Day 12: Train to Kraków, Kraków
Perhaps it was due to the lack of alcohol, but I had some very odd dreams, before I woke up at 3:25, just before we needed to be up.

We checked out of the room. The friendly Orbis reception people had mad us up breakfasts to go, in little bags. After our warm drink, a taxi zoomed us across town to the train station. The train station was very very busy at 5:00 am, with people excited at the prospect of leaving Zamosc.

While we enjoyed the city very much, 1.5 days of visiting Zamosc was sufficient.



On the train, I blogged for approximately 3 hours (no joke!) while Chase listened to music and slept. With the exception of the temperature of the train cabin, Chase was very content with the ride. Between naps, he enjoyed looking out the window at the snowy landscape outside.



ARRIVAL IN KRAKÓW

The train arrived at Kraków Glówny (train station) at 11:10 am and it was snowing heavily. The cab driver took us the longest possible route to the hotel. There was a lot of traffic; with the snow everyone was driving very slowly.

We went to my favorite Kabab place (not the crappy one that Chase suggested the next day.) We hoofed it and did some light shopping.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and napped a bit. Chase is a lazy bastard. And he drinks like a prude.

As much as I lightheartedly complain about Chase, he is a very good travel companion. He rarely complains, he has a great sense of direction and does not insist on having a strict plan.



DINNER AND LATE NIGHT FUN

We went to a nice Polish restaurant that served us easily enough food for 4 people. I had pork chops with plum sauce, potatoes, fried cabbage, while Chase enjoyed some salmon.

We met up with Marcin at 10:00 at Klub 7. He had tickets for New Year's Eve, the following night. Score! Although the seats were in the corner at the bar.

Both Chase and I were a bit tired, still, so we left the bar around midnight.
- posted by Matt @ 8:25 AM 0 comments

 
Day 11: Zamość
The Orbis hotel ("Hotel Zamojski") was the nicest and probably the most expensive hotel in Zamosc. It had recently been totally renovated and was very classy. (And a good value for $75 per night for a double room.)

The breakfast was interesting. We could eat from the buffet and also have a warm item. Chase wanted pancakes. I told the nelly queen he could get them back in NYC. They wouldn't have them at the hotel.

So, I ordered some "Vienna style eggs" for both of us. Who would have known that "Vienna style" means "prepared in a really, really yucky way?"

Now, eggs are undeveloped chicken embryos. "Vienna style eggs" really make this demonstrate concept well.

Understand that I'm a very adventuresome eater and will eat almost everything that is put in front of me. Even I agreed that these eggs were "f'nasty." Damn valley crappers (i.e. Austrians.)




BUS ADVENTURE

We decided to check on our train possibilities, as the train we had planned on taking was to leave at 5:00 am, which was not very friendly.

The bus station was a good ways from the center but we decided to walk it, to see a bit more of the city. There were a lot of interesting shops, etc.

The bus station was crowded and chaotic, with several lines

Eventually, we found a line. The man sold me two tickets to Kraków. It would leave at 8:10 am, which was a lot better than the 5:00 am train. But then I asked him when the bus would arrive in Kraków. He said 16:10. What??? 8 Hours? Could this be correct? He motioned yes.

I was mildly annoyed, but was willing to travel in a bus for 8 hours.

Chase insisted that there had to be a better option.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to find express busses, we decided to try to return the bus tickets, then go to the train station to go with our initial plan, by train.

Amazingly, the guy refunded us money for the bus tickets!





LUNCH

We had a late lunch at an Irish pub themed restaurant. I ate Zurek (clear soup with sausage and a boiled egg) with a sandwich and Chase had a compote soup and friend Camembert.

I had wanted to check my mail and etc, so we returned to the hotel and made use of their wireless hotspot, much to my delight. Germany didn't have such places, even Zamosc, a town of 65,000 people had a couple of options.

We walked around and did the tourist thing, taking pictures.



