Back in Krakow! Springtime

Wednesday, April 1st
Rolled into Krakow at 6:33am. Anna picked us up. Its Spring in Krakow! The market square has been completely converted for Easter time with wooden huts set up selling all sorts of chocolate, candy, kielbasa, etc. etc. There are even 3 little rides for kids, merry-go-rounds and choo choo trains.
Our sweet friends in Krakow invited us out for pierogis; i had tuna pierogis with lemon sauce yum! and later drinks. catching up was fun.
Thursday, April 2nd
Lazy day. Went back to ethnographic museum in Kazimierz with Matt for a guided tour by Pani Beata. Returned to Kazimierz with Rachel, John, and Matt later in the evening to join Brad and Bethanne. We went out at 9:30 pm and I was already falling asleep by the time we got there :-( Unfortunately, Rach, Brad and Bethanne are leaving this weekend for Wrocław and Matt's going to Berlin so we'll have to wait to all meet up again.
Friday, April 3rd
Meeting with Pani Beata at Wawel. Its a beautiful, warm day in Krakow! Everyone is out, great hustle to the city. There are about 20 outdoor cafes open on Rynek Glowny to sit in the sunshine and read and whatever.
Although I already ran this morning joined John for a second one in the afternoon, ugh. There is a 2.2 mile race tomorrow morning which I am still deciding whether or not I want to compete in .... We decided we would try to soak up some culture and go to the classical concerts they host in the St. Peter and Pauls Church. We had to hurry to make it so we tried some of the kielbasa from the Spring time wooden vendor huts on Rynek Glowny. and some of there candy too. The concert was amazing! Accoustics were superb. Chopin, Mozart, Dworak, Vivaldi, Piazzola. Ireneusz Boczek began the concert with Chopin's "Raindrop" which I absolutely love. Ireneusz was a wonderful pianist, very straight posture with these lovely subtle flairs in playing the piano. Maybe I'll take my parents back there next week.

"Free" Day in Budapest

Tuesday, March 31st
So... on our free day a couple friends and I decided that we would decompress after 12 hours of bus ridin' the day before. We went to the Géllert Baths which were beautiful! Stained glass, marble, many many elderly Budapest-ians in bathing suits. The steam rooms were wonderful for 5 minutes, then unbearable. Then... shit.
I somehow lost my wallet including my passport and 2 credit cards. Ok, so before i went to the baths Matt and I went with our Hungarian mom to the train station to purchase our return tickets to Krakow and thats why i had my passport with me.. Anyways, I said i would meet a couple friends at the bath houses at 12 so i got dropped off there afterwards. The last time I saw my wallet was before entering the womens locker room where i stored all my things in my locker and an attendant locked it. After I returned no wallet. I think i must have dropped it along the way or something because I don't think someone actually stole it since i had other valuable things in the locker too. The most frustrating part was that no one would help me and i was just in blind panic at that point. The women were rude and wouldn't allow me to look around and retrace my steps for privacy reasons. at the front desk they tried to dissuade me from calling the police and were giving me and my friends shit. Thank god my Hungarian mom was super woman and helped me contact the police. my credit cards were cancelled. next, i just needed to get a temporary passport so i could return to krakow. so my hungarian mom and i ran all over town getting a passport photo (which is the most hilariously disgusting pic), getting my xeroxed copies of my passport that i brought with me in case (thank god!), and running to the embassy. they actually stayed open late for us! I ran out of the car (b/c of all my xc training ha and i'm all about unnecessary displays of my running prowess) to try and make it there in time before they closed. I ran down this street and i saw that there were all these fences of "construction" (american embassy security in actuality) and thought oh crap! and almost fucking vaulted over them until the american security started yelling "margaret! Margaret!" "slow down, around the corner" "Stop running!" "its ok" got my passport in 30 minutes. they even fudged my hungarian regulation size passport picture to fit into my temp. passport.

the us embassy in budapest contacted me yesterday morning saying someone from the baths returned my wallet with passport and credit cards. they are all invalidated now, but since my passport still has my polish visa in it i get A FREE!!! trip to warsaw to pick it up which is super lucky since i was trying to figure out when i would go there anyways.

