Krakow

The prior entry might not make sense to many people, and it shouldn't for it is an unfinished one. I tried to finish it, but the feeling was tied to time and space, and though the feelings remain in my mind, they can't be reflected the same way. However, as I read it, even if it was unfinished, I believe it captured me, and so I thought I'll share it. There's a lot of unfinished business here, a lot of bottled up feelings I have shared so far only with my friend Shimmy Gin, the one I thought of calling first thing, but upon not finding him available, loaded out in my journal.

Shimmy, you are truly my memory and my judgment. You know more about me than many.

Today I took a lot of pictures for everybody to see, to share and to post. It's amazing how I actually take pictures for my blogs, and not as much for memories. When I find something great, the first lines of the entry rush to my mind. Maybe not all of them make it to my chopping block and past to my blogs, but all of them are taken with this sole purpose. All pictures have a small thought, a potential entry stuck to the back of them, just like before there was history even if the words were fewer on the back of the photograph.

Kari and I traveled today to Krakow, a lovely city at the South of Poland, known for several things, depending on what are your interests. For me, it's a city with a rich Medieval baggage. For religious people, I believe this city is tied close also to the beloved Pope John Paul II. I was eager to come, though the original idea was to go to Milan. Well, Milan couldn't be and Kari wasn't up to go to Firenze, or Venice, and Sofia was out of the charts. Mom had been at Krakow and she enjoyed it a lot, and so have been Dad, so I thought, what the heck, I should give it a try.

Okay, few pointers: DO NOT TRAVEL WITH BUS. The bus, from Budapest to Krakow makes one stop, and one stop only... in Slovaquia, and rather close to the border with Hungary. The stop is ... at a gas station. Really. I have evidence.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

I guess I can rest my case in the matter of the "station". The bus offered coffee and hot cocoa, but cold beverages were charged, and there were specific instructions to use the toilet only on extreme emergency cases. No, it wasn't the travel attendant telling us so, it was the "Safety Video".


Krakow is sold mostly as a "friendly place" where you don't need to speak Polish because everybody speaks English. Wrong. I had to endure headached until FINALLY someone was kind enough to show me were we were on a map. Oh yes, a traveling tip you better do yourselves than leave to anyone else: if you plan on traveling somewhere, GET A MAP AHEAD, know were you are arriving and where do you have to go, and PLAN THE TRIP. My beloved boyfriend seems to have problems in this particular matter. Needless to say, it pisses me off like you have no idea. Anyway, if you want to come to Krakow, have in mind that:

1. You'll need a map to get around.
   
2. Mark on it your hotel or where you'll be staying, where you'll arrive, where you'll depart and the main places you'd like to visit.
3. Pick up some Polish from somewhere. Internet is a good a source as any, if you live ina country like Costa Rica, where your "foreing language textbooks and guides" are pretty much limited to English and sometimes French (unless you are culturated enough to go to Librería Internacional and find a broader selection or request it).

When we finally made it outside the bus station, we found that Krakow ain't that big a place, really, and you can find a lot of great places, specially in the Old Town, and awesome place surrounded by old castle walls, and a thick feeling of Medieval times. A radial of boulevards laced around with beautiful and interesting shops take your from the gates of the Old City into a wonderful square where at the top of a tower each hour a trumpet player plays a short song in remembrance of the coming of the Tatars.

Story says, according to Kari, that the trumpetier was trying to play the alarm that the enemy was coming, but his tune was cut midway, as he was taken down and killed by an arrow. The tune still finishes abruptly.

I have to go now, sorry I didn't have anymore time by now, maybe later (but I have to wake up Kari and drag him to have some dinner). However I can't leave you without a final recommendation: if you come here, avoid a restaurant called Ristorante Imperial Realle. It's in his Square (Rynek Głowny, I believe), and has big Tyskie beer umbrellas. I enclose you a picture.

What should you know about them? A bit too expensive for my taste, the food is very little (even for me), they don't fully cook the pasta, the Farfarelle with blue cheese and cream have not taste at all and it takes them around 30 minutes to get you your drinks and 45 minutes to get you your food. Oh, and there's no policy of first arrived, first attended, first served, so you may see people who entered after you, whose order was taken after you, to have their mean BEFORE you do. A family in a table near ours couldn't take the wait and simply stood up and left... prior getting a waitress to pay their drinks, for it was the only thing given to them. So, you are warned.

However, for tender hearted people, there are lovely things to see as well, such as a Teddy Bear store! ^_^ Kari got me a bunny from there, whom I call (so far) Krolik. He won't travel back with me to Costa Rica this Sunday, but stay in Hungary with Kari. ^_^ There's no reason to take him with me, when he would be traveling, back, now would it? ^_^

Okay, I'm off to lunch!!