Krakow, Poland (and Auschwitz)

we spent the 31st of may and the 1st of june in krakow and had a lot of fun in the city. we really only had one full day in krakow since we spent our second day at auschwitz.

as we mentioned in the last post, we took a bike tour. it was a good way to get familiar with the city. i'm glad we took the time to do it because we really didn't know anything about krakow. for example, we didn't realize it had such a medieval influence. the main square, the "old town" was founded 750 years ago (really more than that, but that's when it became "official" when they finished their wall surrounding the city, which was apparently a requirement at the time if you wanted the title of being a town). this "old town" is really cute with lots of cafes and a big church and a tall bell tower which a man plays the trumpet out of the upper window every hour on the hour. this area is surrounded by said wall and right outside the wall is a grassy area circling the entire area, which we learned is what has become of the old moat that used to surround the entire city.

on the bike tour we leaned a lot about krakow's quirky legends and stories and we saw their big wawel castle and the fire breathing dragon statue. there's also a funny statue nearby of a dog. apparently, in 1990 (its a true story) a dog was leashed to a bridge by his elderly owner as the man went across to go to a market, and along the way the old man had a heart attack and died. friends of the man tried to take the dog home but he refused to budge, just continuing to wait for the man to come back to get him. they gave in and let him stay, bringing him food and water, but he died a few months later in the same spot just waiting and waiting. the dog became so well known that the city paid to have a statue created in his memory. very cute.

we also went through a lot of the old jewish quarter, although there are very few jewish people left in krakow as they all fled during the the war... or worse. the city used to have a very, very large jewish population and there are hardly any left at all. but, they still have a pretty synagogue and very old, beautiful jewish cemeteries. on the other hand, you can still see the wall built to trap them within the jewish ghetto during the nazi occupation.

after the bike tour we checked into our hostel, which was very nice, probably the best up to that point, and the guy working there mentioned that the following night it just happened to be the kickoff of the city of krakow celebrating its 750th birthday of being an official town. he said that the old town would have music and such and we should check it out. he also said we probably had noticed them setting up the stage in the town square (but we really didn't, so we figured, oh just some small stage, we didn't really notice anything special).

the following morning we traveled about 1.5 hours to auschwitz. there are really 3 different camps under the auschwitz name and we went to two of them (the third is basically completely gone).

the first was auschwitz I and consists of the still completely intact barracks and lay out of the camp. the camp is not too, too big and is strangely almost pretty if you didnt know better, but only because the nazis did not build the structures - they were built by the polish army years before the war as an army base. then, the nazis took them over. so, the result is not what we normally picture a concentration camp to look like. a couple of the barracks were kept exactly as they were found during the liberation to see the horrid living conditions. however, most of the buildings have been converted into different exhibits of the museum focusing on different aspects of the war and concentration life.

auschwitz-birkenau (or auschwitz II) is about 10 mins away by bus and is massive. they originally planed for it to hold 200,000 prisoners, which it was never that big, but it still held around 100,000 people. almost everything was destroyed, burned by the nazis during their retreat at the end of the war, but there are a few barracks still left and there are enough to realize how disgusting it was. the barracks were originally designed by the germans to house 57 horses, but they instead used them to house up to 700 people at a time. this is also the camp of the gas chambers and crematoriums, which were blown up, but the rubble remains.

going through the museum, which being located in poland, its interesting to notice the difference in wording. we saw a lot of ww2 related things in germany and every single thing we read always refered the the "nazis," but in poland, they are always just called the "germans," i guess its not such a big difference, but it kind of is.

there is much, much more to tell, but it really isn't anything that we haven't all learned.

that night we returned to krakow and having been a very long day we thought we would head right to bed. however, at the last minute we remembered that there was supposed to be something going on to commemorate the 750th birthday. since we were so close to the old town, we decided to pop by really quickly. we were so glad we did! it was a HUGE event. we had no idea it was going to be so massive. it seemed like the ENTIRE city was there to see this huge classical music group. there must have been at least 300 musicians and singers on stage plus a VERY animated conductor that was entertainment on his own. it was a nice way to spend our last hours in krakow before heading to bed and leaving very early the next morning for vienna, austria.

