Day Six: Krakow, Poland to Lviv, Ukraine

This morning started off with me waking up at 7am after only a little over five hours of sleep. I took what I would like to think was a quick shower, but we all know I lack this concept, and got dressed. I did my best to pack properly and said goodbye to a few hostel mates. Also I must admit that this was one of the harder hostel goodbyes. I became good friends with a good amount of people there. Last night night I had a blast with Ellen and Scott. You see Scott is an Aussie, but he's also half Polish so he gave us a tour of Old Town last night pretending to be fully Polish. It was really a laugh the whole thing. Best part may have been him trying to speak his broken Polish to the girl at mcdonlds that spoke perfect English. A+ for effort right?
I checked out of my hostel and grabbed a quick breakfast to eat with me on the train and set off dragging my suitcase and another bag. I got on the train to find the first car completely full and wondered through the train until I could find a cabin that had a seat. I came across one that had three guys sitting in it, but then I heard Mama Otters voice in the back of my head about being safe so I kept looking for another cabin. I found one with a woman, a teenage boy and a nun in it. Seemed like a score to me and it was until the nun pulled out her laptop. Now the fact that the nun even has a laptop is kind of odd to me. She plugged in her headphones and started to listening to music, except there was one problem, it was still playing on the speakers. It was fine for a while, it was in Polish and I just put my headphones on and listened to my music and ate my breakfast. A little bit later a guy with the food cart came by ( I am still waiting for that witch from Harry Potter to come down a train and sell me chocolate frogs someday) and the nun and I both got tea. By this time she had switched to a song in English and the food guy kind of chuckled as he shut the door. At this point I kind of lost it. God was punishing me for the night before. I just knew it. The same song kept playing over and over again. It didn't end for the longest time.
The train ride that was suppose to be four hours was finally over after five hours, (welcome to Poland!) and I was in the border town of Przemyśl. From there I took a small bus to the actual border. At the border I got the pleasure of walking through all these Ukrainians on the Polish side trying to sell vodka and cigarets as it is they are cheeper in Ukraine. I went through the Polish side of the border and the woman had slight trouble finding the stamp for when I came into the EU, guess I travel too much and then she sent me on my way. I then got to walk through no mans land, did I mention this was all slightly up hill? I then got to the Ukrainian side and again got slight hassle from the border people. Its not often they have an American crossing this way I guess, but they were friendly the whole time. I am pretty sure they were just wondering what the heck I was doing going to Ukraine for February, just like everyone else I know. As soon as I came out of the border building a guy wanted to take me to Lviv in a taxi (It's like 40 miles away). I shook him off and then another guy told me he would take me for 30 Euros. I told him no that I was taking the bus. Mind you this was all conversed through very broken English on there part and like three words of Ukrainian on my part. I ended up finally getting to my small bus which was only a little over $2 American. I was the only non-Ukrainian on there and I couldn't have been happier. This is the real way to travel so you see the real culture. We drove through countryside and towns until we reached Lviv. I found my tram and took a seat and sat there in the freezing cold for about 10 minuets before it finally moved. I sat there thinking, Welcome back to Lviv and its horrible public transportation. Looks like someone is going to be walking a lot. The thing finally moved and I patiently waited until I saw places that I knew so I would know where to get off. I am pleased to say that I found my hostel without a map by memory. I got to the hostel and just laughed that it had not changed one bit, where as little Lviv has grown up since the last time I was here. I have the same bed and everything. I will take some pictures of my pad of the next month and post them for sure. Tomorrow I think I am going to spend going grocery shopping and I need to get a dictionary badly and I am going to go buy a months worth of Ballet tickets. Also I might look into sleeping sometime too.
Also I am including for your viewing pleasure an over happy me about being on a bus to Lviv <3

Day Five In Europe: Sunday Funday!

My Sundays normally consist of me going to my favorite breakfast spot, 158 Pickett Street Cafe, for brunch and getting a bagel with hummus and two cups of coffee, however there is no 158 here in Europe and I will not cheat on it with some two bit bagel place. So this Sunday morning I went to church. That's right Mama Otter I said church. I went to a nice big old Catholic Church (you try to find an Episcopal church in Krakow, Poland.) The service was in Polish and I didn't understand well any of it, but I got the point of it. After that I walked up to the big castle in Krakow and wondered around for a bit and then decided that I should just go to the movies as it was super cold out for being in leggings and frankly I had seen enough of the castle the last time I was in Krakow. I went and found my favorite theater and saw The King's Speech. I highly recommend it.
After the movie got out I wondered to the train station to get my ticket to the border of Poland to go to Ukraine. (I'll explain how that all works in my next blog.) I also stopped and got a kebab for lunch and went back up to my hostel room to eat it. My hostel floor was deserted when I got up there and I thought excellent I can get some blogging, packing and maybe even some reading done. Well then in walked this Aussie guy that I had seen around the hostel and he starts talking with me. Let me stop and explain the first time I saw him because its worth explaining. Two mornings ago I was getting ready for the day and I needed to dry my hair but someone was in the bathroom and I didn't want to wake my roommates up so I went into the common room and there is this guy just passed out. My first thought was He's kind of cute then Crap, where am I going to dry hair now? then it came to Wait, why the hell is he sleeping on the couch? Its against the rules. He clearly belongs here though because he's got a wrist band on. and then Oh, shit I don't want him to wake up and see me just standing here with a hair dryer in my hands and just a tank top on. For the record I also had jeans on. I wasn't just walking around in my knickers.
Anyways Scott and I ended up talking for pretty much half the day about random stuff. It was a really good chat I must say and was given an assignment of Aussie tv shows to watch when I get back home. I think I need to brush up on my mash too because I guess one of the characters is from a fake town in Maine?
Also Scott insisted that I put his picture in my blog. He wants to be famous in Maine I guess :)
Now its time for Sunday Questions!
These grand one are from Becca who I work with at JLCoombs.

Question 1 - How many times have you been arrested so far?
None that I know of. Had a few close calls. I really wanted to try to take a picture of the US Embassy again but thats not allowed and I wasn't in the mood to yell at a police officer that I was a tax paying American and if I want my picture taken in front of the Embassy it was my right to be able to do so.

Question 2 - How many european hipsters have you oogled at?
I was in Poland so most of the guys aren't up to par it was more the Aussie guys I was eyeing.

Question 3 - Do you have a Short Chestnut Ugg in size 5? Do I need to waterproof these? WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE?!?!
Nope, but I have a pair of broken in Emu Alba's in a size 10 that come water resistant, and for you I can sell them at a very nice price, yesss veryyyy nice.

See now wasn't question time fun? You still have time for next Sundays round!

Day Four In Europe: Auschwitz

Yesterday I went to Auschwitz for my second time. I took a small bus from the main bus station in Krakow through the snow and ice covered country side, past farm houses, run down parts of towns to the Polish town of Oświęcim. I was dropped off in the parking lot of the museum and from there I got my ticket for the tour and watched a fifteen minuet film on a brief history of Auschwitz. I left the theater and went to go find my tour guide. She turned out to be a blond Polish woman who reminded me a lot of one of my Polish friends from back home and it made me want to give her a hug a bit. The tour started with us going through Auschwitz One which was the first camp that was built. We went through different old barracks and had the history of the camp explained to us and what happened there. It took about two hours for this and after we went over to Auschwitz-Birkenau which is the bigger of the two camps (there was also a third called Monowitz that was an industrial work camp) and was the one where also most of the killing of innocent people took place.
The grounds of the camp are massive and seem to stretch on into the mist forever. All that is left for the most part is the main entrance building, rail way tracks, some barracks, a memorial, twisted ruins, and rows and rows of crumbling chimneys. The place has an eery calm about it.
Since it was my second time visiting it wasn't nearly as emotional as the last time, but the thing with Auschwitz is that it messes with your mind for a bit. It may not completely hit you right away. It needs time to sink in...

Day Three in Europe: Relaxing in Krakow

Sorry to all my devoted fans that I did not post anything yesterday, but life happens when you travel. But onwards to yesterday! I was more then slightly tired because the other night (night two people, keep up now) a group of us from my hostel decided to go out to some pubs and such. Don't you worry your favorite globe trotting traveler did not get drunk, but I did have some vodka and a few beers and this was also after a huge delicious Polish dinner of dumplings. All of the places we went too were underground which was awesome. There was exposed rock every where which gave it all a nice feel and look. Now for the beer drinkers in my life I know this is going to make you super jealous so if you turn away now its ok. Beer was brought to us in these plastic tubes which were at least four feet tall and had 5 liters of beer in them. No, I did not attempt to drink it all, unless my pint glass magically held 5 liters. There was one other American in the group, two British girls, two Turkish guys, one guy from Spain, one guy who use to live in San Paulo, Brazil but that wasn't crazy enough party wise for him for he moved to Ibiza, Spain (for those of you who don't know Ibiza may just be the party capital of the world.), and then there was "Angry" James from Canada, just why he is angry who knows.(He's really not at all.)
The next morning I got a late start and decided to wander around the Old Town Square. I had seen most the the square before and when I was walking a poster for Black Swan caught my eye and I went and saw it. Great movie and sometimes you just have to take some time out for yourself to relax. I ended up coming back to my hostel and taking a nap. I then had another great dinner, this time it was hotdogs Polish style. The hotdog itself is the same, but it is on a french baguette and there was lettuce, pickles, and raw onions involved. I was boring and just had good old ketchup.
After dinner some people were going to play flip cup and I really did not want to be dragged into that so I went over to the huge mall that is right across the road to get gelato. I went for the waffle cone with three flavors, Nutella, Cookies and Cream, and something that was vanilla based with like a butterscotch caramel sauce thing. It was super tasty. After that was over I wondered around the mall as it was warm and there is so much to see with its 3 giant floors. I ended up deciding that it was time for a hair cut. Nothing too drastic, or was it? After that I went and bought a hair drier, its just too cold to mess around with wet hair and it was like $6 so it works.
After I left the mall I was going to go back to my hostel, but the city was so amazing looking at night that I ended up talking photos for a bit. I still have to post those photos but I'll get around to it.
Also tomorrow is Sunday so get your random questions in!

Day Two In Europe: Exploring Jewish Krakow

Its only 4:15 pm here, but it is already dusk and the cold is finally getting to me as I sit here typing this. My day started off with me eating a nice hostel breakfast. I've forgotten how much I've missed these. They are normally pretty simple with bread, cereal, tea, coffee and such, but at Greg and Tom's (my hostel) they do a traditional Polish breakfast that has all of that, but some meats and oddly enough there were pickles there this morning too.
After breakfast I took the tram to the Jewish Museum to start my day of exploring Jewish History. To my pleasure and surprise they were having an exhibit on the Jewish population in Lviv Ukraine, which use to be part of Poland. It was really informative about the city and its Jews past. It was kind of freaky looking at the old pictures of Lviv and seeing how it really hasn't changed much. They also had quotes from Jews who had lived there during the time of World War Two about their experiences. It really made it a lot more personal and I had also read a book called "The Girl With the Green Sweater" which was about living in the swears in Lviv during the war, and she had contributed to some of the quotes so that really made the exhibit hit home. At the end they had pictures of everyone and their families. It was good to put a name with the face. In the rest of the Museum they had pictures and captions of all the old Jewish places in Poland and what they looked like today. They also had a little bit on concentration camps like Auschwitz.
I then wondered around for a bit until I ended up at Isaak Synagogue. It is one of the oldest synagogue in Krakow and was built in 1600s or something like that. I am not a tour guide I can't keep track of dates. A lot of the frescos on the walls have faded or are gone all together. There wasn't too much to see really, but I enjoyed it all the same.
I then took off wondering around again and this time I ended up at the Old Synagogue and let me tell you its really old, like 600 years old. This one had more to it then Isaak which was more like showing you a synagogue in its natural state and this was more like a museum on the history of Jews in the Krakow area and in general that happened to be in an old synagogue. I learned that you have to wait an hour at least in between eating meat and dairy for kosher food. I had always wondered how that worked out. Now I know and you know too.
After that it was time for me to wonder home. I had taken the tram there and thanks to my expert since of direction I just walked back as it wasn't too horribly cold out. I stopped and got a lovely pastry filled with some kind of red fruit jam, it wasn't raspberry that's all I know and that it was tasty. When I got back to my hostel I couldn't find my keys to get in and thought I had lost them, but no they were just in one of my other pockets. Good to know that I am nice and organized here too.
Now I am just sitting patiently waiting for my Polish dinner of dumplings. I hope they are good or I am going to have to go out in the cold and forage for food.
Also here is a link to my photos from today on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082364&id=1218690440&l=2ac6ef6627

Day One In Europe

So the day that we have all been patiently waiting for has arrived. I am back in Europe. Traveling through different time zones can really mess a person up. I am not sure what to really call the chunk of time that it too me to get here but it was interesting thats for sure.

When I got on my first of three plane rides, this one was from Boston to Frankfort, Germany I found that my seat mate was an 84 year old woman from the Czech Republic. She spoke next to no english, but I have a feeling that she is one of those really eccentric type old people.

On this flight I also felt really ill, I had been battling some type of illness and I thought I was all set, but that wasn't the case. I ended up in one of the stewardesses seats covered up with two blankets, double fisting drinks, water and chamomile tea, with some aspirin, and throw up bag (which I kept, its unused mind you.) I felt kind of bad like the people thought I had swine flu or something stupid like that, but they were really nice. On a side note Lufthansa airlines in general was pretty amazing. All the food and drinks they kept trying to give me was out of control, however none of it was eaten by me, miss pukey pants. Also one of the flight attendants sounded so much like Doctor Evil, I kid you not. Pretty much made up for feeling like crap.

Flight number two was from Frankfort to Munich and was a whopping 35 minuets long and only about a third full of people. I had a whole row to myself. It was quite nice.

Flight number three was from Munich to Krakow and I managed to pass out yet again on this one, even though it was only like 75 minuets.

I got of the last plane, thank god, and got my luggage and had to take a train into the city. Can I just say how much I love trains? I have no issues traveling forever on trains and have done this a decent amount of times. Its just so amazing to be able to sit in one place and see all these things go past you. Today for example I passed through farm land that had been lightly dusted with snow.

I finally got to my hostel after traveling for about forever and its pretty nice. I have to walk up four flights of stairs to get to my room, so thats kind of the one down side and by four flights I'm not talking the kind of stairs you have in your house. This place is old, so it has nice high ceilings, which means more stairs to climb. My bed feels like a real bed which is so nice. Also we have hot water, which my house back in Maine was even lacking this past week.

So there is this huge mall next to my hostel and train station that I thought "oh I'll just duck in there to grab something to eat" so I had a lighter coat on. I came out of the mall with a huge bottle of water and chap stick (all for about a $1) and decided to wonder around in search of a kebab. Its funny how I only spent 5 nights in Krakow back in October 2009, but I still remember where everything is. Its a very surreal experience. Its something really hard to describe, unless you have experienced it. It is kind of like a re-occurring dream. Krakow looked amazing tonight by the way, kind of magical. There was a light snow falling and they have Christmas lights of sorts up. I cannot wait until I have had some rest and can go out wondering some more tomorrow and this time it will be with my camera, I promise.

Now I really need to get to sleep (its currently 6:30pm) so I don't feel ill tomorrow. Early to bed early to rise, right?

Also on a side note I am going to be taking questions all week from who ever, about what ever as long as its about my travels or traveling or me and posting the answers every Sunday. I think that's it. I'm just beyond tired at this point. Love you all <3