picking up immediately where I left off...my parents saw me off Thursday morning for our coincidentally ISA trip to Krakow, Auschwitz and Prague. This wasn't part of the program, it just happened that the group who ended up wanting to go was the ISA group. Getting to Krakow was a long venture, we flew into Katowice (cheap airlines for ya) and then had to get on a bus...a 2 hour bus. I don't think it was supposed to be that long, we were in traffic a lot. People were a little cranky by the time we got to the hostel, travelling with the same small group all the time can do that. We had dinner in the main square, got ice cream for dessert and just wandered around the area. Krakow is a nice city, very clean and safe and I swear there's at least one church on every block. Once again I felt connected to my ancestors, even though I know nothing about them besides they were Polish, ha. I'm glad I got to see Poland anyways. The next day we went to Auschwitz. The weather was amazing, perhaps not the right setting for the day. We went on a guided tour, the guide is mic'd and then everyone has a headset so they can hear, but mine was broken so I tried to stay super close to our guide so I could hear him, he probably thought I was a creep. Auschwitz is indescribable, using a positive adjective to describe the experience just feels wrong. One thing that really blew me away were the collections they had of people's belongings - brushes, eye glasses, shoes and even women's hair, in huge quantities, and it wasn't even everything they found when the Russian's conquered the camp. They described the gassing process as well, they could kill 115,000 people in one chamber in 15 minutes. They estimate 1.1million people went through Auschwitz throughout the course of the war, but it's just an estimate and the people who were killed immediately upon arrival were never documented. I am very grateful I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz.
We had another long bus ride back into Krakow, we were stuck in traffic for a llooonnnggg long time. We meandered around town again until we decided it was time for dinner. Porch swing seats - a good idea in theory, not so much in practice. We decided this before even ordering any food. A few of the others weren't too happy with their meals, and our waitress was a little inept, but my dinner was good, I had pierogies with mushrooms inside. We killed more time, coffee was involved. Poland is not on the Euro, they have zlotych and it's about 4 zlotych = 1 euro. Prices are adjusted somewhat to compensate for the conversion rate, but everything is still pretty cheap. One of the perks of Eastern Europe. Eventually we picked up our bags, went to the train station, bid Dallin farewell (he was off to South Korea, he wrote an essay and it was chosen to be presented at some forum) and boarded our overnight train to Prague. It was super cramped and not very comfortable, we had couchettes, basically our own tiny room with two bench seats facing eachother and a luggage rack on top...well, the backs of the benches fold down and the luggage rack is padded and voila, two benches turn into 6 beds. Thank goodness we only needed 5 because our luggage would not have fit if the 6th bed (aka other side of the luggage rack) had been occupied (not to mention that person having luggage as well). Even though it was uncomfortable, it was a blast (until we actually tried to sleep that is). We arrived in Prague very early, freshened up a bit at the hostel and had breakfast. Sabine told us to go to the castle (she'd already been there) as it would get busier the later we went. It didn't really feel like a castle, we got an amazing view over Prague and a close-up look at the outside of a gorgeous church but that was about it. Our ticket let us into the castle, a basilica and the "golden lane", the castle was pretty much it's view, the basilica wasn't anything spectacular and the "golden lane" was just tourist shops behind cute store fronts, and like Sabine had warned us the place was PACKED with tourists very quickly. I wanted to go in the church (which was free) but the line was insanely long so we opted out. We met Sabine again and tried to see St. Charles bridge, but there was a line to go over it, ridiculous. We went to the Old Town Square and saw the astronomical clock, it was shorter than I was expecting but still cool. After sitting around for a while we went back to the hostel to get ready to meet the ISA-Prague program. ISA has programs throughout South American and Europe, including Prague, so Sabine had arranged for our group to meet up with theirs. Most of the people were out of town, we met one of the girls and 2 of the boys (plus one of their friends) along with the director and her boyfriend. We went to dinner with them and then to a bar after. I was literally falling asleep in my chair I was so tired. More of their friends joined us as the night wore on, we were eventually going to make our way to the famous 5-floor club. I caught a bit of a second wind after we left the bar and started walking to the club, at least to the extent that I could keep my eyes open. We lost the ISA-Prague kids almost as soon as we got into the place, it was pretty sweet though. Each floor had a different theme, a floor for techno, a floor for oldies, a floor for just chilling. We visited all 5 but ultimately ended up on the bottom floor sitting in a booth with the girl from the ISA-Prague program and a number of other people. Allison, Becky and I were not in a dancing mood. Fortunately, we didn't have any plans for the next day besides checking out and flying home. That's basically what we did, had breakfast at the hostel, checked out, hung around the Old Town Square. I visited the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, or Kostel Panny Marie před Týnem if you prefer the Czech, because it was basically in the square and free. If Poland was cheap, the Czech Republic is dirt, 25 czech crowns = 1 euro. Prices are obviously adjusted here as well, but a half liter of beer is about 2 euro which is crazy as a smaller beer in Brussels is usually around 3.50 euro. After 4 months of sightseeing like a madwoman, a more relaxed weekend was welcome and the only thing I really wanted to see in Prague was the astronomical clock chime, I accomplished that goal. I hadn't had time to research things to do in Prague before hand like I usually do, but I probably would've been more disappointed if I had.
We got back Sunday evening and I had to pick up Mary and her friend from the train station Monday morning, not as early as I originally thought, so that was good. Seeing Mary completed my goal of seeing all my friends abroad while in Europe, if you've been counting, all my friends = 3, Christine, Kristin and Mary. That is part of the reason I chose to study in Europe though. I would've been bummed if I hadn't seen Mary so it was great that our schedules coincided so nicely. I showed them around Brussels, we had waffles and frites along the way. My diet is going to need some serious revamping when I get home, lots of vegetables for me this summer. I had class on Tuesday as always, but we met up for lunch and after class. It was a short but sweet visit.
Check you calendars folks, I'll be home in a week.
-Lauren :)
No comments:
Post a Comment