Last of Transylvania: March 29-30

Sunday, March 29
Went to Bekas Szoros (Frags' Canyon) a national park in the canyon of some mountains (?). Took an hour walking tour. Next, saw the "Killer Lake", Lacu Rosu, which is named so due to the reddish alluvia deposited in the lake by the Red Creek. Also there are pokey trees jutting out of the water, which, somehow according to our guide could kill you. How? I suppose by jumping off the mountain and onto the trees. More importantly, they sell delicious wedding cake.
Later we drove 2.5 hours to Korond (Corund) to buy pottery. which were pretty, but i went to an internet cafe instead. (pics- bekas szoros)

Monday, March 30
Return trip to Budapest.

Transylvania Cont'd March 27-28

Friday, March 27
The next village we visited was this beautiful medieval town, Segesvar (Shigisvara) built by the Saxon minority of Transylvania. During the 13th century, the kings of Hungary invited German colonists to come to Transylvania and create urban centers and bring their trades with them. There are 7 medieval Saxon towns which can still be seen on the Transylvanian coat of arms. Most German-Transylvanians left the region and returned to Germany after WWII since they were occupying positions of guilt. The myth of Dracula is thought to have emanated from this region as the Prince Vlad Dracula was born here and lived his some of his life in exile here.
At night we arrived at Zetelaka where we stayed with our host mom for 2 nights. (Pictures- Shigisvara)
Saturday, March 28
Gyimes Mountains where we met the "csango" Hungarians. Another region that time has forgot. Kinda Like Grinnell Iowa. Very provincial, farms, poor. but welcoming, sweet people.
Again, stayed with our host moms in Zetelaka. Watched Madonna's Truth or Dare over dinner. Picture- Gyimes Mountain homes. This boy was so proud to show us his lamb who he taught to jump over little hurdles!! AWWWW

Transylvania Region of Romania. March 25-26

Wednesday, March 25.
6am left Budapest for Transylvania
Crossed the border, got a sweet stamp on my passport.
Nagyvarad (Oradea). I guess I should explain why I will always write two names for the same city. The first is in Hungarian, the second in Romanian. After WWII Hungary was punished for its allegiance with Hitler by re-losing its territory Transylvania, among other territories in an effort to limit Hungary's power. As the Transylvanian region was given to Romania, Romania now holds the greatest minority of Europe (1.7 million Hungarians). An ongoing struggle exists today with Hungarian Transylvanians demanding certain rights such as Hungarian language and education in Romanian schools.
Visited the Catholic Church and Baroque Palace of Oradea. Later, visited the old city of Nagyvarad's art nouveau buildings and synagogue. It was sunny and warm here but then we made the trek up the mountains to Kalotaszentkiraly (Sincraiu)it was snowy and cold.
Thursday, March 26th
Because of the good deal of snow, rather than heading for the old Romanian region (Moc Land) in the mountains, we instead visited another small village named Korosfo (Izvoru Crisulu) in the morning. Next, we went to Kolozsvar (Cluj Napoca) where we explored their ornate Eastern Orthodox church and went to a lecture at Babes-Bolyai University. The lecture was on "The Problems of the Hungarian minority and the minority policy in Romania after 1989" ha, also learned about Dracula. Dracula somehow gets worked into many discussions here in Transylvania.
Next, we went to this real "pearl" of a village named Torocko (Rimetea) a small, medieval village part of the world heritage protected by UNESCO where we stayed with Hungarian families. It is nestled within the Transcaului Mountains of Western Transylvania where time seems to stand still. In fact as we pulled in there were people being carried about by horses and donkeys and even cows wandering into the town center for a drink of water from the well. No one seemed in a rush, a general feeling of ease over the whole village. Everyone was really charmed. The food was amazing, the palinka (romanian super, super SUPER strong fruit brandy made from home some up 60 proof alcohol) was potent. We had a great time :-) Pics: top left Synagogue of Nagyvarad, middle right: Korosfo. Bottom Left: Torocko and friend.