We had some tea with rum and surfed the net, etc.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Chase suggested a pizzeria and that sounded good.

Chase got a standard Hawaiian pizza, which had ingredients I knew in Polish. I ordered something different. I knew my pizza would have ham and onion, but there were two mystery ingredients. You got it! Pickles and bacon! It was good!

I had pondered going out for a beer or two, but I was tired, so we went back. After showering, I promptly passed out. (with almost no alcohol in my system, I might add.)
- posted by Matt @ 12:54 PM 0 comments

 
Day 10: Warsaw and Waiting for Chase, Train to Zamosc
Day 10: Warsaw and Waiting for Chase, Train to Zamosc

After a very nice breakfast, I packed up my crap.

UNEXPECTED

Before going into the shower, I was careful to put up the "do not disturb" sign on the door, as the cleaning woman was just next door.

I had a refreshing shower and laid on my bed.

The cleaning woman was opening a door. I thought to myself, wow, the walls are thin; you would think that she were coming into my room.

Suddenly, a woman with heavily bleached hair was looking at me, her head poking out beyond the corner wall.

"Come on in, toots. Have a seat. What would you like to see?"

I pulled the sheets over my nude body as she spoke in quick Polish, not once removing her glare from me. Apparently, she wanted to verify that I, in fact, did not want to be disturbed.

After my unexpected morning visitor left, I packed up all my crap and dropped everything off in the lockers at Warszawa Centralna train station.

Chase's plane from Milan was to arrive at 11:55 am, Warsaw time, so I had a couple of hours to take some more pictures of Warsaw and to shop!

Marshall Street rocks, in terms of shopping! My favorite stores are H&M and C&A, which have fashionable clothing at reasonable prices. I got some jeans, some socks, a couple pairs of underwear and a sweater.



It took chase a bit longer than expected to get to the train station, but we still had enough time to buy the tickets and walk around and to get a bite to eat at my fav restaurant, namely Café San Marzano.

We were back at the train station with some time to spare. Got our luggage from the lockers and went to track #1 (NOT track #4, as I had thought the day before.)

Chase was excided to be in a train for the first time. We drank a beer and chatted. Then we drank another.

ZAMOSC

We arrived after 8:00 pm to Zamosc. The whole town was covered in a thick sheet of ice and walking with luggage was very difficult and slow. Much to my delight, Chase fell on his ass and the taxi driver and I laughed at Chase's expense. Good times.

We walked the city trying to find a place to eat. At 9:00 at night, many of the restaurant's kitchens had closed.

A police car approached and it occurred to me that I could ask them.

The police officer was a bad ass and promptly asked me, "Paszporta?" Give me your passport.

One trick that Mark had thought of several years ago was to make a color photocopy of your passport for just these occasions. I presented him with the miniature, credit card sized paper copy from my wallet.

He looked at it, butchered my name, then gave it back.

He then nonchalantly pointed in a direction to a restaurant we never found. Instead, we found a little local grill with a hopping young crowd. The pretty 20 year old waitress looked at us disdainfully as we entered. Not because we were American. She just didn't want to work. She was more content chatting with her little slut friends in the table behind us.

"Czesc," I said at one point, trying to get her attention. She looked at me then sat next to her entourage of overly promiscuous-looking, 20 something women.

We gave up and sat at the bar when a friendly, 30 year old woman bartender took our order. I had soup and Chase had a Kabab sandwich. Both were very good. With the food, two beers and one "apple pie" (i.e. Zubrowka vodka and apple juice,) the meal cost just under $10 USD. For both of us. Inexpensive and good.
- posted by Matt @ 12:59 PM 0 comments

 
INTERLUDE: PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE FOR WARSAW AND NYC
OK. I'm a photography junky. I realized yesterday that some of the shots I had taken in Warsaw kind of matched up with some I had taken a couple months back, in New York City.

