Day 36 - Wroclaw

We didn't expect much of Wroclaw; after all, it was only the place where we had to catch the bus to Prague from. However, we have been pleasantly surprised. Things like the free laundry service at the hostel have been a godsend, as our jeans have been in serious need of cleaning. Things like the lack of milk at breakfast, however, are not so good. The hostel has a number of signs telling us that milk is available to buy from reception, and now we know why. Keeley was very unimpressed at the lack of milk for cereal. Despite this, the rest of brekky was good (with about four different varieties of bread) and we decided to wander the streets to experience the town. The town square is nice, and although large pales in comparison to Krakow's gigantic version. We went to a market in an amazing church-like place, and saw the greatest variety of vegetables so far on the entire trip. There was also a significant number of flowers and confectionary. In stark contrast to the markets, we found the major, modern shopping centre only a couple of blocks away. This marked an important milestone in our trip: Keeley found some new boots to replace her old ones that she unsuccessfully tried to fix with duct tape. After lunch, we explored a bit more and found a cool little street that has been restored to its medieval state, complete with (statues of) farm animals. We split up for a bit and I went to the Panorama Raclawicka, a 15m high x 120m circumference painting on the inside of a spherical building. The entry fee was a little steep, but it was very cool because the foreground of the painting had been 'extended' into a three-dimensional model. This filled in the five-ish metre space between the viewing platform and the painting, and in the foreground it was genuinely difficult to tell where the 'real' stuff stopped and the painting started. It was very detailed and the presentation about the history of the battle (where the eventually ill-fated Polish resistance against the Russians in the 1800s began) was good.

The beauty of this place seems to be in the details, just like the Panorama. There is a collection of fifteen gnome sculptures scattered around the city, hanging off lamp-posts, sitting on stairs, guarding postboxes, etc. Every now and again you'll stumble across one without even trying. It's very cute. There is also a very interesting sculpture at a major intersection called "The Anonymous Pedestrians" and shows commuters sinking into the pavement on one side of the road and climbing out on the other. It's quirky and different.

We went out for dinner tonight to a traditional Polish restaurant. Ordering almost blind (we knew the words for 'chicken', 'beef' and 'pork') we ended up with some very nice meals for a very good price. Keeley had basically crumbed chicken, which although not 'traditional' was very nice, and I had pork medallions with a spinach and cheese sauce on top. It was delectable. Both meals came with sauerkraut, sweet grated carrot and a coleslaw sort of thing. To finish off our excellent day we had excellent ice creams, which were massive and had three big scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, topping and fruit. I'm a bit sad we're leaving tomorrow, but on the flip side I'm not sure there'd be much more to do around here. It was nice to have a relaxing day though.

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Day 35 - Krakow and Wroclaw

Our super-friendly hostel staff at Premium Hostel yet again saved us a lot of frustration by pointing us in the direction of a train to Wroclaw (pronounced "vrotswav") and as this train left every hour or so we decided to spend the morning taking in Krakow. Keeley tried in vain to repair her ailing boots (her black ones not her walking ones) by duct-taping the soles. This proved useless and the puddles from the now-completely melted snow and misty drizzle made her morning very uncomfortable. We couldn't find the replacement boots she wanted in her size so we made our way to Wawel Castle. A complicated pricing system seemed to want to charge us for each separate part of the admittedly large complex, and we decided against it. Keeley seemed grumpy because of her shoes and I was indifferent to it - it seemed like the thing to do in Krakow but I don't feel I missed out on much. Instead we roamed the streets and wandered into the massive town square. Plenty of photos for me and lots of window-shopping for Keeley. We found her a badge to add to her collection and more importantly we found a block of Lindt 99% cocoa dark chocolate for only 11 Zł (?2-3). It was very exciting.

 

We got on the train at about 3:45pm and prepared ourselves for the four-hour-plus ride to Wroclaw. The time passed quickly and it was a comfortable journey, reinforcing to me that trains and buses will be the best way to travel over here (no weight limits and hours wasted at airports). Wroclaw was a bit of an adventure, with no maps of the area in the train station and Keeley's frustration peaking. We did end up finding a map and went in search of our hostel (Nathan's Villa). Unfortunately, this proved a challenge and we walked the length of the street three times before some friendly locals, noticing our obvious lost looks, explained to us that the hostel entrance wasn't actually on the street the address is on. It is a very exciting place for Keeley - it is right on top of KFC. The beds are comfy, the kitchen is well stocked, we get brekky and a free laundry service, and it's right in the middle of town. We are pretty impressed.