Budapest March 23-24

Monday, March 23rd.
Got off the night train really well rested thanks to Neil's Benadryl! We were picked up at the gorgeous Budapest train station (which I only realized how extraordinary it was when we returned for our trip back to Krakow since I was still pretty groggy) by our Hungarian mom Hajnalka (Hajna pronounced Hoy-nee). Matt, Neil, and I were delivered by taxi to our hostel/University (what is this in europe?) Corvinus Egyetem. We arrived too early to use our rooms so we decided to tour about. We ended up climbing up this huge mountain, Gellért Hill yeah don't let the name confuse you, which overlooked the Danube river. First, rather than taking the staircase I just kinda climbed up the hill for a bit? like a silly person. Then we happened upon a set of slides which we had to play on. Eventually we reached the top to get a closer look at the Liberty Statue, meant to commemorate the Soviet's liberation of Budapest from the Nazis and the fortress. Great view too! We returned back to the hostel to see our Lexia in Berlin friends, some we already met in Krakow others new to us. A group of 19 in total! While the Lexia in Berlin crowd explored Budapest the Krakow crew showered. Next, Hajna took our group to Castle Hill which included seeing Fisherman's Bastion, the Royal Palace, Matthias Church and other sites. For dinner we went to a student cafeteria, later a bar and then sleeeeep! (1st pic- View of Buda and Pest from Gellert Hill, 2nd pic- Liberty Statue, 3rd picture- View of Danube and Parliament Building from Castel Hill through the Fisherman Bastion arcades)
Tuesday, March 24th
Woke up for sightseeing at Heros' Square. Takes many trams, subways to eventually get there. For lunch Hajna advised us to go to Great Market Hall this huge steel structure that looks almost like a train station. There are two floors; the bottom is mostly grocery items the top floor is knick-knacks. I had this delicious meat-filled crepe for lunch. Afterwards, we went to a beautiful, old college in Budapest to receive our lectures on Transylvania/Romania. Uh.. unfortunately we all feel asleep and Eli in the back of the room started snoring. It was warm in there and we just had lunch. Again, we were warned about the "dangers" of Romania. After our lecture Neil, Eli and I wandered around Buda and looked for dinner. At night, we went to a Transylvanian folkdance house and learned how to do those much more strenous circle dance moves. This was the night that Neil and I had to part ways as we left the next day for Transylvania :-( (1st Pic - Heros' Square, 2nd pic- Market Hall)

Sunday...until April 1st?

March April 22nd: Gah! So for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make plans last night with John to run in the mornin'. At 10am? Up Kosciusko Mount? Not only was it not anyones birthday (a Gtown XC reference) so we had to run up all the hills but we definitely got lost. The view was spectacular but we payed for it with blood, sweat and tears. There was one point when I thought I would have to use wooden steaks to get us up over this cliff - but thats probably just cuz i'm pretty prissy. Apparently on our usual stomping grounds a marathon and a circus were taking place. As they usually do. After running Neil and I ate lunch, went to the mall :-) for last minute buys pre-Hungary/Romania, ice cream, and now here.
Post Sunday- I'll have limited access to internet until I get back so all 2 people who read my blog regularly; mom and myself will just have to wait for my return to Krakow April 1st (ish?)