Now, understand, a comparison is not fair or nice as New York was not systematically, block by block blown up by the Germans. Oh, New York also was not subjected to the brutal and repressive communist regime for 40+ years. Oh, and that's just recent history. Poland, with Warsaw as its center, has been the whipping boy for Europe for the past 500+ years.

The intent of the side by side shots is to show some similar photographic evidence that I have collected for each city. Enjoy!






- posted by Matt @ 11:51 PM 0 comments

 
Day 9: Warsaw and the $25 Mistake
At 8:55 am, the night train arrived in Warsaw Centralna station. I had slept surprisingly well in the bed of the night train. I wasn't all that tired, so I locked up my luggage in some lockers then walked to re-discover the historical part of the city.

WALKIN' 'ROUND

The city was not completely the way I remembered it. It may sound silly, but when you are concentrating on details, as an amateur photographer, you notice more. You notice both the good and the bad.

Warsaw's touristy Old town is nice, but could use a fresh coat of paint. The whole area. Understand that all of it was razed to the ground by the Germans at the last throws of WWII (during the Warsaw Uprising) and, afterwards, the Polish people spent a very large amount of money to reconstruct the area. They had to use relatively inexpensive materials, as there simply was not money. It shows. Reconstructions in the former West Germany, for example, were done in a much nicer way, with real stone and not plaster, for example.



The town looks a bit rugged around the edges, but that's Warsaw, love it or leave it.

Still, there were a lot of very interesting details.

I ate at Pod Samsonem restaurant for lunch. It was not all that busy.

I walked more. Took more pix.

I was a bit cold and I hadn't drunk anything in several hours, so I decided to find a place to grab a beer. There was a cool looking place called "Polyester" that caught my attention. On the door it said, "Hot Spot" and something about free Internet access. Sold!

As it turns out the place was very nice. Plush pillows, classy interior, etc. If I were to move here, I'd totally bring friends here. PLUS, the wifi worked! Granted it was a bit slow, but it worked! I was so excited that I finally was able to get online. I was able to blog a bit!

A large beer at this bar cost about 7 zl there or about $2, which is a bit more expensive than the normal beer in Warsaw, but the atmosphere was very very pleasant. The wait staff was attractive. As I sipped a beer, via iChat, I communicated briefly with Kevin and Paul as they were getting ready for work.

The menu said that if we liked the high speed, we should tip the waiters/bartenders. I had used the wifi for over an hour, so, after I paid, I left a 10 zl tip (or about $3.20.)

I gave the receipt and the 10zl to the waitress and wished her a happy new year.

"You didn't leave enough. It was 14zl," she said.

"Oh, I already paid."

Then she understood that I was giving her an outrageously large tip. She thanked me as I walked out into the nippy air.

THE $25 MISTAKE

I realized that I was too far to make it back to the train station by 3:05 pm, so I snagged a taxi. At Warszawa Centralna, I reunited with my luggage and checked the schedule for the track number. Track number four, it said. I was on the track a good 10-15 minutes ahead of the arrival of the train.

I was surprised that there was nobody on the track. The sign did not indicate that a train was coming, which was a bit odd, but that was not uncommon. A few days before, my Warsaw night train had not been marked. 3:04 came. Then 3:05, 3:06, 3:07. F***! I missed the train somehow!

I went upstairs and a couple of young people, presumably students, showed me that track 4 was correct, for the OTHER train station. I had been looking at the wrong column. The train had quietly left from track 1. Damn it! There were no other possibilities for traveling to Zamosc that night!

I could get half way, to Lublin, then stay there or try to get a bus to Zamosc. Or... I thought about it... I could stay another night in Warsaw. Hmm, there was that nice, inexpensive place. What was it called? Granada? Gromada?

Somehow, the unused ticket fell out of my pocket. I was out $25.

I took my luggage outside and soon the taxi brought me to the Gromoda hotel, in central Warsaw. I wouldn't call the place pretty, but for $50 a night, you get a clean room and an excellent breakfast.

