I cannot write everything
I just got back from Poland and England the other day. I am here in Rennes with no room, but I am staying at Christophe's place now. He left to go home for the weekend, so I actually get his room for myself, which is much better than sleeping on the floor at the cite U. Poland was amazing, what can I say. I’m not sure I could give a detailed account of the 2 full weeks of my voyage in Poland and England. That might take hours. I'll try a "brief" description.
I stayed with friends the whole time and thus had guides and translators the entire time; it was amazing.
First Martina and I took the train to Paris and got a cheapo flight to Krakow from Orly. Lukasz met us at the airport and brought us en bus to his dormitory. I didn’t think there could be anything worse than Villejean, but I was wrong. Dorms at Krakow U or whatever it is are in fact worse.
“Lukasz, how come there is no toilet paper in the bathrooms?”
“Uh, I don’t know.”
“Ok…so we have to bring our own?”
“Yeah”
Poland seemed to have a shortage of toilet paper, and that would be a theme throughout the trip. That’s normal in 3rd world countries, but I didn’t expect it in Poland. Also, everyday in his dorm, someone would blast awful techno Polish disco crap at like 9am. The dorms were a constant party with cigarettes, and beer filling the hallways. No rules here.
The next day, Martina and I saw Krakow while Lukasz went to class, but he met us for lunch and everything. Then Sandrine (his girlfriend, and our friend) came from Rennes. The next day, Sylwia and Kaska came from Poznan, to travel with us! It was so nice! So it was like old times again.
We saw Krakow which I liked very much, but I was almost dissapointed at the architecture. I thought I would be like a smaller and less touristy Prague. But Prague is still prettier. Krakow, however, does have a great atmosphere and nightlife. We went to a few bars, one of which was a communist bar that had paintings of all the Red Greats of tha past--Mao, Stalin, the whole team. The other one was a shady drug front mafia bar with beers for only about 50 cents. The people were so friendly, and Lukasz' friend who had learned English very well in Ireland, showed us around the city and took us on a small hike to the top of this hill and off out of town. We kept wondering where we were going but he kept assuring us, we would come to a bus stop "just around the corner." But he eventually admitted he had no idea, and we ended up trekking down this hill into some village on the outskirts of Krakow. He asked around the locals and we were pointed towards a bus stop. It was sooo typically Polish his manner. The way he kept on assuring us that all is well, we need not worry about anything, half an hour is more than enough time to get back to Lukasz' dorm--they don't worry about anything even when we were lost and late--it's nice.
One day went to Wielicka, which is these salt mines. They are so cool! We went over 100m deep into the ground and everything is made of salt. There is a chapel, sport courts, small lakes, you name it. We toured for 2 hours and only saw 1% of the whole place. So Krakow is a neat city, I would reccomend it.
Then towards the end of the stay in Krakow, one night we went to go grill stuff outside since it was so nice. I expected just us, but we arrived at this green space in between two dorms and it was unbelieveable. Hundreds of students were partying, drinking, grilling, and just having fun. No studying here. It was incredible--as if the oval was packed with people all partying...every single night. I had never seen anything like it. Poland rocks.
alright that is all for now. I will say more about Wroclaw and Poznan a bit later, hopefully tomorrow.
I stayed with friends the whole time and thus had guides and translators the entire time; it was amazing.
First Martina and I took the train to Paris and got a cheapo flight to Krakow from Orly. Lukasz met us at the airport and brought us en bus to his dormitory. I didn’t think there could be anything worse than Villejean, but I was wrong. Dorms at Krakow U or whatever it is are in fact worse.
“Lukasz, how come there is no toilet paper in the bathrooms?”
“Uh, I don’t know.”
“Ok…so we have to bring our own?”
“Yeah”
Poland seemed to have a shortage of toilet paper, and that would be a theme throughout the trip. That’s normal in 3rd world countries, but I didn’t expect it in Poland. Also, everyday in his dorm, someone would blast awful techno Polish disco crap at like 9am. The dorms were a constant party with cigarettes, and beer filling the hallways. No rules here.
The next day, Martina and I saw Krakow while Lukasz went to class, but he met us for lunch and everything. Then Sandrine (his girlfriend, and our friend) came from Rennes. The next day, Sylwia and Kaska came from Poznan, to travel with us! It was so nice! So it was like old times again.
We saw Krakow which I liked very much, but I was almost dissapointed at the architecture. I thought I would be like a smaller and less touristy Prague. But Prague is still prettier. Krakow, however, does have a great atmosphere and nightlife. We went to a few bars, one of which was a communist bar that had paintings of all the Red Greats of tha past--Mao, Stalin, the whole team. The other one was a shady drug front mafia bar with beers for only about 50 cents. The people were so friendly, and Lukasz' friend who had learned English very well in Ireland, showed us around the city and took us on a small hike to the top of this hill and off out of town. We kept wondering where we were going but he kept assuring us, we would come to a bus stop "just around the corner." But he eventually admitted he had no idea, and we ended up trekking down this hill into some village on the outskirts of Krakow. He asked around the locals and we were pointed towards a bus stop. It was sooo typically Polish his manner. The way he kept on assuring us that all is well, we need not worry about anything, half an hour is more than enough time to get back to Lukasz' dorm--they don't worry about anything even when we were lost and late--it's nice.
One day went to Wielicka, which is these salt mines. They are so cool! We went over 100m deep into the ground and everything is made of salt. There is a chapel, sport courts, small lakes, you name it. We toured for 2 hours and only saw 1% of the whole place. So Krakow is a neat city, I would reccomend it.
Then towards the end of the stay in Krakow, one night we went to go grill stuff outside since it was so nice. I expected just us, but we arrived at this green space in between two dorms and it was unbelieveable. Hundreds of students were partying, drinking, grilling, and just having fun. No studying here. It was incredible--as if the oval was packed with people all partying...every single night. I had never seen anything like it. Poland rocks.
alright that is all for now. I will say more about Wroclaw and Poznan a bit later, hopefully tomorrow.