Weekend Update

Friday March 20
Friday morning went on a run. Had class at 2:30 which I had yet to prepare for. So I sent Niel(ski) off on his own for exploring. He visited Wawel Hill, ... other places (?), and seemed to have a good time if not exhausted from wandering around/not sleeping for the past few days. I would direct you to his facebook pics for a better sense of what he did. We met up at cloth hall at 4:30 and had some ice cream at a nearby café. Annoyingly enough, it seems like most of the museums/monuments close at 3, 4, or 5. So, we just missed going to St. Mary's. Took Niel grocery shopping. We decided to be daring so Matt, Neil, John and I headed to Sakura sushi. They had this odd set up where there was seating around a water moat holding these little wooden ships carrying sushi. You grabbed what looked appetizing and they charged you for how many plates you accumulated. Certain colored plates cost more. Its hard to stop eating there, which I guess is the point, as delicious sushi passes under your nose. Next, John took us to A dog in the fog, an English style pub beloved by his ex-patriot friends. Later, I made everyone join me at RESPECT hiphop/r&b club for dancing! WOW! that was "Fucking positive" as one guys flashing belt indicated. Full of broskis and breakdancers. Terrible music, 3 requests for soldier boy, strawberry juice and vodka made for a pretty good night. Some prissy guy from Harvard needed some prodding to start dancing :-) Just kidding, but the Americans were definetly the most flamboyant dancers there thanks to two silly Grinnellians.
Saturday March 21
Woke up pretty late so didn't have too much time to go to various spots. Took Neil to the Jewish Quarter, Ethnographic Museum and Chocolate Gallery where we got hot chocolate. The Ethnographic Museum was a really fun museum. Sure, we played around (pics) but I really enjoyed learning about Polish folk life. After the museum and chocolate gallery we returned to the dorm and Matt was surprised by his cousin and cousin's friends. Apparently today is the first day of Spring in Poland and they celebrate this day by not doing work and drinking "cheap" wine all day. That would explain why Neil and I saw visibly drunk men wandering around Krakow at 5pm, and that one dude who stopped pooped his pants, and headed back into the tavern. Nice. Neil, John, and I ate at Bar Smak before heading for a bar. Matt, 2 Pawels and Lucas (Matt's cousin) joined us later pretty far ahead of us (way way far ahead of us) in terms of drinking. Lucas and the Pawels took us to this one communist-kitsch bar that was packed. The dj's booth was seated in half of a Soviet truck. Lets see. One guy tried to pick me up, then pick a fight with John, then pick a fight with Neil, then made friends with the Pawels and Matt. This bro-ski was wearing a Georgio Armani t, totally juiced up, huge muscles, and would bait Neil with phrases like "Polish People are stooopid, right?
Neil: "What? No!"
Bro-ski: "City?"
Neil: "Boston"
Bro-ski: "No, schity"
Neil: "I'm from Boston"
Just trying to start a fight. Many silly things happened, we both learned Polish and taught English phrases like "cockblock" to our Polish friends. Neil, John, and I left "early" so we missed the fight that broke out later resulting in Matt needing stitches on his lip. Pic below (One of the Pawels and I)

Neil In Krakow!

Thursday March 19th!
I'm so lucky to have such adventurous, curious, fun friends! During Grinnell's spring break rather than traveling to Costa Rica, Hawaii, or St. Tropez Neil came to visit me in snowy Krakow. Ok, to each their own. Neil has taken Russian for 3 years so he has quickly picked up Polish pronunciation and vocab and is more than capable of wandering around Krakow on his own. Almost feel a little useless here..but am glad for the company and the familiar face. But mostly the gossip. Oh! The Gossip. Thursday Neil was pretty beat from his trips to Chicago and Dublin before arriving in Krakow. I had class so he took a nap while Matt and I went to the Archeological museum of Krakow. Very interesting. I knew nothing about the Slavic tribes until our lesson with Pani Beata. Apparently Celts helped form Slavic genetics and culture. Huh. After class I ran over to Massolit to buy some books for my research project and then Matt, Neil and I went to Jarema. A fancy, but still relatively inexpensive, Eastern Polish restaurant. Later, we went to Harris Jazz Club which has nightly "Euro Fusion?" concerts starting at 9pm. "Hey sexy, you sexy, can I get your number" repeat 10 times. Took some pretty hiliarious pictures. SLEEP! Pic: Neil in the Statue of Eros Bendato on Market Square

Transylvania

So, this is taken word for word (but emphasis added for comedic effect) from our guidebook on Transylvania.

" the water is not safe to drink. only drink bottled water...which you won't be able to find. only coke and fanta"
"It is also not safe to eat or buy food ANYWHERE!" we will provide you with breakfast and dinner.
"It will be a great temptation to go to the forest in the evening but I have to warn you about the bears that make these trips LIFE DANGEROUS. the greatest bear population of europe can be found in the carpathian mountains. please ask for advice if you can go for a trip to the forest or not.
"Please exchange money in Budapest as the Romanians have been known to steal money from one's bank account"

woah. all this just to see dracula. and gymnasts. that is if i can resist going into the forest.

