Well we have arrived safe and sound in Prague and so I will give you our write up of Krakow, Poland.
We took a three hour train trip to Krakow from Warsaw and met a Canadian couple from Ontario. We both clung to each other, just enjoying the sound of our mutual language spoken with a Canadian accent. It is funny how you miss english when you are away from home! We stored our bags at their hotel room for the day while we roamed the beautiful and charming city of Krakow. Krakow is as small and colorful as Warsaw is big and dark. Less traffic and the people are more charming. We saw the castle, many architecturally unique buildings. We ate lunch at the Milky Bar, a post-communist cafeteria like restaurant. Cheap food, need I say more? We shared perrogies and Borscht. Our first Borscht!!
We met our host, the boyfriend of the couple we were staying wit
h. Polish people are so small!! Not only are most of them quite short, but they are also very slim. I have stopped eating entirely! Just kidding. He is only 20 and his girlfriend is 21. I swear he looks like a little fawn, with adorable freckles and the thinist face. Just the cutest. He insisted on caring some of our bags and he took us home to his gorgeous apartment 30 minutes out of downtown. His parents own the apartment and he lives there with his girlfriend. He didn't understand our surprise at this. It was very nice and new, but without a stove. How odd. I must make my complaints known about Eastern Europe. NO STANDUP SHOWERS. I am tired of holding the nozzle on the 
shower while alternatively soaping, lol. Back to the story: He is a student of the arts. The government pays for their studies, so there is no pressure to take something more practical, I guess. He has no idea what he would like to do after school. They are both young hippies with an optimistic outlook on life. We enjoyed their company emensely every evening. They are true hospitality club members feeding me Vitamin C and offering tea and coffee everytime we came in the door and several times afterwards. They loved our stories about similarities and differences between the two countries. It is very hard for them to come to Canada because it is very expensive and you need a visa. Poland is second world, but trying very hard to be a first. Great people, once you get to know them.
On day two we took a trip to the salt mines, which involved a two hour tour of this huge underground mine. Statues carved of salt and an enormous underground church which apparently has mass every Sunday. The lowest point we reached was 130 kilometers under the ground. Very informative and interesting. We took the english tour and found ourselves among fat people. Ahh, a taste of home. Upon returning to the city centre we shopped and toured before sitting down to a lovely lunch that cost less than 20 dollars and also fed us for dinner and breakfast the next day.
Day three we met up with our Canadian guy, his girlfriend opted not to come, and we took the 1.5 hour trip Auschwitz and Birkenau. As I pride myself on being well written, I will leave many of the horrific details to your imagination. What you can see in the museum was enough to make me want to thr
ow up my breakfast. It was a bit tacky the way many groups of tourists were taking photographs of the incenerators and barbed wire fences. Once guy smiled while his friend took his photo. Birkenau and its inormity was quite surprising. All in all a very sad day. You can't really explain just how depressing it is to see piles and piles of suitcases that no longer have a home.
On a more positive note, we found the mall the next day for some great shopping and enjoyed our first big mall in Europe. Then we hauled on a train to arrive in Prague at 7am.
We took a three hour train trip to Krakow from Warsaw and met a Canadian couple from Ontario. We both clung to each other, just enjoying the sound of our mutual language spoken with a Canadian accent. It is funny how you miss english when you are away from home! We stored our bags at their hotel room for the day while we roamed the beautiful and charming city of Krakow. Krakow is as small and colorful as Warsaw is big and dark. Less traffic and the people are more charming. We saw the castle, many architecturally unique buildings. We ate lunch at the Milky Bar, a post-communist cafeteria like restaurant. Cheap food, need I say more? We shared perrogies and Borscht. Our first Borscht!!We met our host, the boyfriend of the couple we were staying wit
h. Polish people are so small!! Not only are most of them quite short, but they are also very slim. I have stopped eating entirely! Just kidding. He is only 20 and his girlfriend is 21. I swear he looks like a little fawn, with adorable freckles and the thinist face. Just the cutest. He insisted on caring some of our bags and he took us home to his gorgeous apartment 30 minutes out of downtown. His parents own the apartment and he lives there with his girlfriend. He didn't understand our surprise at this. It was very nice and new, but without a stove. How odd. I must make my complaints known about Eastern Europe. NO STANDUP SHOWERS. I am tired of holding the nozzle on the 
shower while alternatively soaping, lol. Back to the story: He is a student of the arts. The government pays for their studies, so there is no pressure to take something more practical, I guess. He has no idea what he would like to do after school. They are both young hippies with an optimistic outlook on life. We enjoyed their company emensely every evening. They are true hospitality club members feeding me Vitamin C and offering tea and coffee everytime we came in the door and several times afterwards. They loved our stories about similarities and differences between the two countries. It is very hard for them to come to Canada because it is very expensive and you need a visa. Poland is second world, but trying very hard to be a first. Great people, once you get to know them.
On day two we took a trip to the salt mines, which involved a two hour tour of this huge underground mine. Statues carved of salt and an enormous underground church which apparently has mass every Sunday. The lowest point we reached was 130 kilometers under the ground. Very informative and interesting. We took the english tour and found ourselves among fat people. Ahh, a taste of home. Upon returning to the city centre we shopped and toured before sitting down to a lovely lunch that cost less than 20 dollars and also fed us for dinner and breakfast the next day.
Day three we met up with our Canadian guy, his girlfriend opted not to come, and we took the 1.5 hour trip Auschwitz and Birkenau. As I pride myself on being well written, I will leave many of the horrific details to your imagination. What you can see in the museum was enough to make me want to thr
ow up my breakfast. It was a bit tacky the way many groups of tourists were taking photographs of the incenerators and barbed wire fences. Once guy smiled while his friend took his photo. Birkenau and its inormity was quite surprising. All in all a very sad day. You can't really explain just how depressing it is to see piles and piles of suitcases that no longer have a home.On a more positive note, we found the mall the next day for some great shopping and enjoyed our first big mall in Europe. Then we hauled on a train to arrive in Prague at 7am.
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