Krazy about Krakow

Hello to all of my loyal fans -

I realize that I have already failed on my New Year's resolution to blog once a week, but I just didn’t have anything to say last week. So, I apologize for anyone who actually cares about my blogs…

This weekend was honestly one of the best weekends and I am so thankful for that because I needed it - badly. I went with my friend Erin to Krakow, Poland and ended up meeting up with Ryan and Diego (some LMU friends) and it was just a weekend full of genuine happiness.

Now, you might be wondering, "Why the heck would you go to Poland? Of all of the places you could go, why Poland?" Well, the answer is this: the school organized a trip for people to go and visit Auschwitz, but Erin and I didn't want to go with a big group or pay for the school trip, so we decided to go on our own. We originally just went for Auschwitz, thinking that Krakow wouldn't have much else to offer, but it turned out to be one of my favorite cities that I have visited thus far. Krakow - and Poland in general - is highly underrated.

We started off our trip with nine hours of travel, going from Florence to Milan and Milan to Krakow. When we finally got to Krakow, it was about 11 PM so we just went straight to our hostel. We checked in, popped our heads into a karaoke bar, got a kebab, and called it a night.

On Friday, we made our way two hours out of Krakow to a little mountain town called Zakopane. In Zakopane, we walked around their little market that was filled with street vendors - mostly selling sheep cheese - and people dressed up characters walking around trying to get people to pay to take pictures with them. We managed to take some pictures with the characters and got away with not paying for them by playing the confused tourist card.

After walking around the market – and eating everything in sight – we made our way to a local ice-skating rink and spent some time on the ice.  At the rink, we ended up making friends with the worker there who liked us enough that he didn’t end up making us pay for our skates. I guess sometimes being nice pays off – literally. 

When we were there, Erin caught the attention of everyone around by showing off her amazing ice skating skills. I’m telling you, the girl should have gone to the Olympics – well, maybe she wasn’t that good, but she was better than anyone I’ve ever seen in person. Not only did she impress me, but she also made quite an impression on a television crew that was walking by. They even went out of their way to stop her and asked if they could film her ice-skating and air it on national Polish television. Cool, huh? We ended up talking to the camera crew for a while and they filmed us skating around and having fun on the ice for a while. I’ll be sure to post the link once we find it online.

At around five o’clock, we had seen all we could see, so we scrounged up just enough change to take the bus back to Krakow. When we got to Krakow, we met up with Diego and Ryan and a couple other kids from LMU for a traditional Polish dinner. Believe it or not, I actually did eat real Polish food – Polish sausage, pierogies, potato pancakes, sauerkraut – the works! Crazy, huh? Besides eating great food, I really enjoyed being able to spend time with some familiar faces. Even though Diego, Ryan, and I weren’t all that great at keeping up with each other at LMU, it was so nice to be able to catch up with them. Seeing them brought me so much genuine happiness and for that, I am so thankful.

After our lovely meal, we ended up walking around the main square just taking in Krakow’s beauty. While meandering around, we were hounded by bar promoters every time we turned a corner. After being handed at least five “free shot with entrance” cards, we decided to check out one of the bars. We ended up hanging out in a really nice bar for a while just talking and enjoying each others’ company until about midnight when Erin and I decided that it was time to go back and get some sleep.

The next day was the day that we had been waiting for: our trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau. Honestly, the whole trip was just mind-blowing and just so moving. I don’t want to give a history lesson because I’m fairly certain that all of you know the significance of Auschwitz and Birkenau, but I will tell you that no matter how much you think you know about what happened, there is still stuff that you don’t know.

Both camps were so different than I would have ever expected. When you see the old black and white photos of everything, they really don’t even begin to capture the essence of the camps. To be honest, they were both incredibly beautiful places; it was sad to think that some place so beautiful could be the scene of such inhumane actions. Oftentimes throughout the tour I would find myself thinking about how pretty the camp was but then feeling incredibly guilty for ever having that thought cross my mind considering what the place stands for.

There were so many little things that we saw that just blew my mind. One of the most touching parts for me was when we visited this a room filled with hair – real human hair – that had been shaved off of the prisoners as they entered the camp. I was speechless. It was unreal to see something so raw and human. It made it easy to envision the people and picture their innocent faces as they sat there not knowing what was happening to them as they got their heads shaved so that they could become one in a number. I don’t know, it was just something that made the whole experience so much more real for me.

I honestly could go on for days about how much we saw and everything I learned, but like I said, I don’t want to give you a history lesson.  All I can say is that it was definitely something that you should go see if you ever have the chance. We have all been taught about the Nazi regime our whole lives, but it has always just been that – a lesson in school. Visiting the camp was like putting a face to a name – it really brought the whole lesson and story to reality.

The next day Erin and I woke up early to go on a free working tour of the city. We woke up thinking that it was going to be fairly warm and sunny like every other day so we didn’t bring our jackets. Bad idea. It was literally 34 degrees and I was wearing a t-shirt and a chambray button up. Needless to say, I was a little cold… We went on the walking tour for about an hour before we deciding to ditch the tour and head back to our hostel to get our jackets.

After bundling up in literally six layers of clothing, we left our hostel and met up with Diego, Ryan, and our two other new friends. The six of us made our way to Wawel Castle (the old governor’s palace) and walked around the grounds, visited the state rooms, and just enjoyed the beauty of the castle. The place was absolutely stunning. I only wish it wasn’t so foggy so that we could have taken in the view of Krakow, but it was still gorgeous.

Once we were done frolicking around the castle grounds and exploring the city, it was time to say goodbye to Krakow and our friends and head back to Florence. We got from Krakow to Milan with no complications, but once we got to Milan, that’s where the fun began… We arrived in Milan right as the last train to Florence left so we thought that we would be stuck spending the night in the Milan airport and catching the 5 AM train back to Florence. None of us wanted to do that so Erin and I took it upon ourselves to find some way to get back that night. Turns out the private shuttle we found didn’t get us back to Florence until 2:30 AM and it cost more than the train would have… Oh well – we all got back safely so that’s all that really matters, right?

Anyways, at the end of the day, Krakow was wonderful. I didn’t really know what I was expecting when I went to Poland, but it by far exceeded my expectations. I would highly recommend visiting the country if you ever have the chance.

Here’s to a wonderful weekend in a wonderful place with wonderful people!

Ciao for now!

Sincerely yours,

Just Another Original