Rachel in Krakow!

March 13-15: My friend Rachel from Grinnell came to visit me this weekend. She is currently studying abroad in Stockholm, and I hope to visit her soon to return the favor :-). Below: Wawel
March 13 Friday: Thank God Rachel kept her head and was able to figure out how to meet me at the central railway station! Rachel had to borrow someone else's phone to get a hold of me! Grr.. I still can't figure out how to make international calls. Anyway, all ended well! It was so great to see her again. She got off the train, walked around trapped in Galeria Krakowska (one of Krakow's two malls), and once we escaped ate lunch at Chimera in old city. Rachel came with me to take my Polish midsemester test with Pani Jagoda. That was pretty hilarious. Pani Jagoda "helped" me along with my test. Whenever I started to make a mistake she would stop me and ask me if thats really what I wanted to do. Anyways, afterwards Rachel and I came back to our room to settle down and allow her to drop of her stuff. We then took a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz. We saw 3 synagogues, the Jewish cementary, as well as the town center. By the time we returned to our room it was late and we had a chance to take a rest before dinner. Matt joined us at Miod Malina (Honey Rasberry) an Italian/Polish restaurant. I had the most delicious traditonal Polish soup "Zurek Polski" this sour rye soup with white sausage, egg, and served in a bread bowl. Immediately after dinner, we joined our Swattie friends, John, Robert, and Judith (WOAH a real group!) at Alchemia in Kazimierz. Again, a smokey underground bar that was converted from a home and still bears some resemblance to a traditional Polish apartment. We danced for a couple of songs on the "dance floor" aka empty space in the bar. Rachel and I walked home early on since we would have an early morning. But the party continued at Alchemia and then moved on to another club.
March 14 Saturday: Woah! John actually joined Rachel and I for a run this morning. We were thinking about running up to the Koschuzko Mount but instead ran around Park Jordana and Polwsie Zwierzynieckie. Breakfast of nutella, bread, and banana! Rachel and I decided what we would do for the day. Collegium Maius (pic. left), Wawel, Czartoryski Museum, hot chocolate, food, pictures! It was a wonderful day in Krakow perfect for touristy things. Bright, warm, and sunny. I hadn't been to the Czartoryski Museum yet so it was an interesting find. Although small houses a decent, varied collection including Leondardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine. Pic below.At night Rachel and I joined up with the Swatties and John for a cabaret concert in the basement of Café Camelot and left early (eye roll) for some eats upstairs. After wandering around all day we were pretty beat and called it a night early. Hopefully I hadn't been a depressing tour guide for Rachel as Polish history tends to lean towards the macabre. But I hope to see her soon at the end (?) of April. It was a wonderful weekend! Now, back to work. Below: Rachel at Wawel

Thursday March 12th- So I've been pretty bad about keeping up with the blog. Hmm... Tuesday and Wednesday? Well, Wednesday night the Swatties, Matt, myself, and our new friend went out for vegetarian at Green Way our little group..is still little.. but of great quality. It sounds like everyone has interesting ideas of how to keep ourselves busy, what are the interesting happenings of Krakow. Today had 1/2 of midSEMS tomorrow the Polish midsem. And ooh! More importantly, my Grinnell friend Rachel will be coming tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be her "Jewish Krakow" tour guide :-) and hopefully see more sights that Krakow has to offer. I think we'll be heading off to Auschwitz Saturday? I'm pretty loathe to go 2 times in 2 weeks, but I can't send her there by herself. She's studying abroad in Sweden so I hope to get a chance to visit her in April and have her return the favor ;-)