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Day 34 - Auschwitz

After all the fun of Zakopane, we headed to Auschwitz today. We got on another dodgy looking minibus from the central bus station (and got ripped off we think - 18 Zł each return) and rode the hour and a bit to Auschwitz. The weather seemed to realise where we were, as it drizzled all day and was generally miserable. We paid 34 Zł each (around ?9) and saw a short 20-minute film before our guided tour. The tour took us through Auschwitz I (the main camp) and Auschwitz II-Birkenau over about three hours. It was horrifyingly eye opening. We saw some of the horrific living conditions, the gas chambers and cremation furnaces. One building, Block 11, was the first test site of Cyclone 8 (the gas) and had a number of gruesome torture rooms. These included the Standing Rooms (900x900mm rooms with crawl-in 'doggy doors' where four or five people would be crammed in for a day or more at a time), the Starvation Rooms, and the Suffocation Room (a 3x3m room where 20+ people would be locked in with the window and door blocked off so they would literally suffocate). The displays were incredible - huge rooms full of human hair that was to be sold to German textile manufacturers, thousands of shoes, brushes, pots, clothes, etc that were looted by the soldiers at the camps. The living conditions were pretty amazing - five to eight people on each level of the bunk beds. In Birkenau the timber blocks had no sanitation at all; in both camps prisoners were only allowed access to toilets for 4-5 mins at a time (that's all 1400 people per toilet block in the same 4-5 mins). The scale of Birkenau is unforgettable - there were 300 blocks holding over 700 people each. It is almost indescribable.

It was a pretty sombre experience but it was well worth it.

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Keeley Contributes

There have been comments made that I am not contributing to the blog… Which is unfair because I help Scott write this one, just he words it so it sounds too smart for me to have written.

Anyway. I'm not going to tell you about every day so far because that would be boring, you have already read Scotts (and a little it my) version. So you get the Highlights Package. A little bit about all of my favourite moments so far:

If you remember back to the start of the trip we landed ourselves in Hong Kong for a night. There we had the best noodles I have ever had in my life. I'm sad to say that Noodle Box will never quite be the same again. The markets were good too, the money I could have spent!

After that we headed up to Scotland, where I experienced a not so traditional Christmas. There is usually some alcohol at Christmas, but these people were excessive. And I can't leave out the worlds biggest trifle. Made in a 35 litre storage container. Not long after that there was the amazing torch-light procession and the New Years fireworks. Incredible. Also the Vodkat, it's Vodka, except so cheap and horrible that the Vodka experts refused to let it be called Vodka, or so I decided.

Riding the tube and the big red bus was cool, only because it reminded me of the game Scotland yard, and because it is so ridiculously famous. Continually seeing streets of the monopoly board never got old, for me anyway. I think Scott got over it pretty quickly.

Running into Tom at London Bridge, and been scared out of my head at the London Tombs (that scare attraction we visited which claimed to be the history of London Bridge????)

Sleeping at the airport not overly pleasant, but better then the 20 pounds in accommodation we would have had to pay.

Sleeping in a castle is not something I will quickly forget either, just like the insane run that we did down the road to get the incredibly infrequent bus.

Epic Nachos, they were like normal nachos, except with Bolognese sauce and there was enough for an army…

All time favourite place so far is Poland. It is going to be tough to beat. I love it here. When we arrived the place was covered in snow. I really like that we have the time to just stay here a bit longer and see places like Zakopane. It was indescribable; my vocabulary is way too small. Photos don't even do it justice. Trying to speak Polish was good fun, I think we are rubbish at it, but we tried and hopefully they appreciate that. Being better at Snowboarding then Scott was good to. Doesn't happen very often that I'm better at something, just ask my dad.

So that is my input to the blog, hope you enjoyed my compacted version, a full version will be available when I get home. I have been keeping a journal, so I have everything written down the same as Scott, just not as technologically.

Enjoy the hot weather, and get off my back about Scott doing all the work for the blog, he he he.

Keeley

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Day 33 - Zakopane

We woke up very stiff and sore today – our entire bodies hurt from the snowboarding. This led to a consensus to take it pretty easy today. We caught up with the guys from last night who had, by all accounts, a rather big one. Donny didn't get back to the hostel until 5:30am. We didn't really leave the hostel until noon, and went for a walk through Zakopane with Donny and Mark (our roommates). Overnight a lot of the snow had melted, and it was very slushy. The alpine magic of the place seemed to have lost its lustre, and we were very glad we snowboarded yesterday and not today. The sun was out, though, and it was a mild 8°C, so it was quite enjoyable seeing all the little shops around the place. By the time we were ready to leave at 2pm, our backs and shoulders made us feel every step to the bus station, and we journeyed back to Krakow. We haven't done much else, just made tea and Keeley attempted to bake a cake in a bench oven (like those griller things we used to toast sandwiches at home in). The cake tastes okay, but doesn't look brilliant. Tomorrow we head to Auschwitz, which will no doubt be a much more sobering experience than the last couple of days. Tonight we have returned to our hostel in Krakow, one because it is so good and two because we're staying for €4 a night each.

