Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 74

August 5, 2005 - August 8, 2005 Wow, what an adventure Krakow turned out being. From beginning to end, nothing ever really went at a comfortable pace. From the train ride in, to the weather, the nights out at the local clubs, our side trips to Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mine; nothing really went according to plan. Surprisingly, the added ingredient of chaos really spiced up the visit and helped to make some unforgettable memories. The overnight train ride from Prague was miserable. Keith and I had really hoped to squeeze in some sleep along the way, but the travel conditions severely prevented us from sleeping. In the beginning, things went very well. We spent the first several hours sharing stories with a couple from England who shared our cabin with us. Eventually the conversations ... read more

July 30 - August 3 Krakow, Poland Janexim Guesthouse Hey Everyone! Hope all is going good at home, we need some updates soon to see what everyone is up to. Anyways, we are just getting ready to leave Krakow tomorrow on the early train at 6:10 am and travelling about 12-13 hours to Munich, Germany and will arrive at 8:30 pm. Our original plan was to go to Venice for 4 days but we had trouble booking and finding a room, its super expensive and we're kind of getting sick of all these people! So, now we are stopping in Munich for 2 nights and then we have 4 nights in Interlaken, Switzerland which is a town of about 20,000 people in the middle of the Swiss Alps (we're thinking its going to be very relaxing ... read more

I was in Krakow, Poland for the usual 3 day visit and I didn't lose anything. Again, there were a lot of tourists but the city is amazing, not as big as Prague but that's good for getting around. I stayed in a hostel on the old town square which is one of the biggest in Europe (the square, not the hostel). It was a great location because I could sit in the window and just watch all the activity in the square. It was a little more difficult for me because there's not a lot of English spoken, even in the train station but I managed somehow. Unfortunately, the Polish lesson I received from Pola wasn't enough to get by :) I spent one day visiting the 700+ year-old salt mines in the nearby town ... read more

Poland’s premier urban attraction, Kraków’s beauty and style live up to its reputation. I dare say, with reluctance, after having come from Lviv that it is anti-climatic, almost a disappointment. Only here a day now, I can assure you Kraków is a marvelous place: modern, vibrant, and aesthetically pleasing. Poles are overtly proud of their city, as well they should be. Yet, having arrived from Lviv, I cannot help but feel that John Paul II’s hometown (his image is all over the place) is but a playground for the armies of visitors it hosts from around the world. Where Lviv is yesterday, or many years ago, Kraków makes it absolutely clear it has both feet planted in 2005, and looks in no direction but forward. Multi-flagged electric golf carts shuttle tourists from sight to sight within ... read more

Djen Dobri from Polska!! Although I said that the Czech Republic was my favorite country of the trip so far, it has been far surpassed by Poland, but who knows, maybe every new country we cycle into will be better then the last? Slovakia will have a lot to live up to... But enough about Poland for now, this blog must start where the last one finished, in Praha. After an annoying and expensive afternoon on computers doing the last blog and making a mess of downloading photos form the camera on a Czech language PC (we succeeded in copying the files but corrupted our memory card in the process - now sorted thankfully - but the CD with the files on it has a habit of crashing any PC you put it into!!) we spent ... read more