I was very tired so I decided to nap.

THE DREAM

I was in a very deep sleep and the little brother (i.e. my new cell phone) went off. In my sleep, I was expecting a phone call to conference with the Germans.

The woman on the other end was to be the operator. She asked me if I wanted to speak with Mats. I responded to her in German that it was fine to talk with Mats.

The operator hesitated and said some other things. I was half asleep and nothing was registering.

Finally, she said that she was from Lens Crafters in Western Hills. She explained that I hadn't had an eye exam in a year and I was due for one soon. I said something in German, then explained that I was in Europe and that I was annoyed that she had wasted $5 for the call. I hung up and pulled the blanket over my head and continued the deep sleep.

FANTOM

Around 6:30 pm, I woke up and I decided that I would go to Phantom club. Dennis was available for a half hour massage, for $10. Sold.

I hung out there for a few hours. At the end, I actually drank mineral water, as I was quite drunk. I managed to stagger back to the Gromada where I again slept very soundly.
- posted by Matt @ 12:58 PM 0 comments

 
Day 8: Boxing Day: Zweiter Weihnachtstag bei Omas
With a second full day of sleep in a row, I was fit sowie ein Turnschuh and enjoyed a quiet, relaxed morning with Peter and Marita. Marita lit the Christmas tree candles. Even dead sober, I was kind of afraid of going within a couple of feet of the lit tree.

Then Peter and I spent some time in the kitchen preparing for the big dinner at Oma's house.

I was in charge of making fresh egg nog, from scratch, as well as potato skins. Peter, meanwhile, was working on a mixed fish salad that had herring, salmon and pickles. Yum. After he finished his items, he helped some of my prep work for the potato skins.

We were the first at Oma's house at around 4:00 pm. Cousin Jessika and Aunt Birgitt arrived and they also had items that needed to be in Oma's oven. I wanted my potato skins to be crispy, so I waited last, until the stove was ready. I baked the skins for 10 minutes, then added the cheddar cheese (which I had imported the previous week) then cooked another 2 minutes, expecting that we would be eating momentarily. But Jessika told me it was time for the gifts.



So, the first tray of skins sat and eventually got cold.



After the gifts, I put the next tray in, but people were already eating. I don't know why it was so important to me that the skins be crispy. I just wanted them to experience the real thing (as they had never eaten them before.)

The food consisted of different types of salads, filled croissant things, bread, cheeses. My potato skins were a big hit.

The eggnog was good but was not as fluffy and nice as it had been in previous years.

Oma wanted to see some pictures from last year, from the Hütte as well as the short Santa movie (of Kristof) that I had taken the previous day.

"Machts du ein Striptease?" She asked me. Oh dear, while Oma may be 85, nothing gets past her. She saw some images of me on my laptop. She wasn't shocked, just mildly amused that I would have disrobed pictures of myself. Not that it had mattered; she had seen me, and the rest of the family, naked at the private guest house on the Danish coast, 12 years prior.

Oma also was intrigued by my iTunes collection of music.

The time came for people to say goodbye. Julia and I hugged tightly. I tried not to get emotional. She told me again that she was glad that I had come and that minimally, she hoped that I would come again next year.

Peter and Marita dropped me off at the Peine train station and waited to make sure I got into the train.

NIGHT TRAIN

At around midnight, I arrived in Hannover and had a beer and a cigarette while waiting for the night train to arrive.





It arrived, despite the fact that the track's sign didn't show it was to arrive.
I got on the correct numbered wagon and found the door, which would bring me to bed number 16. I tried to open it and it did not open. Someone turned the knob on the other side. It opened and behind the door was a man in his underwear and undershirt. I pulled my suitcase in and realized my bed was on top, just 2 feet from the ceiling. I climbed up. After the train left, I brushed my teeth and slept for about 6 hours.
- posted by Matt @ 8:13 AM 0 comments

 
Day 7: Christmas: Erster Weihnachtstag with the Close Family
After breakfast, Peter asked me if I were in the mood for a walk. He suggested me go to the old Hütte or "Hütte," as we would say in English. The site of the former iron works. Umm. OK.

