Opole & Krakow...

or "Gee Staying in Ppls Houses is Nice!"

Hello!

Okay... life is interesting, as usual. Yesterday it took longer than I thought to comment those photos... so here's a little about the last few days, and some about what is to come.

I finally got to meet Kaz's wife (in Wroclaw)... I believe she realised that I was quite normal (haha how easy are ppl to deceive! ;-) ). So, that was good... we had a nice dinner, talked, played the piano, then I went and talked to Peter (Piotr) until 3am. Twas interesting to talk to someone who is quite "deep"... (My usual deep talking pal is in Japan!)

So I was tired the next morning! Caught the train to Opole and met Tomek and Jola. Opole is nice! A lot smaller than Wroclaw - only 120,000 ppl - and it seemed like Tomek knew 1/2 of them! :-)

I was given a guided tour of Opole, and ate my first Perogi Ruskie (parcels filled with cheese & potato... pretty tastey! I like the ones filled with kapusta (cabbge), meat and mushrooms better... mmmm! They also have cabbage rolls... just like the ones we used to get from the Marion italian shop or the international food court 10 years ago! But the sauce is different... they're much cheaper as well!

OK... sorry I got off topic. We climbed a tower in Opole (In Wroclaw the tower had a lift!) and I got some nice piccies. I've put a picture up already. Ohh back to food for a sec... after the perogi we ate crepes... I had one with white cheese (fromage frais kinda stuff maybe?), peaches and sultanas inside, with strawberry sauce! So we were really full! Then at Tomek's house for dinner we had turkey curry (also with some fruit inside) and salad, and MORE ALCOHOL THAN I'VE EVER DRANK WITH ANYONE'S PARENTS.... but I'm not allowed to tell you that... so I won't. It was slovakian plum vodka... Nasdrovye! *gulp*. All that practicing with tequila shots back home has finally payed off. Ohh also two nights before I was drinking "Mad Dogs", vodka with tabasco... Pretty tastey! It wasn't actually that hot... I think polish food is rarely spiced with chilli or hot peppers.

Yepp... Tomek's parents are kewl. Meeting parent's is interesting... Tomek is such a "chip off the old block"... I saw his photos on the net, then in albums, then his dad's many albums. They've been in these hot spas in Slovakia, where you have to wear jackets through the snow to get there, then you throw off your jackets and jump in the hot water! Looked really fun! There's a photo of me on the couch after the dinner, with Jola, Tomek and his sis.

So, that night we caught the bus to the centre of Opole, had some beers and stayed out till 1:30. On top of a 3am night I was nearly dead! The next morning we woke up at 10am, and I was on the train to Krakow just before 2pm.

Hrmm trains are interesting. I was sleeping for the first half. I saw one girl who was reading an english textbook thingy, started to talk to her and met Aleksandra! (there's no x in the polish alphabet). She's in Krakow this weekend to study some law stuff... Polish students study for *ages*, like everyone studys at uni for at least 5 years, but I have a feeling law is longer. We ate at "Chlopskie Jadlo", which is a really nice, cheap traditional polish restaurant (where I had the cabbage rolls). We've planned to go to the salt mines together on Monday... should be interesting! So, I left to find my youth hostel, it was raining by this time... the one that was close by was described in my guidebook as "often full and disturbingly noisy"... well, it wasn't full, but it was noisy! I dropped off my gear, headed back into the main square & commented the photos for cheap in the net cafe. I payed 3zl/hr... still haven't found anywhere as cheap as Perth!

So, my destination was somewhere in the centre that looked good. I had this jazz club in mind, swung by and it sounded good! Cost me 20zl cover charge, but I hadn't listened to jazz in a while, so that was OK. A piano/keyboard, drummer and trombone... they were good! The place was really full... I squashed in next to this guy... turns out 1/2 the room was ppl that were members of a German band (concert/stage/etc) that were performing somewhere in Poland the next day... so they really appreciated the music! They left, and I had a bit more time to listen, but the youth hostel closes and locks it's doors at midnight (crap! I hate curfews!) so I had to rush back.

The youth hosel was OK to sleep... it was a bit quieter. I was already thinking of going to find one without a curfew. The last straw was the hot tap not working in the shower thismorning. Can I say that it was a VERY quick shower... and the cold water here is colder than in Oz!

By now I was very awake... I grabbed my bag, and set out to another youth hostel (with a good description). After walking a few km with my pack (which is now really heavy due to the 800+pages of conference proceedings I'm carrying) I arrived and found they had no places! Arghh! And the plan was to wake up early, find a new place to stay, then see Auchwitz!

So, I caught a bus back to the centre (apart from crushing ppls with my pack on the bus, a much easier journey than out there), I went to a tourist info/accomodation booking centre and asked about cheap places to stay... The guy said "there's this place not too far from here for 40zl, maybe I can book you a place", but he was already phoning them! Hrmm dodgey. It ended up being not that close, but still walking distance (without pack) or easily accessible by tram (with pack). I caught the tram, arrived and met a German guy (umm Tobias maybe? I should remember his name!). We've been touring around all day, and he likes jazz too! We're booking a table at this restaurant tonight which has jazz inside. It's about the same price as Perth restaurants (= quite expensive for locals), but I'd rather spend $15 or $20 on a dinner with jazz than $10 cover charge to listen to jazz! So tonight promises to be tastey, toe tapping and interesting, while tomorrow I'll try to wake up early and get to Auschwitz! It takes about 2hrs to get there, and 2hrs back again, so I can't afford to sleep in at all! As long as I get a hot shower I'll be happy! :-)

Hrmm seems like I've written a lot! Ohh about Krakow... The old city IS really old! and it's nice! We went into the Wawel (pronounced Vavel - the castle)... which was really large (inside the walls)... we didn't go into any of the buildings cos they're free on Monday and I'll still be here! St Mary's Cathedral was *amazing*... it has this huge altarpiece - the oldest piece of remaining gothic art in Krakow (made 1477-1489)... the church is huge... and there's gold statues everywhere... On the altarpiece, the large statues are 2.7m tall! Unfortunately, no photos allowed! The market square is really big... must get some night photos tonight... (the restaurant is in the corner of the market).

OK that's nearly an hour... must be off, change to not look so touristy (I'm bright yellow again! No-one in the whole of poland wears bright yellow! Check out my jacket in the mountain photo!)

Cya l8r!

Posted by Sam at October 06, 2002 12:16 AM