Deutschland

we are actually in poland now, but have spent all our time (expect for today) in germany since we last wrote.
germany was great, although our bad weather streak has been continuing!

we first went to munich for one day and stayed in a great hostel that was really, really close to Marienplatz, which is really the center of town, so we were very close to everything! the star of marienplatz is the Glockenspiel which is this stupid clock that has these little puppets that come out a few times a day and is about the dumbest thing you've ever seen. but, for some reason its the highlight of the square and tons of people stand there and video tape it and clap and cheer.... very strange.

anyways, since we only had one day in munich and we wanted to see as much as we could in the shortest amount of time, we randomly decided to take a bike tour. it was a completely free tour - you just tip at the end if you had fun - so we thought, 'why not?'

well, now i dont know why we have been walking, and walking, and walking miles and miles everyday!! it was so much fun, the guide knew all his munich history and was funny too and i really feel like we saw every notable building (and more - not just buildings) within biking distance and all within about 4 hours! it was a great time, plus we werent as completely exhausted as we are most days. also, very random, there were only 30 people on the tour and there were 2 boys from UF and 2 boys from FSU. so, 6 (including us) out of the 30 were from FL schools. we thought it was pretty funny.

highlights of the tour included the english garden (a huge nudist garden in the middle of the city, with lots of senior citizen nudists), the chinese beer garden (the 2nd largest beer garden in the world, and where we stopped for lunch), and the 'river surfers' (there's a river that runs through the english garden and as the water pours out from under a bridge it creates a perpetual wave and a lot of young guys gather there in their wetsuits with their surfboards and basically surf back and forth along the river until they fall, and the next guy jumps in. its really neat -but hard to describe- and i think people are there surfing everyday).

after the tour we still had a night to spend in munich, so we (very uncharacteristically) decided to take a beer tour. we went around, with our guide and 3 other guys on the tour from chicago and s. carolina, and went first to a bar for a beer (everywhere brews their own specific beer), then another bar for beer "tasting" (as in, "i taste a hint of banana") and had a very german dinner (lots of sausage) as well as a step by step tour of how that bar/restaurant brewed their beer, and then a final stop at one of the most famous (probably the most famous) beer halls in munich. it was actually a lot of fun.

the next morning we traveled to berlin by train and arrived late that night. our hostel was really very nice, but also really, really in the woods! i mean, we had to hike about 5 - 10 mins to even get out of the forest and to a paved road!!

our first day (one of two) we decided to take another bike tour. we went all over berlin (and to another beer garden for lunch) and as much as we liked the munich bike tour, this one was even 10 x better! maybe its just because berlin has so much more interesting and recent history, but it was a great tour. we also had another great, very intelligent guide (and he was from tampa!). we learned more about ww2 and the cold war in those 5 hours than we ever did in all our years of school, or at least we understood it a whole lot more.

afterward, we went to potsdamer platz to the big new movie theater that shows original language films to watch a movie in english. the only thing that was any different from american theaters is that 1) they assign you exact seats, and better seats cost more and 2) during the previews a commercial came on for this specific brand of ice cream bars that they sell EVERYWHERE and ALL over europe, and all the sudden at the end of the commercial, the lights come up, and the screen goes dark and 2 employees walked around selling the ice cream bars. it was so funny. a few people bought them, and then they left, the lights went off, and the previews continued.

our second day in berlin we (surprise) took another bike tour! i know, we are very lazy now and don't want to walk anywhere. we went with the same company on a more in-depth tour (longer and smaller - only 5 people) all about WW2 and the 3rd reich.
afterward, we went to the 'topography of terror,' a free, open-air museum also all about the Nazi regime, and then to the museum located at checkpoint charlie.

last night we took a night train from berlin to krakow, poland. today we took our 4th bike tour in 4 days!!!! ahhh, its getting out of hand! and are about to go out to dinner, as we are thoroughly enjoying their uber-cheap currency (they haven't switched to the eruo yet and one of their 'ztoty' is equal to 4 euro!)

Tomorrow we day trip to Auschwitz.

