Krakow

I survived another leg. Here's how my connection from Paris to Krakow went.

Left Paris, metro to get bags, metro to train station, train to airport, shuttle to hotel, hotel overnight, different shuttle to airport, flight to Krakow, shuttle to train stations, train to Krakow, walk to hostel.

All of that just to get from point A to point B. This European travel is so exhausting. See why I screwed up on day one and ended up going the wrong direction? Try all of that with all signs and directions given in French (or worse yet, Polish). You can't even pronounce Polish names. When I go up to the ticket window in Krakow to buy a train ticket, I actually have to pull out my phrasebook and write down what I want. Otherwise, I might end up in Venice, instead of Vienna.

Krakow has indeed ended up being a slight letdown. The weather was much cooler (mid 60s, cloudy and breezy). That was fine after the Paris heatwave. The tourist infrastructure has significantly improved in Eastern Europe over my Budapest experience two years ago. Prices has jumped too! There's still plenty of bargains over here, but they are quickly catching up to Western standards in the bigger tourist destinations.

I wasn't sure what I had walked into in Krakow this afternoon. I went to the main square after checking on and found it to be....Halloween?

Seriously, it's the end of the semester here and I believe all of the college coeds were decked out in costumes. We had Palestinian bombers, nurses, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, beer mugs...you name it...it was in the main square. And I thought I had missed summer and it had turned fall already, considering the weather.

I'll be going to Auschwitz tomorrow for most of the day (a day trip). I'm sure it will be a very sobering moment.