Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 66

We arrived to some scorching humidity and trecked a very short distance to our hostel. It is small and really quaint and fantastic. We are on the second floor and have our own little kitchenette, computer with the internet, tv, couch, table and set of bathrooms. So far we havent seen anyone else on this level. We can also go to the level below for a bigger kitchen and help from the really friendly staff. She even did my washing for me, for free! Kind of wishing we were staying longer because there is so much to see in gorgeous little Krakow but we werent even going to come here at all as busabout doesnt. Its much more catering for tourists than Warsaw. as we left the station there were about 10 different tourist booths advertising ... read more

We finished our trip to Prague with a riverboat tour which nearly sent us both to sleep! A quick journey around the Jewish Quarter and then to the Museum of Communism (yes, they really do have a museum to communism, they also have museums to sex machines and medieval torture instruments which I wouldnt go in but Chris really did want to... more of that another time!) Weve moved on to Krakow in Poland. The first train journey was fantastic, it was air conditioned, reserved seating, fast and thoroughly luxorious. The second train which we picked up from some out of the way station which didnt appear to have moved into the 20th century let alone the 21st century was a bloody nightmare! Now, you know I like my comfort and have been known to put ... read more

Quick word of advice for traveling in the part of the world (everywhere but America) that uses 24 hour time format and the dd.mm.yy date format. Dates such as "17.07" can be easily mistaken for times like "19.10" on train tickets. For example, if you believe your ticket says your train leaves at 5:07 p.m. on July 17, double check that departure time. Otherwise you might (hypothetically) spend two hours twiddling your thumbs in the Budapest train station. So we left Budapest on a Polish night train and (for the first time during all of our European train travels) arrived on time in Krakow at 5:45 a.m. Our visit to Krakow was nearly cut short (or made much longer) after a small mix-up that ended in our high-tailing it away from a tram conductor/scam artist who ... read more

We have now been in Krakow, Poland for 1.5 weeks. We are done with tour and are now leaders in a Jesus Revolution (JR) Summer Team. A Summer Team is a two-week missions trip for youth. We train them for 3 days in dance and drama along with teaching on evangelism then send them out on the streets of Krakow for the rest of the time. This year Teen Mania from the States has teamed up with JR, so there are many Americans here. The Teen Mania team also participated in the Summer Team in Munich, Germany which was the two weeks previous to this Summer Team. There are many other Summer Teams going on around Europe right now as well. I am a team assistant for a French girl name Sophone who is working in ... read more

today we visited the concentration camp. i don't know how to start to describe how i felt. when i entered the gate i thought about the millions of peopel who had walked the same path as i, thinking that they were brought here to be workers, and most not having any idea what there actual fate was. the place smells different, i imagine the souls who died there have permanantly odered the ground, trees, and buildings. we walked in and out of the barracks with our tourguide, and i was silent the whole time. most people were, they just didn't know what to say if they could even find their words. we walked into a room, and my heart suddenly felt like it had gotten smaller. the people who survived the war, and the peopel who ... read more