This weekend I traveled to Krakow, Poland with a group from school. It was my first trip outside of Switzerland! We took a train at 6:24 am (ugh) to the Zurich airport and then a plane to Warsaw and finally a plane into Krakow. And THERE WAS SNOW THERE. You can't even imagine how happy I was... I got to wear my winter jacket and mittens and everything. So happy.
When we got there we did a bit of a bus tour on the way to our hotel, then went on a walking tour of Krakow just in the area where we were staying. We went to the Wawel Castle which was built for Casimir the Great, the last king of Poland. That was really beautiful, it was kind of raining the whole time but I didn't mind. We eventually made it to the market square which ended up just being a 5 minute walk away from our hotel, and there was a nice outdoor market there (where the next day I bought a giant knit wool sweater and an amber ring) and then we went to the restaurant where we would eat dinner. The food was pretty mediocre, but you can't expect much from a school trip... after dinner i ordered a hot chocolate which ended up being more like really hot pudding as opposed to an actual beverage. So so good. After that we just went back the hotel because we were exha a a usted from getting up at 5 and traveling and such.
The next day we went to the Wieliczka salt mine which is 327 METRES UNDERGROUND. Kind of scary but very cool. There were all these statues made from salt blocks and cool salt formations and a whole bunch of cathedrals that you can get married in and things. Very cool. We had to climb down a million stairs to get down, and then to get back up we took a really sketchy miner's elevator which was pretty fun!
After the salt mines we went back to the area around our hotel and we got the whole afternoon and evening free. For lunch we went to a little vegetarian restaurant beside our hotel and had fried perogies. SO DELICIOUS. Then we went down to the market square where I made a few purchases, and then decided to go to this really sketchy bar called The Tower which was actually really far underground and resembled a cave and played heavy metal music and some occasional Blink 182. It ended up being a pretty fun time and we went back there a few times during the trip. After spending a while in the market square, we went back to the place we went to for dinner and had perogies again.... (boiled this time, equally as if not better than the fried perogies) and then we hung out at the hotel for a bit. After we just went to a few bars and then came back and went to sleep.
The next day we went to the Auschwitz and Birknau concentration camps. That was one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. While I knew it was important for me to be there, I couldn't help but be truly disgusted by what I was learning and what I knew had happened there. I didn't think I was going to be as emotional as I ended up being, that surprised me. It was definitely a life changing experience, and though I wouldn't go back there again I would recommend going if you are ever in Krakow.
That afternoon we had free where we did a little more shopping and a little more hanging out at The Tower. We went to the former Jewish ghetto (there are actually very few Jews still living in Krakow) and had dinner at a restaurant called Ariel, again pretty mediocre. The soup was really good though.
The next morning we toured the former Jewish ghetto (we didn't get to see any of it really the night before because it was dark) which was cool. There was a really great flea market going on which we got to go to and I did a little more shopping there. (Everything is REALLY cheap in Poland. Who woulda known...)
We got back on the bus and did a quick tour of Schindler's factory and areas that Schindler's List was filmed in (a movie I have yet to see, but I wish I'd seen it before going) and then headed to the airport to go home!
This trip was a great start to the traveling I will be doing this year, I think I'm really going to love living here! Poland is a really great place, I didn't know what to expect going in, but definitely go there if you ever get the chance!
peace brothas
