe, and I can't think of any other countries who even compare. The language in Poland is very different too. The speak Polish of course, which is a slavic language. If you wanted to compare it, Polish would be to Russian, as English is to German. The Poles also spoke a good amount of English. They don't care for Russian or German, due to the shaky past and aggression of the both Russia and Germany with Poland.

So yea, overall it was an awesome trip and a great experience. I'm going to post a little later on about Auschwitz and I'll be putting pictures up on webshots so have a look.

Bis Spaeter.