Secesja Krakow

... Chris had found and danced a little. THe next morning came quickly and were up by 8 to catch our tour of Aushwitz. In the daze of the morning I threw on the most accessible clothes, not warm ones, to not miss the bus to Aushwitz. Just before our four hour tour started, as luck would have it, it started down pouring. But that did not stop the tour from going on, my san diegian blood is not used to such behavior. I soldiered on, miserably in the 40 degree, windy, rainy weather, going ...

... inside, but you had to pay extra for photos. As it was pretty dark in there I chose not to as you probably would need a high end camera to get any good pictures. I just bought a few postcards.

There was a big stage set up behind the church and there were a bunch of little kids dressed up in traditional Polish costumes and were singing and dancing. It was very cute. Have no idea what the stage and booths were set up for. After that I checked out a Milk Bar. They are these super ...

... myself to the barman but no sooner had he placed the free shot of vodka in front of me I was wondering if maybe I should have suck with the guided tour. If you start the night in that manner there is only one way it's likely to finish, on the floor. With a good Irish name like Michal I knew that the barman was somebody I was going to see a lot of over the coming days. While sipping on a beer I couldn't help but notice a frenzied and passionate game of fuzzball being played out by 4 ...

... obvious that I didn't intend on paying, even if I could have, the situation became very awkward. The cleaning bottle was now aimed at my face. She was demanding payment for her services, and I was playing charades with her trying to explain that I did not, in fact, use the toilet in the traditional sense. Use your imagination. Curse words on her part and uncontrolled laughter on my part ensued. All of a sudden a crowd had gathered near my exit point ...

... like just enough to take my mind off work for a while. I got an early morning train down to Krakow, and met Steve at the train station about midday. The weather was absolutely stunning, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. Not bad for early March, but then again Steve always boasted he took nice weather with him wherever he went. My plan was to take Steve on the same Krakow tour I took my friends Dom and Anna on back in December 2006, and ...

September 13 Today I explored Krakow further with some friends. We went back to the main town square, went shopping and just took in the busy life of the square. With the church on one side of it and so many interesting buildings and shops, it was so pleasant to take it all in. We sat in a little outdoor café and drank coffee and saw two small siblings throwing bread at each other, which is actually quite dangerous because hoards of pigeons swoop down and follow ...

Krakow has been an incredible city to visit. The old town is beautiful with a grand medieval square and probably the most churches packed into one place as I've ever seen. At the end of it all, near the river, is Wawel Castle which was where Polish kings ruled for centuries and are now buried. Basically I took in the first couple days walking around this area and taking in the sights. The last couple ...

... Nowa Huta - one of only 2 completed Soviet-planned communities. It was supposed to be a big Soviet showcase of the greatness of Communism. If I didn't know I would not have suspected it. Stark and imposing .... but lots of trees and even a lake. I'm not sure if that was added after the Soviets. Overall, nothing special. Perhaps a tour would've resulted in a better experience. Back to the hostel ... I was hungry so I grabbed a quick danish. ****. The filling ...

We arrived to Krakow before 11:00 and went first to the main square. The weather was not too bad, pretty warm although not very sunny. We were walking around the market square, went to Santa Mary basilica and to the Wawel castle. Afterwards we also went to the jewish town - Kazimierz and visited Jewish Museum there, which was very ...

... confusing. I struggled to find the information line which eventually led me to the ticket line so I could make a reservation on the train leaving at 10pm that night. I finally got to the end of the ticket line only to find that I was at the local train desk and needed to go somewhere else for the international ticket desk, the location of which they couldn't really communicate. A local nearby caught my attention and kindly led me to the international ...