Kazimierz and Art Nouveau Tour

Monday March 9:
The Berlin Group and the Krakow Group met today for two tours: the first of which took place in the morning the Kazimierz Tour and the second in the afternoon, the art nouveau. Although Kazimierz has never been a solely Jewish town -Christians too have lived there since its founding and Jews lived outside of Kazimierz- within Kazimierz there is a Jewish Quarter where the majority of Krakow's Jews lived and created their own unique microcosm within Krakow. Once the Jewish Quarter was walled off and protected?/isolated?/separated from the rest of Kazimierz which really cultivated a sense of Jewish identity but also a sense of otherness from their Polish Christian neighbors. What remains of the Jewish Quarter have been restored very recently in the past 10-15 years from American/Jewish/Polish efforts. Only about 200 Jews remain in Krakow so much of the investments in reviving the Jewish Quarter come from outsiders. But interest is very strong and many joint efforts (Polish Jews, Polish Christians, Foreigners) are being made to revive, rebuild, and memorialize the culture which once flourished here.
We visited Synagogue Tempel (the progressive Synagogue purposefully built outside of the ghetto walls), Isaaks Synagogue, Old Synagogue, Remuh Synagogue (the only functioning synagogue now) and adjoining cementary.
Later, after running and Polish lesson, we met back up with the Berliners to see this gathering grounds for artists during the art nouveau movement. Since Krakow was a conquered city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire art nouveau was quickly introduced and adopted. They met in this quaint cafe off of Florianska Street where one would never think to look for it. Its decorated in dark forest green with rich wooden tables and chairs. They used to host cabare and satirical puppet shows here too. The owner, who retrospectively glorified himself as a patron of the arts, really just gave the artists paper and pen so that they would stop their "graffiti" on his café's walls.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Sunday March 8
Met with Berlin group early and headed to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Took about 45 minutes to get there from Krakow. I thought after attending so many classes and museums, seeing so many films, reading so many books, etc. focusing on the Holocaust and what happened at Auschwitz that I would just emotionally crumble when I finally got there. I had built Auschwitz up in my mind so much that I was actually trembling when we entered the camp; I was afraid of what I would see. Rather than leaving angry or in a dark place like I had leaving other exhibitions I just felt empty. Its a hard feeling to recover from. Birkenau is just enormous. Our guide took us to the top of the watchtower so that we had a view of the entire grounds. She said the camp could contain 250 (did I hear her right?) football fields and at its height 100,000 occupants. Although the grounds are extensive, the prisoners were cramped in these horrible stables. Theres not much to say about Auschwitz-Birkenau. I took 3 pictures, and felt very uncomfortable while taking them. It felt inappropriate, so I won't show them online.

March 6-7
Friday: We get to host the Lexia in Berlin group for the next couple of days! A wonderful group of 9 kids from all over America. Matt and I finally found a restaurant that would take in 11 hungry Americans called "Pod Wawelem" (under Wawel) which was pretty touristy; they played the accordian, polka, etc. Most were pretty tired from the 10 hr. train ride to get to Krakow so they went back to their hostel to sleep. 3 came out with Matt and I to see more of Krakow at night.
Saturday: Good day! Woke up early for a run. Went to the Manggha Japanese Museum with my Swarthmore friends while Matt caught up with his Williams friend who is with the Lexia in Berlin group. After Manggha, my friends and I went for coffee in Kazimierz, found some street performers who played with fire, and went for dinner. Ending the night early because tomorrow Matt and I must get up early 6:30?ish? to meet up with the Berliners and head to Auschwitz. I've been nervous to go to Auschwitz for some time and I can't believe that tomorrow we are finally going.
Photos: Top Right: friends at Manggha Museum. Bottom Left: Street Performers on Market Sq.

Whoopsies

Thursday March 5th-
So I was incapacitated the past two days after a little slip-up. My back was cut up and (somehow related or perhaps unrelated) I also had these overwhelming waves of nausea. So, just sat around my dorm recovering after I went to see a doctor. Today I am much better and even went out for Chinese with friends. Tomorrow the Lexia in Berlin Group comes to Krakow, so we will join up with them and show them around.

Monday: March 2
Back in Krakow! And its sunny too! Finally, finally go on an hour-long run listening to my darling Peter Sagal. Sunshine and funnies = great combo. Look like a total muddy goof alone in the park by the end. Lots of looks. great tan. (j/k). Hopefully the weather keeps up!

