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Poland
= awesome.
I went this weekend with several friends. “Several” meaning
18. Actually, they all work on base, but I didn’t meet many of them until this
weekend. But me and 4 of my closest friends here were together for the whole
time and we had quite the adventure…
The trip started poorly. We left Thursday night, and on the
way up there was a huge wreck like 5 cars in front of us on the Autobahn, so
our 1 hour drive to the airport turned into a 3 hour drive and we missed our
flight. Not the end of the world except that we were flying a discount airline
(Jet Blue equivalent…kind of) and the next flight wasn’t until Sunday. So
rather than give up and go home, we decided to take a train to Poland (which
was actually more expensive than the plane! 107 euro one way as opposed to 75
euro round trip. We drove over to the other airport/train station and found out
that the next train left at 4:30 am and took 15 hours to get to Krakow…It was
after midnight by then, so obviously at that point we weren’t going to bed, so
we wandered around downtown Frankfurt trying to find a club or something to do.
Nothing happening at all, so we ended up in a Turkish fast food restaurant/bar
and hung out there all night. Then it was off to the train station for a very
long ride. The train ride ended up being pretty cool. It would have been nice
to know in advance that we were going to take it so we could have brought food,
drinks, cards, and reading material, but it wasn’t too bad. It was really
interesting to travel through Eastern Germany and Poland and see the progression from
the rolling green hills and cute German towns to the flat, barren,
industrialized Eastern Bloc. Many of the towns in Poland looked like WWII was
yesterday instead of 60 years ago.
So instead of getting to Poland on Thursday night, we
arrived at 8 on Friday night and made it to the hostel by 9. We dropped off our
stuff, took a much needed shower, and headed out to dinner since our 5 minute
transfers at the train stations hadn’t allowed us to eat since 9 that morning.
We could have bought food to take with us then, but didn’t realize that there
wouldn’t be food available on the rest of the trains (there was a dining car on
the first one we took). The food in Poland was pretty interesting. I
liked it, but then again I like anything edible. A lot of the people weren’t a
fan of the true Polish food, so we ate a lot of Turkish stuff instead. After
dinner we (the 5 of us) went to a club that had been recommended by the girl at
the front desk of the hostel. In fact she said that she would be there. It was
fun, but pretty weird. It was like this Polish punk club with a very strange
clientele. We would have left except that one of my friends decided that the
girl from the hostel was really cute, so like good wingmen, we hung out and let
him do his thing.
The next day we woke up early to tour the concentration
camps at Auschwitz and Berkenau. What a
sobering experience. I didn’t know a whole lot about them, but now that I know
a little I feel guilty for not knowing much much more. The stuff that went on
was just unreal. We walked through the gas chamber and you could see the fingernail
marks on the wall and stuff. Unreal…There were moments when I just wanted to
run as fast and far as I could and pretend that it never happened. That so many
people (1.6 million between the two camps) hadn’t been treated in ways that we
don’t even treat insects. I get shivers just thinking about it.
Anyways, that night we wandered around the city for a while,
ate some more Polish stuff (Perogis for me!), and found another club. This one
was much better. Much much better. About 15 of us went and I had such a great
time. It was funny – after a while, everyone in the club started imitating us.
As long as the Americans were doing it, the locals would too. This includes
screaming “I like…High five” in your best Borat accent and giving high fives in
the middle of the dance floor. Hilarious.
We didn’t get to bed until after 5, so the next day we slept
in and then had time for a couple hours of shopping before catching the bus
back to the airport. Unlike most European countries, Poland is way cheap. Coming back
ended up being a little exciting too. There were some problems with the bus
from Krakow to the airport in Katowice,
and we barely made the plane. Then since we had caught the train out of
Frankfurt and caught the return flight to Hahn (where were supposed to fly out
of) we had to rent a car and drive to Frankfurt
before we could even come home.
So many more stories from the trip, but I’m pretty much
tired of typing. What an awesome city/country, though. I’m going back sometime.
Soon hopefully. Our next trip is the famous Christmas Market in Nurnberg
sometime in December and then Amsterdam
for New Years. I can’t wait! |
