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Published: October 28th 2007
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Slovakia
This is a picture out the window as we drove through Slovakia. I wish I had been able to capture just how beautiful this place was. It's amazing. Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! You were wondering about Krakow? Well, Krakow is a city in Poland, and it had some strange story about how it came into being. This story involves a dragon. My story about how I came into being in Krakow is a little different. Saturday morning I awoke earlier than the sun and headed out for the bus. Turns out, ¾’s of the group thought this was ridiculous and decided to sleep in 45 minutes more. So we waited for them. I’m beginning to realize that this is a Hungarian thing, being at least 45 minutes late to EVERYTHING. However, since I showed up on time I was able to get a pretty decent seat on the second floor, second row. This meant that I got to sit behind four guys from New Hampshire the entire ride. But it also meant that I had a pretty decent view of everything from the front of the bus. Including when the bus driver slammed on the breaks and missed hitting a divider between a fork in the road by maybe a foot and a half? Then he proceeded to put the bus in reverse, on the freeway, and back up
Snow
This is a snowy area in Slovakia. That is actually a ski slope. No skiing yet, but eventually. I would love to go skiing here. This is not meant to be. At least not any time soon. so we could go the right way.
This trip was actually organized by another university in Budapest, not the university that I attend. When they found out that they had extra room on the trip they opened it up to other people, and that was how I got a place. This is why I knew no one at all on the trip. On the bus I sat next to a wonderful German girl named Beate, and she is now my favorite German friend…EVER.
The bus ride from Budapest to Krakow is long. Very very long. It took us even LONGER. The people in charge of the trip had a tendency to stop the bus every two hours for a “smoke break”. These took about a half hour apiece. This was really pretty awful. We left Budapest (finally) around 9:00, and arrived in Krakow around 7:30. I was ready to never see a bus again.
The scenery on the journey was exquisite, with beautiful fall colors as the leaves change, and light snow for a portion of the ride. In order to get to Poland we drove through Slovakia, which was amazing. I had never really thought about Slovakia as a
Slovakia Houses
Here are some houses in Slovakia. It's a cute little town. But this town has NOTHING on the little towns in Poland. It is probably what little towns like this one dream about, someday being like a little town in Poland. Dream big little Slovakia town, Dream big. real place, more like something you read about in your history books. Turns out it is so incredibly beautiful I don’t even know where to begin to describe it. Since we were in such a hurry (I joke, I joke) to get to Poland we didn’t really stop anywhere exciting in Slovakia so I was only able to really get pictures out the bus window, which does the country no justice at all.
The interesting thing about Slovakia versus Poland was not really a difference in landscape but in the houses. The Polish countryside was full of attractive cottage like buildings. Someday I will buy a house in the Polish countryside and I will spend my winters (since I’ll be so rich I wont have to work) skiing around and sleeping in front of a cozy fireplace with a fluffy dog…or seven. It is meant to be, I really felt a connection to the Polish countryside.
Krakow itself is actually a pretty rockin’ city, and we stayed at one of the nicest hostels there, The Goodbye Lenin. This place had it all, free wireless and Internet, breakfast, a bar, laundry facilities, a pool table. Everything you could ever want from
Horse
As we were driving through Slovakia, I saw this horse. How cool is that? Of course I'm sure this horse belongs to someone, but later on, I saw a goat. And I think it might have been WILD. A Wild Goat! So cool! a hostel. When we finally got to the city Beate and I headed off to explore and find a place to have dinner. The little restaurant we found offered a house special of “Beef stew and Potatoes pancakes”. This turned out to actually be a thick beef stew poured over the potato pancakes, resulting in yummy deliciousness. I believe I could live off this stuff.
The following morning Beate and I arose and headed out. First we walked through an old Jewish cemetery, which had so many headstones I have no idea where they put all the bodies. The walls of the cemetery were made out of old pieces of headstones, giving the whole place an even eerier feel.
After the cemetery we walked through the old Jewish ghetto and an old synagogue. After this we headed to the castle. The castle is immense, and right on the river. I really have no idea what it’s story is beyond that it has a dragon in it. When told there was a dragon’s lair in the castle I figured it was something I had to do. Beate and I purchased tickets and headed in. *See pictures for more info* (Don’t you
Slovakia Boarder
This is the boarder into Slovakia, and out of Hungary. That is a white van in front of us. I feel like boarders are important to take pictures of, cause they mark all the different places. But really? How boring is this picture? hate when people do that? Sorry)
After the dragons lair we went into the cathedral. This place was so detailed it was crazy. Whoever thought of all those little things to include must have had so much time on their hands. There were all kinds of tombs and gold things and statues and more gold and dead people and crosses and high vaulted ceilings, it was incredible. We weren’t allowed to take pictures. I feel like that happens at most interesting places. I’m convinced it’s because they want me to write you all of you about it so that you all hop on a plane and head out here either to visit me (hey mom!) or to see it for yourselves. I took some pictures anyway. They didn’t turn out that well (Hey Karma!)
We also checked out the State Rooms in the castle. These were kind of expensive (well, the ticket was), but they had been recommended. Whoever recommended these rooms must have had some KrAzY sense of humor. They were really very very boring. No excitement at all. And no pictures. If you are ever in Krakow, skip the state rooms.
After the castle we headed for the
Polish Boarder
This is the boarder between Poland and Slovakia. Another boring boarder. More interesting is the amount of bug life smeared across the bus windshield. Isn't that disgusting? You could hardly see anything. giant market in the city center. On the way we passed a giant beer. Welcome to Europe. The city center was this giant square in the middle of the city, with an over priced market in the middle. It was fun just walking around and seeing all the random people along the way. People watching is really very entertaining. I like to pretend that as an anthropologist I am actually doing something educational when in all actuality I’m just being creepy watching people.
On Monday we went to Auschwitz. This will be another entry.
After Auschwitz we went to a salt mine. I’m not quite sure whose idea the salt mine was, but it was actually kind of entertaining. This salt mine was enormous and deep and really strange. They had carved all kinds of things into the walls or out of salt. There was even a cathedral carved in. Everything in the cathedral was carved out of salt. I wanted to lick the walls, but I felt that might offend some people. I also wanted to lick the statues, but I was afraid other people before me had licked them and since salt is a preservative; I
Polish house
How cute is this house!!!!!! I might buy this very house. I wish I had a picture of a cute Polish town, but for some reason not one picture turned out. This just means that when i move there I will have to take pictures and post them here so you can all see what I am talking about. Or maybe you could google it. Either way. would essentially be licking a stranger. So I refrained from any lickage. If you are in Krakow, and you have extra time to kill since you didn’t go to the state rooms, go to the salt mine.
To get out of the mine after the tour they loaded us into these elevators. I was in the first group. They put nine of us into a TINY metal box and closed us in. Then we began to move upwards. I thought this meant that we would go up to the top, but instead we only went up one floor. They then loaded another box of people under us, we began to rise, and I thought that was it. It wasn’t. There were two more boxes of people. Packed boxes. Of people. Tiny metal elevator in creepy salt mine. Not funny. But actually…very funny. I lived. So will you.
Tuesday we drove home. It took us just as long to get back as it took to get there. I recommend taking the train. Better yet, just fly. Or walk. You’ll still get there quicker than I did. All in all, Krakow (this includes the obligatory Auschwitz trip) gets a solid ‘A’. If
Jewish Cemetery
This graveyard had some crazy gravestones. Huge ones, tiny ones, broken ones, new ones. Tons and tons and tons of them. All covered in plants and leaves. you have time, you should go.
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