Good crack in Krakow!

No, I'm not into crack-- it's just a term I picked up while in Dublin. Good crack means good times, which basically sums up my 12 days in Poland, 10 of which were in Krakow. I had originally planned on staying in Krakow for 5 days but ended up staying an additional five more days-- a telling indication of how fun things can be if you stay at ARS Hostel. I've stayed in millions of hostels and Slavek (Owner of ARS) and his staff are truly one of a kind. Slavek's passion for showing his guests the local side of Krakow had me wanting to stay longer.

One of the reasons for taking this RTW trip was to figure out if software sales is going to be a career I return. After my experience at ARS, I have considered the possibility of starting a hostel in Mammoth or LA with the same idea as ARS'. That is, to open up a small hostel catered to those who truly want to explore and enjoy the local deal.

Anyway, my first day in Poland was spent in Warsaw since I didn't want to go straight to Krakow. My first order of business was to put some food in my belly, and walked around the main square a bit. Found nothing but relatively pricey restaurants, all with English menus and decided to veer off course. Found a joint with no English menus, packed with local people, and a chalkboard menu in Polish for about $6. I pointed at the menu, not knowing what the hell I was going to get and was pleasantly surprised to be served a plate of cole slaw, potatoes, breaded chicken cutlet, sauerkraut and sausage soup, and juice! Sorta like that white elephant gift exchange, only to find out you got the best gift of the group. I was also doubly appreciative of this because for most of my trip throughout the UK and Ireland, breakfast consisted of toast and coffee, lunch was a couple of Nutri Grain bars and dinner was (depending on how much money I had) either pasta or $4.5 cans of minestrone!


The next day, I took a 3 hour train ride down south to visit Krakow. I met Kasia in my compartment who wanted to be an English-speaking tour guide so we decided to head to the bar on the train so that she could give me a few pointers on what to do, where to go, what to see, etc. While we were in the bar, the train had stopped for a good 45 minutes. Nobody really had any idea what was going on so I asked the bartender what was up. Turns out a rock was thrown into one of the compartments and injured a passenger! That compartment, as Katia and I later discovered, was right next to ours! Thank goodness for beer o'clock, eh? Another unplanned highlight of my time here in Europe so far has been the Euro 2008 Cup, a huge football (I mean, soccer) tournament held every four years. Being in Poland during the finals was also extremely fun, as everybody, and I mean, EVERYBODY, watches the Euro cup. I understand the game much better now and wonder really why the game's popularity all over the world has never caught on in the US.

I met some pretty cool dudes while at the ARS, including Todd Novak, who is 100% Polish, but was the only one in our group who always had a hard time getting into clubs and bars because the doormen thought he was British. As I have discovered throughout my trip, the "Ugly American" moniker really is quite an undeserved stereotype, surpassed completely by the British stag (ie bachelor) party. There are signs all over most of Europe saying, "No stag parties." Anyway, funny thing about Todd. His grandma (who owns a bar in Buffalo) used to sing him a lullaby in Polish. Todd sang the song to Slavek and asked him what it meant-- Slavek cracked up while telling us it meant-- "One more beer.... one more beer!"

Also met Evan and Ed from California, who joined Todd and me for our bike tour with Slavek. We all began the journey slightly hungover from going out the night before, so it only made sense to go for a tough bike ride up to the highest point in Krakow. It was the first bit of exercise all of us had in a while, and most of us were pretty winded by the time we got to the top. Right before our ride back down, I overheard Evan asking Slavek if we could go slower...downhill!!?? That was a bad omen, as soon as we headed down Evan literally jumped off his bike and hurled the nights leftovers.

We biked for a few miles more after and ended up at "The Rocks," a mineral quarry where the late Pope used to work and not known to many tourists. After biking all day, Ed and I decided to jump off the cliff-- perfect way to cool off, and reminded me of my days of bridge jumping in Tai Tam (Hong Kong.) Swam a bit and headed back to the hostel to get ready for the Euro 2008 Finals between Spain and Germany in one of the outdoor beer gardens set up by Tyskie, a local brewery. Spain won, and so did I, as I placed a $50 bet. All in all, it was one of the most perfect Polish days one can ask for-- an awesome bike ride, an off-the-beaten track gem of a find (and adrenalin rush) at the Rocks, watching the team you're rooting for win in an outdoor beer party with the locals... thought it couldn't get better until we went on our day trip to Zakapone.

Zakapone is a mountain resort town about 2 hours by bus south of Krakow. Unfortunately I haven't been able to upload those pics yet so more on that later. But essentially, we took a two hour bus ride, 10 minute minibus, and a rather grueling 2 hour hike up a trail to a summit where the Polish border met Slovakia. After the hike, we took a cable car down and headed for the "Warm Springs" of Zakapone, where we all relaxed and spent an hour or so rejuvenating. Just an absolute blast and I have to thank Slavek ten million times over for showing us all the stuff that Lonely Planet or Frommers would never be able to replicate.