We hopped onto a PKS train that must have been at least 30 years old that morning to Krakow. Upon arrival we headed to the other side of town, to the dormitory at which we were staying, "Dom Studencki Nawojka". Our hiking bags were incredibly heavy, so we made a pitstop in the center for kwasnica (cabbage soup) and a couple of pints. We finally made it to the hostel towards the evening - it was interesting staying in a dorm room. I felt like I was back in New Pembroke 4.

After a refreshing shower, we headed back to 'Rynek Glowny', the Main Market, i.e. the center of town. This is a large open square with lots of pigeon poop. (: In the corner of the square is 'Kosciol Mariacki', Mary's Church. A bugler plays the "Hejnal" across the square every hour from the church. The signal dated back to the middle ages, when it announced the opening and closing of city gates, or the approach of enemy forces. The melody ends on an abrupt note, commemorating a bugler shot through the throat by a Tatar Archer in 1241.

We ate at a milk-bar type place; Cyril stuffed his face with bigos (cabbage, kielbasa and mushroom stew) while I sipped red barszcz. Afterwards we proceeded with the nightlife experience. There are plenty of bars and a few clubs around the center of town. Most of the lounge / bars have are in nice stone buildings with large windows and old wall fixtures. The streets are not as well lit at night as they are in the states, and a lot of the bars use candlelight, so they are quite atmospheric.

We also went to a club which played techno and hip hop, and had a 'chill out' room. That same club was going to have a major party on Saturday night; (there were ads all over town for the BLING - BLING party!). Unfortunately, we were unable to experience the bling-bling... (:

Friday morning we set out on the tourist route. Our first stop was the Wawel Castle. The castle is on a hill above the Wisla river; it contains a Cathedral, Royal Apartments and some National Museums. The Cathedral was small but packed to the fullest with royal tombs and sanctuaries, and a crypt. There is a fire-breathing dragon at the base of the hill. According to legend, Krak fed the vicious dragon sulfur. The dragon could not stop drinking water from the Wisla, trying to soothe the burning sensation, and finally, he burst.

After we ate pierogi (dumplings) at a place called the Pierogarnia, we hopped on a mini-bus (which was surprisingly difficult to locate) to the Wieliczka salt mine. The salt mine has been in use since the 11th century. There are a ton of crazy statues and chambers (even a chapel!) carved in the deposits. I licked the walls - they were truly salty... The statues look a bit gray, because the salt contains a percentage of clay and other stuff, but they're a light orange if you light them up from behind.

After the tour (a 2 km walk) we were desperate for fuel, so we stopped for some beer. We ate at an awesome restaurant (although a bit pricy) - Chlopskie Jadlo. It was in the style of Polish mountain people (gorale). Everything was wooden or sheepskin, there was live gorale music, and we ate bread with lard. The retaurant was really close to Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter in Krakow. Once it was the home of about 50,000 Jews. Today (according to my guidebook), there are probably about 100 practicing Jews. There are a ton of old synagogues in the area. This area had much better night life than the center of town. There were tons of nice cafes with good music, and they were all packed. In the center of the main courtyard in Kazimierz there were like 50 people chillin with forties. Yay public drinking!


Today (Saturday) we were supposed to head to the mountains to Zakopane to chill with the mountain people themselves. Unfortunately, the weather has been crappy all day, and we are going to Budapest instead of hiking in the rain.

Lodz

Czesc!

It has been a while since the first blog entry, but I've come to realize that it isn't as easy as it seems to find time to sit down at an internet cafe.

I arrived in Warszawa on July 12th at around 10 am. I was greeted there by Agata and her uncle Marek. It was great to finally see Agatka again after about 2 months of talking across an ocean. Her uncle Marek is a great guy guy who is currently building his own house in front of his sister's, Agata's aunt Agnieszka place. In Poland there is a saying that you become a man when you have a son, build a house and plant a tree.

After introductions Marek drove us to Agnieszka's house in Sulejow near Piotrkow Trybunalski which is itself near Lodz, an important industrial city in Poland. There, the family organized an ognisko (campfire) where I met Agata's younger cousins Mateusz and Szymon which are both four and full of energy, Szymon's little sister Klara, Marek's wife and Szymon's mother Marzena, as well as Grzesiek, a relative with an impressive moustache, his wife Kasia and there daughter Ola. The campfire was a lot of fun. I was quickly learning Polish, especially after a few drinks and some good Kielbasa (Polish sausage) in my belly.

The next day we started by meeting some of the other side of the family in Piotrkow Trybunalski. We had tea and cakes (of which the szarlotka (apple pie) is definitely my favorite) with Agata's grandmother Babcia Kaja, aunt Hania, and cousin Ania in an interesting garden decorated by Agata's father. It was really fun to see the three generations especially Babcia Kaja and Hania seemed like they could be the same person 30 years apart. Unfortunately we forgot the cameras so there are no pictures :(

After that, we returned to Sulejow and were picked up by three of Agata's second cousins which were about our age: Pawel and Piotrek, two brothers, and Adam. They brought us to Lodz were we spent the evening on the main street 'ulica Piotrkowska' and then slept in Adam's parents' house, which was also being built by his dad. I especially liked the bar Lodz Kaliska which was founded by some local artists. The one-sided mirror bathrooms and pictures that decorated the bar's walls were cool. We then hung out at Adam's house and finished the night with a flaszka (bottle) of wodka (Philipe had some too).

The next day we left for Krakow but I will leave that story for Agata...

Introductions

Hi. My name is Cyril Saint Girons. My girlfriend Agata and I have just graduated and decided to go on a trip in Eastern Europe before we attempted to start doing adult stuff. I am French, but was studying in America where I met Agata. She is orignally Polish, but has been in New York since she was four. Given that I had never been to her home country or, for that matter, anywhere east of Switzerland, and Agata was also keen on exploring some neighboring countries, we started organizing this trip.

After some looking aroung we found a pretty cheap rail pass for Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria here. We are going to start in Poland with her family in Lodz and move down to Krakow. After that we should be hiking a little in the Tatra mountains (on the border of Poland and Slovakia). We then plan go to Budapest in Hungary, Bratislava in Slovakia, Vienna in Austria, and finally Prague in the Czech Republic.

These are the initial plans but they will most likely change many times. I will try to update this page as often as possible. Hope you come check it out once in a while.