It's cold in Krakow! Next stop Ukraine!

On my final day in Budapest, I headed out to Memento Park just outside the city. After a tram ride and a bus ride, I made it out to see the Communist sculptures. After the fall of communism, the city moved all of the various pieces of Soviet art around the city to this park. It was fairly interesting, especially seeing Stalin's boots. They are a famous symbol of Hungary, I guess they destroyed this huge statue of Stalin except for his boots. I headed back into town and went to the Jewish Quarter. There I headed for the synagogue, which is apparently the second largest one in the world. Who woulda thought that would be in Budapest? The inside was very lavish and impressive. Later that day back at my hostel, I was hanging out in the common area when a girl (Lia) came to check in. I heard her say she was from Seattle, which is strange enough considering I have not met a single person from Seattle in the last 4 months of travelling. I got to talking with her, turns out she is from Mill Creek (where I used to live). We figured out that we knew all of the same places and used to go to one particular bar in the Mill Creek Town Center called Azul. My old flatmate Megan used to work there so I went a lot. After talking with her longer, we both finally realized that we actually met at Azul back in March. My friend and I went into Seattle with Lia and her boyfriend at the time and partied all night! We had both obviously not recognized each other or remembered each other's name. Small world! Can't believe she was staying at my tiny little hostel in Budapest!

My bus ride to Krakow was leaving at 6 am the next morning, so while any normal person would get to bed early to make sure they woke up at 5 am, that's just not my style. Plus I would probably have slept in no matter when I got to bed. So I decided to head out with Lia! We went to a few bars, sang karaoke, and met a whole bunch of people, including some Hungarians that took us to a fun club. We stayed out until 5 am when I had to head back to get on my bus. The bus ride took 8 hours, and went straight through the beautiful mountains of Slovakia. I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped for, but I am glad I got to see a little bit more of Slovakia. When I got to Krakow, it was snowing!! I stepped off the bus into -1 C degree weather and a near blizzard! OK, maybe blizzard is an exaggeration, but it was really coming down! I met a couple of Polish guys from Krakow on the bus who told me they have never seen snow in October. They showed me around a bit and gave me some tips before I headed to my hostel. I dropped off my stuff and headed to the main square in town to meet up with Pawel. It was pretty funny when I found him because neither of us had any warm clothes at all! We both had just light rain jackets on and were freezing.

Pawel is both French and Polish and speaks both languages. His father lived in Krakow for 40 years and was an important anti-communist activist. Everybody in this city knows him apparently, and Pawel therefore knows a whole bunch of people in town. Pawel is doing an internship at the company of one of his father's friends (Tommy). He is also living at the guy's apartment, it is his first time living in Poland. We headed out for a beer after we met up, then went to go see his flat. The place takes up the top two floors of the complex which is really cool. I met Mishka, who lives there as well, she is Tommy's daughter.

Pawel and I headed to one of his favorite places for dinner. It was kind of a German beer hall themed restaurant with huge portions of cheap Polish food. We each had a liter of beer, a plate full of pierogi, then shared a massive platter of Polish meat. There was multiple types of sausage, chicken, pork, steak, and other stuff I couldn't identify. Of course there was 2 of everything, plus vegetables and rice. It was a ridiculous amount of food that we couldn't quite finish. It cost 50 zlotys each which is about 12 euros. And that is by far the most you would ever pay for food in this city. I have been eating lunch at restaurants for about 3 euros. You can eat the Polish version of fast food for about 2 euros or less.

On Thursday, I headed into the main part of the city, the old town. Krakow is very compact and you can walk just about everywhere. I went to the church in the main square which was absolutely stunning inside. I explored the old town some more, then headed to the main shopping mall. I went straight to H & M, of course, and bought a jacket, gloves, hat, and scarf for about 60 euros. The jacket was more expensive than I had planned, but it is exactly the kind I wanted and very warm. I am both relieved and excited to start preparing for winter weather! I changed into all my new stuff back at my hostel and re-entered Krakow warm and cozy! I explored Kazimierz, the Jewish section of town, which also has some of the scenes from Schindler's List. Pawel had some other plans Thursday night, so I decided to go out on my own. I found some tasty Polish food, then went to a couple of bars.