So..Vienna

Friday Feb 27- (kinda, technically) Monday March 2:

Friday: Rolled in style into the Westbanhof train station to be met by Tim!! My friend from Grinnell who took me in and showed me around. A true New Yorker, he had already mastered the entire tram/train/subway/bus system of Vienna. Ha, we barely walked. So, by the time I had dropped my stuff off at his apartment (which he shares with one other American and an Austrian) we went out to an authentic underground Vienniese wine cellar. We, of course, dinned on local specialties: veal wienerschnitzel with lemon, pancake soup (beef broth with shreds of pancake), pickled salad, and toast. Live music was playing. Returned to his apartment to change into my outfit (a sequined mini skirt) for we were going out dancing at a famous New Wave party held every last Friday of the month. So crowded. So sweaty. Such fun! C'mon dancing to 80s pop! Tim was definetly in his element and his neon glasses! Caught the night bus and, since I was so hungry from my 'workout', had my first wurstel gushing with cheese..surprise! yikes.Right: Vienna Opera which was playing Carmen but we were unable to go. Left: New Wave Dance Club

Saturday: Gave Tim an excuse to do all the touristy things he hadn't gotten around to doing yet/too embarrassed to do without the excuse of showing me around. Vienna summer palace -> saw the outside of the oldest zoo in the world -> donkeys!! until Tim refocused my priorites to the Summer castle and surrounding man-made splendor -> went shopping in the sunshine at the local, huge outdoor flea market/fresh produce/restaurant strip aka Naschmarkt. As Tim put it, sometimes the displays are really quite impressive. Other times, it looks like people just found a spot and threw down there shit in a trash bag for us to riffle through. The actual produce was of great quality and they actually sold (at one stand) my favorite candy in the whole world. "Fill that candy bag up. Don't be shy there!". I had a hankering for Vietnamese food so we got some soup and visited Tim's friends in there apartment. 7 music students share this beautiful, plush, apartment. Very spoiled. It was Kurt's birthday so we crashed the party and celebrated with our hosts! All pics from Schönbrunn Summer Palace
Sunday: Poor Tim! I urged him to take me to 3 last destinations before I left that night (so I thought). (1) Belvedere (2) Hundertwasserhaus (3) Secession Building and a (4) on his list a real Viennese café. We only saw the first floor of the Belvedere which included many beautiful Klimts including the Kiss. Who really caught my attention, however, was Egon Schiele an artist who I've never heard of before. Ran out of the museum to Hundertwasserhaus which Tim absolutely loved and I couldn't help comparing to Gaudi. On our way to the Secession building Tim couldn't help himself but stop at an authentic "off the tourist map" underbelly of Vienna. There is this one subway stop (whose name I'm forgetting) where although the hussle of commuters and commercialism rages on: heroin addicts wander the halls with this glazed, empty expression. It was truly a haunting sight to see these pale, zombies engage in drug deals right in front of us. Some addicts mouths were covered in blue- a sign that they were taking methadone to help them recover- which only added to the chilling sight. So..........., then we went to the secession building which in stark contrast to the rich, ornate, immense Hofburg palaces, was very modest in only white and gold and minimally decorated. The overall effect was very beautiful. We didn't go inside (for lack of time and euro) so I'll have to visit again. Next, we went to Tim's favorite café to talk, drink real Viennese coffee, and enjoy Sachertorte (a chocolate cake with apricot marmalade). Pics: Center: Four Trees by Egon Schiele. Left: Tim and Hundertwasserhaus
Sunday Night: A fairly ridiculous tale of how silly I am. Got to airport. Flight cancelled. Panic sets in. Rather than just staying put and accepting the complimentary hotel room I decided I would try to figure out where Tim lived. So, got back on bus, tried calling him. tried to figure out where his apartment was. Neither worked. So I ended up waiting at the bus stop to take me back to the airport and accept (duh!) the very very nice hotel accomodations. Of course when I'm stressed I eat chocolate. So, I'm sitting at the bus stop late at night when this girl my age looks like she's on the brink of tears. She asks me for money, which I don't really have other than the money I need to get back on the bus to the airport. I spare some change, she breaks down and tells me about her life. Yikes. What a story! gave her what remained of my chocolate bar. Back at airport everything worked out perfectly. Room with dinner and breakfast. Silly silly maggie. Pic: Bye Bye Vienna Secession Building.

