Krakow + the Hawaiian party + too much alcohol = an AWESOME weekend

FRIDAY (early morning)

This past weekend we ventured to Krakow, a beautiful city about 4.5 hours by train from Lodz. The plan was to attend the IAESTE Central European Meeting that would gather trainees from the nearby cities of central/eastern Europe.

The plan was to leave on Friday in the EARLY morning (i.e. 1:30 am overnight train to Krakow) and then return on Sunday evening. Being the largest Polish IAESTE group, about 45+ of us from Lodz were waiting for the train at the station around 1:00 a.m. Of course, because this is Poland the train was late 30 minutes. Nonetheless, we managed to board and get seats and were off to Krakow.

We arrived at the hostel (a student residence which unlike Dom IX in Lodz is newly renovated and VERY nice) and had just enough time to drop our bags and rush to catch the bus which would take us to Auschwitz, 60 km outside of Krakow. Despite being REALLY tired from the train ride (which mysteriously turned into a 5.5 hour trip….) we were looking forward to seeing this historically important place.

The sign at the main gate of Auschwitz I concentration camp: "Work will set you free"

I can’t really express what the experience was like… I was simply fascinated by the fact that one person was capable of convincing everyone to his agenda, and by the shear hate and inhumane behaviour that people are capable of. Auschwitz was run like a business or some sort of a factory. It’s incredibly scary and frightening how efficient the Nazis were at what they did...

The view of Auschwitz II camp from the top of the guard tower. You can see the "unloading" platform next to the tracks

Needless to say, after the 3.5 hour tour we were emotionally drained. In silence we headed back to the hostel to take a nap, recover and get ready for the evening festivities.

Liz and Erin in front of St. Mary's Church in the main city square

In the evening we first headed to the main square, where a few of us broke off from the main group and grabbed some Mexican food at one of the nearby pubs and followed it up with some delicious ice cream. We then met up with our group and went to a disco.

A crazy Scottish guy with the biggest cigar that I have ever seen

I'm not sure why, but a lot of Poland's clubs seem to be stuck in the 80's, which is more than fine with me. We had a great time, but decided to end the night a bit early (around 1:30) due to the fact that the club was EXTREMELY hot and our outfits were rather bulky for the occasion. After getting lost walking home ("I don't remember turning down this street on the way here, do you?") we asked some people for directions and made it to the hostel about 45 minutes late. After a physically and emotionally exhausting day, I slept like a baby...


SATURDAY

We got yanked out of bed at 8:30, we ate our breakfast and boarded a bus to visit the Wieliczka salt mine. The mine began its operation in the 13th century and closed only recently in 1996. It’s absolutely ENORMOUS with over 2000 km of tunnels and a depth (at the deepest part) of over 300 meters. We visited a mere 2.5 km of the mine and reached a depth of 135 meters. Now, I know what you’re thinking; “It’s a mine, how exciting can it be?” In fact, is quite amazing; all along the sight-seeing route there are sculptures and decorations that were made by the miners over the centuries.

The main chapel in the Wieliczka Salt mine; depth ~110 m

The highlight of the tour is the main chapel; everything in here is made out of salt (yes even the chandeliers)! Masses are still celebrated here every Sunday, and occasionally there is also a wedding or two. Thanks to my tripod, I managed to get some pretty decent shots of this remarkable place.

The Last Supper; carved into the salt wall in the main chapel

After the mine, we headed back to the hostel, to rest for a bit and then get ready for our Hawaiian Party!

Liz, Erin and I at the pub. Note the Hawaiian decor

IAESTE organized a big party for all of the trainees at one of the favourite student pubs, with a free BBQ, salsa lessons, a theatrical skit (about the legend of the Krakow dragon) and of course karaoke!

Liz, Erin and Oliver at Loch Ness Pub's Hawaiian party

Everyone singing Brian Adams' "Everything I do, I do it for you". At times like this, I truly am proud to be Canadian

Also, there was a girl at the party who happened to bring her set of paints and was giving people free “tattoos” all night long. Being mistaken for an American (no offense Ray) a few times, I decided to set the record straight and voila!

My beautiful maple leaf

At this point I should mention that the concept of “Last Call at 2:00 a.m.” is foreign to Europe and most of the world for that matter, so you are welcome to stay, drink and party as long as you please. (Oliver, who's from Germany couldn't believe that you can't get booze past 2:00 a.m. in Canada. "What do people do?" - he said) This of course can be very dangerous as drinks in Poland are very cheap, so no one feels bad for spending money.


We had a FANTASTIC time and met a bunch of new people. At around 4:30 we decided to call it a night (or should I say a day?) and I swore off alcohol for at least 1 week. It’s very strange to be coming home from the bar when it’s already light out… We managed to find our way to the hostel and I collapsed on my bed and was out like the light….

SUNDAY

On Sunday morning IAESTE lied to us. Expecting the breakfast to be delivered to our room as promised, we neglected to set any sort of alarm clock device, expecting to be woken up by the room service. Alas, we were awoken by the morning rumblings of our neighbours who informed us that it was past 10:30 and that we were supposed to have met our group 5 minutes ago. Luckily we were not the only ones who had slept in and we managed to get ready and eat breakfast just in time to catch our group.

We did a bit more sightseeing, mainly we visited the Wawel Castle and climbed up the tower to touch the famous Zigmunt’s Bell. Our guide then took us over to the main square explaining along the way some interesting points and sight of the city.

The Wawel Castle

Zigmunt's Bell, the heaviest bell in all of Europe weighting in at 12.7 tonnes. Apparently if you touch the clapper with your left hand, you will have good fortunes in all your endeavours for one year. Left hand Javiee...

We ended our tour at the main square in front of St. Mary’s Church to listen to the trumpet player (for the Polish in the group, you know what I mean). A quick peak into the church (which is REALLY beautiful in side) and we had to say bye to Krakow.

Inside of St. Mary's Church

Despite of a few minor problems along the way, (like leaders with no sense of direction) we managed to make it onto the train and even find a sitting spot (most of us anyhow…). I thought that the adventures of the weekend were over and done with, but I soon found out that was not to be the case. In our cabin we (Liz, Erin and I) had 5 Polish people who were coming back from a weekend in the mountains. Not sure how it all started, but before I knew it they were feeding us pickles, bread with smalec (yummy) and making us take shots of a very strong, but fantastic liquor. And sure enough my liquor free week did not even last 12 hours.

We arrived in Lodz more-or-less on time, said bye to our new friends and took a taxi back to the Dom. After a quick shower and a quick snack, it was off to bed. Though I was exhausted on Monday and my voice is still very questionable after all the karaoke (Erin calls me man-voice…) I had an amazing time this weekend. It’s hard to believe that over 3 weeks have come and gone already…

We are planning on staying in Lodz this weekend and see what the city has to offer in terms of tourist attractions. We got a nice list from our friends on the train and we are determined to get to know the city a bit better.

Stay tuned!