Most of the bars in Krakow are underground in brick cellars. Often there is hardly even a sign and you walk down stairs having no idea what to expect. They usually have small rooms connected by passageways, some of them actually have dozens of rooms! I found a cool one and ordered a beer, which costs about 1.5 euros and comes with a shot of cherry vodka! Some people pour the vodka into the beer which I tried, it actually tastes pretty good. I was then told that a 'concert' was about to begin so I headed to that room. There was a projector with some strange and random images in crazy colors. There was a guy on a laptop controlling the image and the sounds. The sound was not music, it was mainly static that was played at a deafeningly loud level. It was a very bizarre attempt at modern art that in my opinion failed miserably.

On Friday I slept in and barely made it to my hostel's breakfast which ended at noon. I did my laundry as well, then went to Wawel where Krakow's castle is. The castle is huge and you can tell it was built in sections over a very long time period. There are many clashing architectural styles. The castle is up on a hill with some good views of the city. I went to the cathedral and climbed up the bell tower. It was probably the biggest bell I have ever seen, it weighs 12,600 kilos! I also went into the crypt which has tons of Polish royalty. After that, I checked out the museum/treasury/art gallery and learned a bit about Poland's history. I met up with Pawel later in the day and we got ready for the 'big party' he had been telling me about. He and Mishka and I went over to one of their friend's places and got a group of people together. We drank Polish vodka, of course, and headed out to their usual string of bars and clubs. There is no way I would have ever been able to find some of those places on my own. I walked down a sidestreet, into an alley, around a corner, down several flights of stairs into basically a dungeon, only to find a bar packed with Polish people drinking and dancing. Definitely not a tourist place. We had a great night and I ended up sleeping on Pawel's couch when we got home.

Saturday was a bit of a slow day. When we finally got moving, Pawel and Mishka and I went to Kazimierz where Mishka is working on an apartment. She is an architect and interior designer. Her father bought a flat there and is letting her basically do whatever she wants with it. It is pretty run down, so she is basically acting as contractor to fix the place up. We checked the place out while Mishka talked with the electrician. Then we got lunch at a famous Polish fast food place. I also picked up my backpack from my hostel and moved to a new hostel where I am now that is only one block from Pawel's place. It is making things a lot easier. That evening, Pawel and I went into the old town. We found a traditional Polish cellar restaurant and paid about 8 euros for a full meal with drinks. We met up with one of Pawel's friends and drank cherry vodka at several places until the wee hours of the morning.

Today, Sunday, Pawel and I went to a museum that is named after a famous royal Polish family that Pawel is a member of. I guess there are quite a few people in Krakow that have the same last name as the name of the museum. It had some interesting art in it, including a famous Leonardo da Vinci painting. We went to the mall to get some warm clothes for Pawel, then found a spot for lunch, borsch and pierogi! We lounged around his apartment for awhile and watched a Polish football match. Tomorrow I am going to Auschwitz. There are a bunch of tours that head out there, but I am going to do it on my own. I think the bus takes an hour and a half so it will probably be an all day trip. A weeklong music festival starts tomorrow in Krakow, so Pawel and I will go check that out tomorrow night. Sometime this week, I am leaving Krakow. My next stop is Ukraine! I have a couple of reasons for going there. The first is to visit my friend Yulia who I met in Budapest. She lives in Kyiv (Kiev) and invited me there. The second reason has to do with the Schengen zone, my lack of a visa, my future plans in Austria, etc. It is complicated, but basically I need to leave the main part of Europe now so that I am able to get back in safely later. I will probably spend a few days in Lviv (I don't know how to pronounce that either), then on to Kyiv.

Oh, I also have my next flight booked! On Nov. 28th, I fly from Seattle to Paris, just in time to get to Austria on Dec. 1st! Thanks mom!

For my memory mostly, here's a quick recap of the cities I have stayed in during my trip, in order: London, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Caen, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Tangier, Fez, Sahara Desert, Oarzazate, Marrakesh, Essaouira, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Seville, Albufeira, Lagos, Lisbon, Valencia, Madrid, Venice, Verona, Balogna, Paris, La Houssaye-en-Brie, Nantes, Dublin, Hannover, Ingolstadt (oops!), Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow...