Thank you for coming back. I always wondered where your unfinished report went to. Please continue.

Glad you are back! Flip flops gave you away??? Gotta know the story behind that one please.

I woke up the next day and remembered that I only had one day at that hostel. So I asked the people at the front desk if they could help me find a place to sleep. After a few calls they found me a hostel that had one day open. So I packed my stuff said my thanks and headed for the hostel. This hostel was really weird because it was connected to a catholic school. So when I finally found it there was a group of young girls in their uniforms talking to a Nun. I stopped and looked at them thinking this can’t be right. The Nun stopped taking and looked at me and said something in polish. All the girls turned around and starred at me too. I then did the same thing. I quickly did a 180 and got out of there thinking I just interrupted a class. After about twenty minutes of looking at a map and walking around I decided that the original place I went to was right after all. So I walked back and hope that the Nun and the students weren’t there. I slowly walked to the opening and took a deep breath and peeked around the corner. To my relief no one was there so I walked into the courtyard. I saw the sign of my hostel and started to walk across the courtyard to the entrance. I was almost to the door when the same Nun walked into the courtyard, but this time she was with four more Nuns. I looked over in their direction and she pointed to the hostel. I smiled and said thank you. I got settled in my room and headed for the Old Town.

When reaching the Old Town, I thought that it was very beautiful. I really liked the tall monument with the priest on top holding a cross. I tried to get a picture in front of it, but every time I asked someone they declined. Finally I got a young woman to take a pic of me. I started to walk a little farther into the Old Town when I saw an ice cream parlor. I got a large and when I took my first bite the whole ice cream started to fall off the cone. I quickly caught the ice cream in my hand and put it back on the cone. I lost about half of it and had no napkins, which was really messy. After walking through a narrow street past a cool looking church I emerged into a small square. There was a fountain of a mermaid holding a sword. There was also a pilot flying in a small plane doing a lot of crazy maneuvers. Like tail spins and back flips. He put on a good show. I got a good pic that looks like the plane is crashing into a building. I then walked along the old city wall that used to surround the Old Town. After spending a few hours in the Old Town I decided to walk to a few Jewish monuments commemorating the holocaust and the ghetto. After all that walking I saw a familiar restaurant that I just couldn’t resist. It was a TGIF! I got a burger and fries. It was getting late so I headed home to rest for the night. After a few hours of rest I headed out but it was raining. I had an umbrella so I walked a few blocks to a liquor store to get some traditional polish vodka. On my way back it was raining even harder. In front of me there was a women walking in the rain without an umbrella. And since I know how much it sucks from being rained on in Amsterdam, I caught up to the women and walked with her so she could be under the umbrella. She said thank you, but we were going in a different direction the next block. So I didn’t get to talk to her long, which ruined my plan. That night it rained the whole time so I found a pub that was close and drank there. I didn’t want to get to drunk because I was getting on a train early the next morning. I ended up staying until close and getting really drunk because of all the vodka I drank before going out to the pub. We talked about football and politics. I don’t know why people are afraid to talk about politics in foreign countries. I have seen a lot of post on this forum about if it’s alright to talk about it. I felt that my best conversations were about politics. Sure I made a Scotch person really made in Warsaw, but it’s all in good fun.

I woke up the next morning, checked out and headed to the train station back to Krakow for two more days.

Glad to see you are still posting. We've also had a lot of very good and enlightening conversations about politics in Europe.

What a fun trip you're having! We're still reading, so do keep posting.

So, the moral is, beware of young men offering to share their umbrella! :)

Glad you are back and hope you continue. This is really fun!

Sorry about not continuing my report. Again, I got bored of writing it. I decided to go to graduate school, so that took over as my priority. I just got the urge to start writing again. I hope you’re not mad.

I got to the train station and got in line to buy a ticket. I must have picked a bad line because I waited for about 30 minutes just to buy a ticket to Krakow. I wasn’t in a rush so it didn’t mind waiting, but the long line of people behind me weren’t so happy. I finally got a ticket and headed for the train. I was going to Czech Republic in a few days and I had brought a language tape in Czech. I decided to listen to it on the train back to Krakow. The tape player I brought wasn’t working and it ate the language tape. I got the tape fro the public library and I knew that I would have to pay for it bebasue it was wrecked. I got really mad and threw the tape player with the tape out the train window. In the same cabin were 4 other people in there mid twenties from Ukraine. That act of anger was a good icebreaker, because they all looked at each other and started to laughing at me. We smoked cigarettes, drank, and talked the whole way to Krakow. I learned a lot about Ukraine and their attitudes towards Russia.
When returning back to Krakow I headed back to my hostel and relaxed at the main square. I saw a few people I recognized from a couple of days ago and went over and talked to them. They were going to the salt mines. I had heard about the mines and I asked them if I could come along. We took a bus there that dropped us off about a block away. We had just missed a tour so we had to wait for an hour until the next show. It’s very crazy in that little room where people get in line for the stairs. It seemed like the stairs never ended, they kept going and going. When we reached the bottom we saw a lot of sculptures that were supposedly carved by the workers a long time ago. I really liked the church that was beautifully decorated. I have to admit by the end I got a little bored of the mine and wanted to go back. At night I returned to my favorite bar the Bull Pub. I drank there and headed with a few people to a place called “Roosters” I think that was the name. Anyways it was a knock off of Hooters. The women were dressed the same, but had better wings. We stayed there for a few drinks and continued on. We ended up back at the same bar a few days ago, with the stone stairs. They remember us because we broke a lot of glasses on the floor and they had to clean it up. I woke up the next morning can couldn’t find my shoes. The employee at the hostel said that they were making the hostel smell really bad, so she moved them on the balcony. I went outside to the balcony and my shoe had through up all over them. Spicy wings I might add. Good thing I had a pair of sandals I could wear.
Today I was going to Auschwitz and I didn’t know what to expect.

I just found this; great report!

"I drank there and headed with a few people to a place called “Roosters” I think that was the name. Anyways it was a knock off of Hooters. The women were dressed the same, but had better wings."

Are you referring to the food, or something else? :)

LOL!!. This is better than a Chevy Chase movie, so far. But I fear for the Auschwitz installment. I don't know how you can take that somber place lightly.

Welcome back gawr! Yes, I thought you had abandoned your trip report because of the petty remarks people were making about your spelling. I'm so glad you came back! I loved reading your report and look forward to the rest. Please continue! :)

Glad to see you taking this back up. I was really enjoying your experience (made me think of our son who loved Amsterdam and pretty much had the same cultural experiences). Do continue, please.

(as for spelling...you can always tell by my posts when I'm staying up later than I should!)

I'm happy to see another installment, gawr0008. Thanks for adding on to your report.

Today was a day that I had been waiting for, ever since I arrive in Europe. You see; I’m a Polish Jew who had family living in Warsaw in 1939. So today was big day for me. I really didn’t know what to expect.
I woke up and got some breakfast and headed out for the town. I had already been to the old Jewish neighborhood; so I just walked around taking pictures. I finally got enough strength to walk over to the train station, and I bought a ticket to the town where Auschwitz is located. It took about 90 minutes to get there. From the town I walked to the Camp. I walked into the building a bought a pamphlet with background information. I then joined a tour group that was just about to start. I popped in the black and white film I brought from home and started taking pictures. I have to say that the pictures you see of the camp don’t do it justice. Auschwitz was an old Polish barracks that was used as a death camp. It’s smaller, there weren’t many buildings, and, it’s a lot more preserved then Birkenau. It wasn’t until the bus took you to Birenau, that you were able to see and feel the full extent of the Nazi war machine. Throughout the experience I felt completely numb. I didn’t feel angry or sad. I remember walking around like I was a robot. I couldn’t speak or have any facial expressions, especially standing on the railroad tracks where the families were split up. I think that hit me harder than seeing the gas chambers.
It wasn’t until I returned back to civilizations that I realized where I had just been. It was like I regained consciousness and everything I just saw hit me all at once. It was just too overwhelming. All I wanted to do was to sit down on a park bench and cry, and that was exactly what I did.

You did a good job of expressing what there really are no words to express. Thank you for sharing this experience with us.

Sorry if anyone was actually paying attention to my post. I got really tired of writing it, plus it was taking forever. I just got an urge to start writing again. A friend of mine just left on a similar trip, so I thought that I would finish my report. I wrote a journal while I was there, so I could go back and read most of my thoughts and experiences.

After sitting for a while, I went to the closest liquor store and got a bottle. I sat at the main square and took drinks of the bottle without a chaser. After a few hours people from my hostel came up to me and gave me some company. By then half the bottle was gone and I had trouble standing up. They took me to get some food and then to a pub where I could get a beer instead of hard alcohol. We ended up going to a pub where there was a large group of people from England. I told them where I just came from and they said they were there yesterday. The Englishmen knew a few anti German songs about the Battle of Britain. We sang the song over and over changing the lyrics to accommodate the Americans and the polish Air Forces. We went around to a lot of the pubs singing. We got everyone in the pubs to sing with us. That night would become the most fun I would have in Europe. I got extremely drunk and it was a miracle I made it home. To be honest I have no idea how I got home.

The next morning I was leaving for the Prague, Czech Republic on a train. I knew the American team was playing the Czech team later that day so I wanted to make it to Prague before the game started. The train ride was uneventful and boring. When I got to Prague I got a map and some food. I headed to my hostel, which was close to the main square. I had about thirty minutes before the game started. Of course my hostel was down the small road that took forever to find. I checked in and ran down to the main square where they had a huge screen, which was showing the football game. American fans were out numbered 10 to 1. The US dollar was really good and I was paying 50 cents for a beer. So you can imagine I took full advantage of this and bought three beers at a time since the lines was so long. Every time the American team scored or preformed a good play, I would loose half my beer from jumping up and down yelling. During the game an American fan got a glass pint thrown at him. It hit him on the head and he was bleeding all over. I was about twenty yards away and that shut us up quickly for about ten minutes. Then we were back at it again screaming our USA Chant. I found it sad that the American fans don’t have any type of chant of slogan for the American team. After a while it gets repetitive and lame. The American team ended up loosing and I got out of the square before anything else happened.

On my way back to my hostel I found a small local pub that was selling pints for 35 cents. This place became my HQ pub for the rest of the trip. It also had excellent food.

I returned back to my hostel for some sleep and to get ready for the night. I met a few people from my hostel and we went to the main square to see what was going on. After a few beers we met some locals who were sitting on a bench by the huge monument. I’m not sure what it’s called or what’s honoring. Any was a few locals asked me if I smoked. I said yes and I pulled out a cigarette. They said not that type of smoke. They pulled out a joint and we started to smoke it in the main square. I don’t think I have ever been so paranoid in my life. After a few rotations a police officer showed up and I had the joint in my hand. The cop and one of the guys we met started to talk. By this time I was completely freaking out. I ashed the joint out on the bench and kept it hidden. They were talking in Czech so I had no idea what was going on. The other guys I was with from my hostel were all looking at each and quietly saying, lets make a run for it. The local guy who was sitting next to me was saying to keep quit and to relax. How was I supposed to relax when we were about to go to jail. Then all of a sudden the cop and the guy shook hands and the cop left. It turned out that the cop was a friend of that guy and he told him just to put out the joint and smoke it somewhere else. The local guys where just fucking with us. And they did a good job of scaring the hell out of me. After that experience I bought them both beers and we decided to go somewhere else and smoke it. So the guys moved one bench over and lit it up again.

When we were done, we ran into a group Mexicans we met at our hostel. They wanted to got to a strip club or to get some stripers. The local guys said they knew a few stripers and called them. They lead us to a long dark alleyway, which looked a little skeptical. I stopped and looked around I didn’t like the looks of it and asked the guy next to me what he thought. He said the same thing and we made up some excuse and got the hell out of there. This was my first night in Prague. I could tell I was going to like Prague and I still had five more days in the Czech Republic.

Keep the urge to write! I am really enjoying this. It's great to remember what it was like to be young...

gawr, it is really fun to read your adventures in Europe. Now, a mom wants to know: did you meet any nice girls (i.e., not strippers) on your trip?

am enjoying your report... what are you studying?