Last Day in Paris

today we spent our last day in paris in the latin quarter.

we first went to the panthèon (of paris that is) and saw foucault's pendulum, which proves the rotation of the earth, and then visited the crypt below which houses the tombs of louies braille, victor hugo, jean jaures, jean-jacques rousseau, voltaire, andrew dumas, marie curie, and lots, lots more.

afterward, we walked the length of rue mouffetard, a pedestrian friendly street with tons of little shops and cafes. we had lunch at a creperie and then walked to the jardin luxembourg.

this very large park has garden areas as well as a natural history museum, a geological rock museum, and a cute little zoo.

we went to the zoo and for only 5€ had an afternoon of fun along with a gigantic cotton candy to boot! : )

Paris - pt. 2

we have been having a great time in paris (but not such a great time with french keyboards!! so, this will be a semi-short update!)

the days here have been filled with monuments, palaces, parks, and cafes. we have been picnicking at least one meal a day and have liked finding different parks to nap and rest each afternoon.

on wednesday night (after updating the blog) we took the elevator to the top of the eiffel tower, to see all of paris. we went around dusk which was nice because it wasnt too hot, but it was still light enough to take pictures. we also lucked out because we weren`t really planning of going since the line is so, so long, but we happened to walk by and saw it was unusually short. we only had to wait in line about 15-20 mins!

afterward we had a late dinner (another picnic) under the tower all lit up.

yesterday, thursday, we went out to the famous roland garros tennis complex and watched the qualifying matches for the french open that starts next week. there wasnt anyone famous playing (they all get to bypass the preliminary matches) but it was fun to see where all those tennis greats will be in just a few days, and we still got to watch some really great players.

after leaving the tennis games we went to a really pretty park named parc andre citroen, to rest, nap, and snack on stawberries.

today we traveled out to versailles (about a half hour by train) to see the palace and gardens and then came back into paris to go to invalides to visit napoleons tomb (a VERY large tomb for such a little man).

we are going to spend tomorrow in the latin quarter and then we catch a night train to munich, germany - leaving around 10pm.

Paris

we arrived in paris yesterday morning on a night train from madrid. like we mentioned before we were unable to book tickets together in the same sleeper car so we were hoping to ask someone in one of our cars of four to switch beds with us. well, we soon found out after boarding the train that in spain it is illegal to put men and women together on a night train! grrrrrrrr. so, michael was in an all male cabin with 3 other guys: a frenchman who spoke no english at all, a frenchman who spoke great english due to his love of american sports and american televised poker, and an 18 year old boy from arkansas traveling europe with his girlfriend. i was in a female room with a french mother and her daughter (around 8 years old maybe) neither of which spoke any english, so i did a lot of reading.

our first day in paris we spent trying to get to know the city. we first went to the eiffel tower (of course) and had a late breakfast/eary lunch at a near by cafe. after lunch we traveled around the city to see the arc de triomphe, walked along the avenue des champs-elysees, and more.

later on, as we headed back to the eiffel tower we stopped at a fruit stand for strawberries, a bakery for bread and a final store for a wheel of brie and we picnicked on the lawn spread out from the eiffel tower. it was a delicious, cheap, perfect dinner.

today we went to the louvre after stopping at a bakery right near our hostel for croissants. after the museum we went to see notre dame where we had lunch at a side walk cafe near the church and then took a long walk along the river.

Madrid pt.2

Last night was not a very successful one!

We went to the bullring in madrid around 5pm to see if we could find tickets to buy off someone since the man at our hotel told us the fight was already sold out and that he had tried to get tickets yesterday for another guest and was unable to, so our only chance was to try to buy some there.
well, when we got there, we saw a line at a ticket window... we thought it was probably just for pickup of already purchased tickets, but thought we would try anyways. well, we got to the front and were able to buy two tickets! (we have no idea why the man at the front desk of the hotel was told it was completely sold out? maybe they reserve some for day-of purchases?)
so, we were VERY excited we were going to see our bullfight after all, and since it was starting at 7 and lasts about 2 hours, we thought afterward we would still be able to go to the park to see the drum circle, which plays until around midnight.

at 6pm they opened the doors and we went and found our seats... and they were pretty good seats too! only about 20 rows up. we waited and watched them prepare the ring (take off the tarps, draw the chalk lines, etc.) and then, out of nowhere it began to sprinkle (well, it had been overcast all day, but didnt look like it was every going to amount to anything). and then it began to rain... and then it began to POUR! we were two of the only people there without ponchos or umbrellas and got soaked!

they came over the loud speaker and said that the fight would be postponed for 15 mins and would now start at 7:15. so, we went into covered hallway to stay out of the rain as we waited. 15 mins later, and they came back to say it would be another 10 mins. people were not happy! but everyone waited. then, 10 mins later they came back saying that it was canceled and would be rescheduled for june 10th!! obviously bad news for us!! we gave our tickets to a nice older couple to they could give them to someone to use them in june.

we made our way home in the rain (obviously the drum circle was surely over....) and went to the hotel room to dry off. it stopped raining a few hours later and we went to dinner, but all in all, a disappointing night!!

Today our main goal was to do laundry!! We took our clothes to a laundry place and they said they would have them done by 1:30. they lady didnt speak a lick of english and she kept saying something about being closed and 4:30, so i thought i understood that they close at 4:30.

we left our clothes to be washed and walked toward parque del buen retiro (roughly: the park nice retreat). this is similar to central park in nyc, as its a huge park in the middle of busy madrid. we stopped along the way to buy egg and cheese sandwiches and brought them to the park for lunch. we ate near the lake, fed the ducks, and walked around. theres a really pretty area at one end that is a rose garden filled will all different types of roses. very pretty.

at around 1:30 we headed back to pick up our laundry. we got there around 2 and realized they are closed until 4:30 for siesta! ooops! i clearly misunderstood her!!

so, we went and found this internet cafe. in a few minutes, we´ll head back to get our laundry, go back to the hotel to pick up our back packs and then off the the train station to catch our night train to paris!

wish us luck that we will be able to find friendly people to switch cabins with us so we can stay together!!!

Madrid

We have made it to madrid and are spending our last few days in spain trying to appreciate that we can somewhat decipher signs and menus before heading off to counties with languages very foreign to us.

we arrived in madrid this morning after taking our first night train of the trip in from lisbon. our accommodations were surprisingly ideal! we had our own private sleeper car for two with bunk beds that could fold up and convert into lounge chairs and a table, as well as our own sink in the room for brushing our teeth and washing our faces.
as we were waiting on the platform before boarding we could see these rooms through the windows and were saying to each other "oooh, look how nice those rooms are, thinking they were definitely not for us since we had chosen the least expensive type of sleeper car." so, it was a nice surprise that those were indeed the economy rooms!

as soon as we arrived in madrid this morning at the train station we booked our next train for tomorrow night from madrid to paris. its another night train and this time we were not so lucky! they had to split us up in´to two separate rooms with 4 beds each. we are really hoping at least one of us will have a single traveler in one of our rooms that will trade with us so we can stay together! : (

today in madrid it started out a bit dreary (as blair warned), but has since cleared up. it sprinkled just a little early on, but not even enough to bother with rain jackets.
this morning we walked around el rastro, the big flea market that appears each sunday. there were tons of makeshift stalls selling everything you could think of! there were some tables with nothing but nails and screws and others selling colorful socks and jeans. some people´s stuff they were selling looked like it was just a buch of junk they had pickpocketed or stolen (and we are pretty sure thats what it was)!

after walking the length of the market, we stopped for coffee, toast and orange juice (all over spain they make their oj with these weird machines where you put in the orange completely whole and out comes orange juice) at the plaza mayor near the puerta del sol.

after breakfast we spent the last couple hours at the museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia, as recommended by uncle luis, it is one of madrid 3 acclaimed museums. plus, it was free today as it is every sunday.
it was a great museum and michael had to drag me out because apparently i take, "waaaay to look looking at each piece and insist on listening to every explanation provided on the automated tour."

we are now at an internet cafe and michael is next to me trying to make sure we have a place to sleep in paris our first night there (if you havent noticed, we are a day ahead of our original schedule and hence, our hostel isnt expecting us until the day after we will arrive).

we are now going to head over to the bullring to attempt to find tickets for tonight´s bullfight.... although its not looking very promising. apparently its not very easy to buy tickets day of, and since you can only buy tickets on friday and saturday and in person, we werent able to figure out how to get tickets ahead of time.

if we cant go to the bullfight though, we are going to head to parque del buen retiro, a big park here that has a huge drum circle (with over 100 percussionists) that gathers every sunday night from 5pm to midnight.

hope everyone liked the pictures we were able to post! we have more recent ones, but we havent been able to transfer any pictures for the last week, so those will come later!