Warsaw

I got into Warsaw early. I put my bag into a left luggage locker and walked around the city. It’s a large place with large buildings. Seemed like a pretty typical capital. I got to Old Town and it was quiet, no tourists yet, so it was pretty nice.

I also visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum which was free on Sundays. Perfect. Everything was in Polish and English. It was probably the best audio-visual museum I’ve ever seen. And the stories of Polish heroism were great.

I met up with a group of CouchSurfers for a bonfire in some nearby woods. They were all friendly. It was nice meeting a few Polish people because I hadn’t had any meaningful interactions in Krakow or Zakopane.

We smoked sausages, drank, and joked. I was asked some tough political questions from a couple of Belgian girls. Everyone’s interested in the US presidential election.

I was also told the other side of the Warsaw Uprising.  Tens of thousands of people died for nothing.  The Warsaw Uprising didn’t actually do anything and didn’t help Poland gain independence.  Many of those who fought didn’t have weapons, only shovels and sticks.

A couple of people at the bonfire were really great.  Oksana, a Siberian Russian who went to school in Kiev and just recently moved to Warsaw, bought a bunch of sausages and drinks, and I forgot to pay her back.  I’ll get her next time.  And I hope there is a next time.  Oksana was beautiful.

I didn’t get to talk to Chris until late in the night, but I’m very happy I did.  We both have deep concerns about “wage slavery” and using our lives for something meaningful.  Chris is an ex-photo journalist and he’s rejected that life for it’s stress and meaninglessness.  He’s currently working as a freelancer and taking time to think and figure out what he wants.  He’s 31 and he offered me some great advice since he could relate to how I’m feeling.  Chris told me that I should keep traveling so that I can give myself time to figure things out.  He also gave me some book recommendations.  My discussion with Chris was one of the highlights of my trip.  We really connected, and I want to keep in contact with him.

I didn’t have any accommodation for the night, but I figured I could use my charm to find a bed.  I asked Martin, and he said he’d be happy to put me up for the night.  Great!  Later, a few people asked me if I had a bed for the night.  It seemed they were ready to put me up.  Really great.  Chris told me I should stay with him since he was just a short walk from the train station.  There was a little bit of an awkwardness as Chris stole me from Martin as we were riding back on the metro.  It was great though.  I was happier to stay with Chris and it was more convenient.

I slept on the floor, and got up at 6am to catch my 7am train to Berlin.

Zakopane

When I got to Zakopane, I dropped my stuff at a hostel, a really quiet hostel, and I headed into town.

I took the funicular up the mountain.  At the top was a huge mess of souvenir stands, restaurants, and fair ground games.  At the top of a mountain.  It was really disappointing.  But what did I expect?  I took a funicular up!

I walked along a path to see if it led anywhere special.  It didn’t really, but it got me a little away from the stands.  Seeing the Tatras was pretty cool, but nothing really special, not in Zakopane anyway.  Shit town.

I had committed to the hostel and I was really disappointed in what I found in Zakopane.  I was feeling down and lonely.  I sat down to read my book and then a cat came purring.  She was all over me.  Lonely as I was.  And she looked just like my sister’s cat, Kit.  I gave her lots of attention and people smiled at us as they walked by.  Then I decided to keep walking.  Polish Kit came with me.  She trotted along behind me, pausing every once in a while.  I’d pause too and wait for her.  Friends!

I walked around the town a little and discovered it sucked.  Not surprising.  Then I went back to the hostel where only one other guy had checked in.  An old British guy.  I didn’t really want to talk, but we ended up having the same conversation I’d had many times before.  Where are you from?  How long have you been traveling?  Where have you been?  How long will you stay here?  Where are you going next?

The next morning, I got out of the hostel early and went to the bus station.  I wanted to catch the only bus going to the Ukraine border at Przemysl.  I had no idea I was about to begin the worst travel experience of the trip.

Krakow

I skipped Olomouc and went to Krakow. On the train, I sat next to a nice American dad and daughter from Wyoming. We talked about the collapse of the US economy and Obama vs. McCain. Having just bought my plane tickets home, it was nice talking to them. It was comforting and familiar.

I got into Krakow at about 10pm. I had two hostel addresses. I went to the first and no one answered. After 10 minutes, a guy answered and told me that the hostel had closed. Shit. So I walked to the next. It was about a mile away and I had read that it has a midnight curfew. I made it in time and got a room for $10 per night. Great deal.

I walked into a 10-bed dorm, and I was the only one in it. Great. The beds were shitty, hard bunks with dirty pillows and sheets. Whatever.

In the morning, I walked into the old town. Pretty similar to Prague. Nice buildings with loads of currency exchanges, souvenir shops, and restaurants. I decided to get out of there and visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

That was a good choice. Auschwitz was one of the highlights of my trip. And it was free. Well-preserved, and free. It must get lots of donations. I had to pay to watch the official movie, and it sucked.

The sign above the gate said “Work Brings Freedom.”

There were descriptions and photos of the tortures. People being starved to death, hung on a post with arms behind their backs, executed against the “death wall,” and four people being put in a small cell where they only have enough room to stand.

The crematory.

Birkenau was a short bus ride away. It was a huge field of barns with railroad tracks coming in.

Sorry, I had to try to take some artistic shots with my shitty camera. Barbed wire!

I decided it would be a good idea to see the Tatra mountains, so from Krakow I went to Zakopane.