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Published: October 7th 2008
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The bus from Lviv left on time and since we had a long day I fell asleep pretty quickly. Soon we reached the border, same routine officials come up and collect passports exit stamp from Ukraine all straight forward. Craig have to jab me as I was still sleeping when the border guard came to us collecting for passport, the lady guard looked at me impatiently and grabbed Craig´s passport first.On the Polish side took awhile as it is EU the border control is stricter, we did not have a problem but there was a couple sat opposite me had heaps, the guy i think was left at the border post, some problems with visa not sure but the wife was a nervous wreck saw her thumbing through her rosary in desperation and she keeps pacing in the aisle, I felt bad for them wish i could do something. Arrived in Krakow 6am, since the hostel might still be shut we decided to kill time at the bus station which was really nice and warm, it is cold here when we arrived, we dont have any Polish currency with us so i cant go to the pay toilet and the money
changer is still closed, waited in agony for couple hours.
In the rain and mist we started our way to find the hostel, as usual Craig is the navigator and just followed him across town. We found Dizzy Daisy our hostel we left our luggage as check in isnt til 2pm. Went to town, spitting rain tried to find a money bureau and walked around, we found a decent place to have breakfast so we gorged ourselves with what else, sausages. From there we walked to this office connected to Craig´s Dad where he picked up his debit card. Mission accomplished we went back to the old town and walked around a bit, I right away liked this city even when it is rainy and gloomy, there is some vibe here, lots of tourists but that really did not bother me. Went back to hostel only to be told we are staying in the hostel next door, sister hostel perhaps, called Bling Bling. Rooms were ok, 2 toilets, not as clean but not too bad and there is a kitchen!altho the hostel is a bit dim, not enough lights. Went to the big Galleria to food shop at Carrefour,
we are the only ones when we got back to hostel, cooked our food then chilled with our beers . Craig decided he wants to see the Mozart concert at this church so he left me at the hostel, I chatted with couple of guys from New Zealand. They played drinking games with a group of English girls, we had trouble sleeping as they were noisy!
The next day we visited the same places Wawel Hill which was cool! St. Peter and Paul church where Craig went to the mozart concert last night, Florianska Gate, where the Royal road starts Rynek Glowny(Main Sq) etc. But today the priority is to go to the Wieliczka Salt mines, the reception desk told us we can do it on our own and pointed to the map where we can take the minibus, we got confused and took us awhile to locate it because when we initially got there the minibuses were parked at a garage, we cant figure out where is the stop, eventually the minibus turned up and so we caught it. About 2 hours drive amybe, traffic and rain . When we got there we were told we have to
join a guided tour. Actually it was avery good tour, we have to go down a shaft i think 60 meters deep and the winding stairs down made me dizzy, according to the brochure, seven centuries of salt exploration the mine developed into an extensive underground city, myterious and unique, we saw chambers with visible traces of the actual exploration preserved with a collection of mining machines and equipment, chaples with unique salt sculptures and of course salt lakes. After the tour we went up via lift which took forever as the queue is huge. The minibus took ages to arrive we chatted with a couple from Chicago. Back in town we decided to see an English movie called "Elegy" that is the only English movie we can find, it was boring for me but Craig loved it, the cinema is an arsty boutique type, we noticed lots of couples around, it's a date movie!! All of a sudden we felt uncomfortable, especially when mindlessly chosing to sit at the very back and the very corner of the room, as if we are gearing for a big make out session!!! We should have sat afar from each other.. back at
the hostel chatted with a Dutch group over dinner and one of them gave me a pamhplet to Auschwitz, in the room as i tried to sleep i heard some noise and realized the weird couple from earlier were having sex!! They were at the lower bunk next to the door, then comes this Japanese guy and told them that they are in his bed!! They moved up to the upper bunk and continued their tryst, poor Japanese guy at the bottom bunk, he left the room, i was gonna but too tired.
Took the first bus to Auschwitz from the station, its a minibus and got full quite quickly, 2 hours drive to Auschwitz, arrived at 10am already very crowded, we chose to do it on our own as we have this pamphlet from the Dutch guy; we watched the movie first then we started walking to the concentration camp, it is very cold and raining a bit, there are exhibits on different buildings but due to large amount of people took ages to get in, noticed a group of isralei soldiers in their military uniform, they keep taking photos inside when you are not supposed to, so
i did too but got told off by one of the guides. Took me about 2 hours to look around, craig and I got separated so when i finished i waited for him at the entrance, he did not turn up till 1 1/2 hours later, in the meantime i had my lunch.
We took the shuttle bus to Birkenau, this complex is even bigger! takes ages to explore and quite spooky. About 2 hours later we are done, so we hurried to catch the shuttle back to Auschwitz then took a bus back to krakow, all in all we did not pay for a thing as the entrance is free only bus tickets, saved us heaps. Next day is off to the mountains at Zakopane as we heard weather will be good, enough rain!
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Greg
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Krakow
Krakow is a really worth to see place, similar to Prague and a bit to Budapest. I was there with www.greetingsfrompoland.com - they are Poland travel specialists.