Hello from Krakow! It took almost nine hours to get here from Vienna, but it's been worth it so far! We spent almost all day on Sunday on the train trying to get here. Notable highlights: finding out our Eurail does not cover Poland, and missing our train in Katowice. Luckily, there was another train headed to Krakow from Katowice that we managed to get on. Major incident avoided. However, upon arriving in Krakow we had one heck of a time finding the trams to get to the city. And once we figured that out and got off on the right stop we wandered around for about an hour trying to get to the hostel. We didn't print off a map of the area and that made it more complex. Lesson learned.
Also interesting to note: no one in the train station spoke English. This was our first experience with going up to people to get directions and just having them stare at you like you're retarded. That's when we stopped asking the grandmas for directions and began talking to people our own age. They've at least been adequately schooled and can communicate with us.
So Sunday we went out for traditional Polish food after checking in to the hostel, which is pretty nice but is a little creepily dark. Also, the toilet seats are clear with pictures of barbed wire all over them. Please explain that to me. And, on another cultural note of bathroom decor, the toilet paper here is green because it's apparently recycled. Saving the environment? I guess so.
After dinner Elise and I decided to go out. We almost had Ellie and Renee convinced to come along, but they decided they were too tired at the last minute. So Elise and I headed into downtown Krakow to find a club. On the way, two charming Irish gentlemen of about 30 offered to buy us drinks. The following conversation ensued:
"Are you girls married?"
"No.."
"Well you will be soon!"
Cue a speedy exit and lots of nervous giggling.
We found a club that was playing American music and went in. It was so much fun, but it was a really weird demographic. There was a lot of high schoolers, and a couple of really old men. Then guys our age finally started showing up, and so we got to meet Polish boys. Check.
Today Ellie, Renee, and I went to Auschwitz and Birkenau. I wouldn't say it was a fun trip, but it was really worth seeing. Auschwitz was way more modern than I was expecting. It was a lot of stone buildings all in a row. Birkenau had the stark and isolated atmosphere that you get from the movies. So if you ever find yourself in Poland, definitely go visit. Even if you didn't have a West Civ II teacher who harped on Hitler nonstop.
Tomorrow we're going to take a walking tour of the city and hopefully go shopping. Because Poland is CHEAP. Finally a favorable exchange rate. That's whats up. Too bad I don't have a ton of room to bring shoes back to Italy.
We leave on Wednesday for Prague :) Another cheap city with delicious pastries. EXCITEMENT!
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