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Day 32 - Zakopane

Today we went skiing. Well, not really. First of all we hired snowboards (they had one in my size, yay!) for a fairly measly 40 Zł each for 24 hours (about ?10 or AU$20). We met a nice guy, Donny, last night and he told us to head to Bialka, a ski village with some really good beginner and easy intermediate runs. Unfortunately, we had to wait 45mins to find a bus that went there, and it was an old, dodgy looking 16-seater minibus and we were a little sceptical. Nonetheless we got on board and half an hour later, with the assistance of a Polish skier who walked us in the right direction, we found the runs. We were expecting a dodgy little town operation, but it was a very professional setup with about half a dozen chairlifts and some more t-bar lifts, and a cool magnetic ticketing system like a Oyster card where you just scanned in for each lift ride. We got an unlimited 9am-4pm pass for 65 Zł (around $32 each). The runs were magnificent, and the snow was amazing. When you go skiing in Victoria, the snow is really wet and icy, and you end up drenched. Here, however, it brushes right off you and we just wore jeans and our regular jackets and didn't get cold at all. I didn't even bother with a beanie and Keeley just wore her earwarmers, and we were fine. This was just as well, as I spent the majority of the first hour on my bum while I tried to learn to snowboard (something I've never done) by trial and error. Fortunately I worked out the theory fairly quickly and once I gained a little confidence I was enjoying myself a lot. I did feel bad for holding up Keeley, as she knew how to snowboard and had the added benefit of practising last night, but once I knew what I was doing (after lunch) we weren't that far apart in speed and she didn't have to wait longer than a couple of minutes for me at the bottom. I was lacking a lot of technique, and I struggled to turn on my toes, but for one day I'm pretty happy with myself. It was enjoyable and that's the most important thing. My legs are very sore though; not only am I lacking general fitness but holding the standing position for over a kilometre at a time was not easy.

 

We also tried some traditional Polish bread stuff, which was incredibly dense and very, very salty. Neither of us could stomach more than a mouthful, which was disappointing, but at least we tried it. Tonight we went out to the charismatic pub down the street with about a dozen guys from the hostel, which was really good fun. We also Skyped with our families, which was good and I think Mum particularly was relieved to hear our voices.

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Day 31 - Zakopane

Breakfast at the Premium Hostel in Krakow was excellent, with cottage cheese and some packaged cream cheese things with various flavours (eg mushroom, capsicum, chives, etc). There was even a container of coco balls for Keeley. The other great thing about this hostel is the staff – they are very knowledgeable. The girl on reception knew the bus details off the top of her head on how to get to Zakopane (our next stop for skiing), including price, frequency and even the exact bay in the bus station it went from. This proved invaluable with our inability to read Polish timetables in the bus station.

 

The bus ride was about two and a half hours, and wound through some pretty picturesque scenery. There is snow everywhere, and it's beautiful. Zakopane is a smallish ski village, and our hostel is conveniently located about five or ten minutes walk from the bus station. We checked in, had lunch, went exploring, then really jumped into it and built a snowman (Mr Cool). This took a little time as the powdery snow didn't stick together well at first. We kept at it and the finished product looked pretty impressive we think. The snow is just amazing – you can kick it or throw it and it just 'puffs' rather than spraying like you would expect from the icy stuff at home. Best of all, it doesn't really make you wet; you can fall over in it or have some on your clothes but it doesn't really matter unless you get seriously covered. Alas, we did discover this the hard way when we went skiing this afternoon. There is a small run (maybe one or two hundred metres) right in the middle of town, about a minute walk from the bus station. We hired a snowboard for Keeley and skis for me (there were no snowboard boots in my size) and spent an hour re-learning what we'd forgotten. It took Keeley a large number of attempts to master the t-bar lift up the hill, and I had enough trouble keeping my feet pointing in the same direction. Fortunately it only took us one downhill run each to get it right, and we had a lot of fun after that. Keeley had a very spectacular stack which has left her with a bruised bum and wet jeans, but other than that it was really fun and, again, not as cold as I had been expecting. The worst thing is holding onto the cold metal lifts. We're looking forward to a much bigger expedition tomorrow.

 

We also bought some pork for dinner, making the most of the exchange rate to eat well yet again. I even found some zucchini for the first time since I left home (Keeley didn't have any). She found what she thought was custard powder in the supermarket, and muddled her way through it but it turned out to be vanilla pudding mix instead. This didn't bother us and it tasted pretty good with peaches.

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