We're now in Prague, Czech Republic, after spending far too little time in Poland. Interestingly enough, we wound up heading out of Poland with the same three Brits we slept with on the train into Poland. What are the odds?
Anyway, Poland's appeal didn't seem to be in its appearance (Krakow seemed fairly uninspiring from the brief glimpse we had, not as quaint or dramatic as Switzerland, for example), but more in its atmosphere. Perhaps it was just the notion that I've finally made it to a country that makes up a quarter of my heritage (yes, we made it to England, but the eighth of British in me doesn't really manifest itself as much- for example, the girl who checked us into our hostel asked me if I have relatives here, what with the "-ski" in my name), but I enjoyed every minute in Poland. I also finally got to make my trip-long dream come true: homemade Polish pierogies in Poland! Couple that with a bowl of delicious borscht (spelled "barszcz" in Polish) and a Polish beer and I was in heaven. Plus, the prices were fantastic. About $7 for a meal so filling that I couldn't even finish all my pierogies was by far the biggest steal of the trip.
We were pretty tired after getting into Krakow on our first day and immediately spending six hours touring Auschwitz-Birkenau, so we didn't do much the rest of that time except go out for a late dinner and a few drinks at a local bar called "Polish Pub." It was a tiny basement place with no more than a dozen people in it. The sole bartender was friendly and made us a local drink known as the "mad dog." It consisted of a base of raspberry syrup onto which was poured without mixing a shot of good Polish vodka, and a few drops of tabasco sauce. It sounds awful but was a pretty good shooter. After that shot, we sat around the bar in a good mix of locals and tourists and enjoyed a beer while watching people and taking a few photos.
Our second day was spent wandering the city. I sent out post cards, as usual. The friendly guy in the post office looked at my post cards and said, "Just these?" When I replied in the affirmative, he added, "None for Mr. Obama?" Everybody seems to love him! Our trip ended that day in the local mall- the Galeria Krakowia, where we got more of a taste of local youth culture than we have this whole trip, as we actually got to see people our age hanging out, clothes shopping, and so forth.
Then the night train to Prague, where I now sit typing this very post!
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