Thursday, Feb. 26.
So, tomorrow I go visit my friend Tim in Vienna! I'm soo excited and I'm not exactly sure what to expect but fun fun fun! I am constantly hearing how beautiful Vienna is so I'm positive I'll have a great weekend!
I've been kinda a bum this week with updates. I guess now that I've wandered up and down every single street in "downtown" Krakow I now have to explore what lies inside these beautiful buildings. So, to summarize what happened since Monday. drinks at a bar named "Propaganda" filled with old communist posters with Matt and Swatties. watched the Goodfellas. hung around. was lazy. Tonight matt and i tried to get into 2 concerts: 1 klezmer, 1 classical. Apparently in Poland when they say the concert starts at a certain time you have to be there before that time to get in. so.... new lesson. instead we just ended up eating out.

Monday Feb 23rd- Rebecca came to visit me in Krakow! She is on this whirl-wind central European tour with two of her friends from Paris. I had a good time giving her and her friends a food tour of Krakow. First hot chocolate, second pierogis, drinks, then back to their hostel. Hopefully, some pics will surface.

Kazimierz

Feb 20- Woke up pretty late. Matt and I had decided to we would walk around Kazimierz and visit the Galicia Jewish Museum. Although the Galicia J.M. was small it was filled with about 50? pictures of current vestiges of Jewish life in Galicia. So it entailed pictures of modern, neglected synagogues, skeletons of buildings, once-Jewish cemetaries plowed over to create death camps, current Krakovian celebrations of Jewish life. Later, will join Matt and his cousin out on the town. Its the weekend before Lent so apparently tonight there should be an even larger number of partiers! Ha, which is hard to believe for Krakow. Pictures- Top Right Tempel Synagogue.

Feb 19-20:
So, on Thursday the Swatties, two beautiful Austrians (Victoria and Gerard, Victoria is a roommate of one of the Swatties), Matt and I went out on the town! Lots of fun, hopefully pictures will surface.
Feb 20: Spa! Facial and chocolate massage -- first and LAST time mom, it was pleasant but I'll wait for Gordon's :-) -- then I got lost in the outskirts of Krakow. I'm still not sure where I was. Found another outdoor market. For nightlife: Matt and I went out and had hot rapsberry wine and watched some Polish cabaret. Pretty silly. oh and for dinner, i had a mexican 'pancake' more like polish crepe filled with beans, cheese, corn, etc! Picture- Slowacki Theatre.

Feb 18- Should probably mention that last night was great. Hung out with American friends from Swarthmore at a very potent hookah bar. One mint, one peach hookah. On our way to the 24 hour pierogi stand ran into a mob of British 18 year olds on a "booze cruise" of Krakow.Woah.

Today was another wonderful day. During my Polish lesson Pani Jagoda -Jagoda means blueberry in Polish :-) - and I went to the outdoor market to use my new vocabulary for shopping. She is very sweet and patient with me. During my 2.5 hour break I ducked into a cafe for a honey latte than took pictures of Wawel Hill in the snow ...again. I hope to go take pictures of Kazimierz tomorrow. After our art history lecture I went back to the Massolit bookstore, drank vanilla chai tea and practiced my Polish. Once I became hungry I left to find dinner and ended up running into 3 other English speakers! What good luck! 2 Americans and one Brit who have been here since the summer, fell in love with Krakow and are now 'indefinite students'. They were very cordial and I joined them for dinner at the local cheap but delicious Bar Vega (vegatarian cuisine). I invited them to join us tomorrow night when Matt, the Swatties + I hit up the town! It is becoming 8 people, quite the group! I'm happy to have made more friends!