I grabbed my camera and we walked the way.



After the shut down the iron works, they left some of the prominent features, a water tower, a length of a pipe, some windows, etc. It was a very photogenic place!

We passed about 2 hours walking around. I loved it!

We went back to Julia's house. It was Peter and Julia's turn to cook our meal, for the first day of Christmas. They labored over Gans, Christmas goose. It looked a lot like the turkey I had made for this year's Thanksgiving.

As a starter, Julia had made a delicious salad with an orange oil sauce with a type of cooked brie. The main meal consisted of goose, red cabbage, Knödel mit Pinienkernen, (or dumplings with pine nuts,) cranberry sauce and potato thingies. They had spent a lot of time prepping, but indeed it was worth their efforts.



We ate and drank and were Merry and Peter and I walked home again.
- posted by Matt @ 8:10 AM 0 comments

 
Day 6: CHRISTMAS EVE/HEILIGE ABEND
(DRAFT)

Again, I fought with my watch. It went off at 7:30, and I was not ready to get up. F*** you, I thought as I pushed the button and went downstairs to meet Peter and Marita for breakfast.

By 9:30, Peter and I were on the road to his offices where I had grand ambitions to upload my blog material from the previous day, send a couple of emails and get a magazine subscription for Peter.

We arrived at his offices and, Gott sei Dank, thanks be to God, I was effortlessly able to connect to the Internet.


..

While Peter and Marita got ready, Mats and I busied ourselves watching Winnie the Poo, dubbed in German, and cracking hazelnuts. Suddenly, it was half past two and I had just 10 minutes to get ready for church. Upstairs, I threw on my khakis and a sweater, applied some hair gel and walked down the semi-circular staircase.

We ran outside as bells rang. We were just on time for church service for kids:

The Evangelical pastor explained the importance of the holiday and asked how many kids had waited a long time for the holiday. There was a receptive crowd of anxious kids with their young weary parents.

Next, the congregation learned a fun song-with gestures no less-that I would translate as the following:

Christmas is the party for Jesus
We celebrate it with candles
God brought him down to earth to us.

Christmas it the party for Jesus
We dance around the Christmas tree
God brought him down to earth to us.

Christmas is the party for Jesus
God brought him down to earth to us
We pray for peace on earth.

It had kids waving their hands, spinning in a circle, motioning God from heaven to earth and, at the end, everyone in the congregation holding hands.

It was cute and appropriate for the Children's service. Frankly, I had been immersed into German for a few days and I phased things out a bit. I didn't mean to; I was just tired. This was the 40 minute version. I would have had a harder time with the intellectual 60+ minute adult version. Germans can be intellectual. Trust me.

Strangely, I did not know any of the Christmas songs that were sung and I didn't know the Lord's Prayer (in German.)

After the service, we went back to Julia and Sören's house. We played and read for some time.

Kristof, Julia's cousin arrived dressed up as der Weihnachtsmann, the Christmas man. The scene was staged so that Mats first saw the Christmas tree then suddenly Santa arrived through the door. Mats knew who it was and paced a bit, in excitement.

Santa warned him that he wasn't the best of boys this year but if he promised to brush his teeth, etc. this year he would receive presents.

Then Santa unloaded the presents from a large tarp sack and placed them on the floor. Mats hurriedly opened them up.

I spent the early evening hanging out at Julia and S¨ören's place. I was very tired from the lack of sleep the night before. I managed to get a 20 minute nap.

For dinner, we had the family favorite of meat fondue.

The adults opened presents around 11:00. I had bought some thoughtful (and somewhat bulky) gifts from the US, which I was more than happy to unload. I got Sören a poker set. He doesn't play and I hoped to spend some more time with him tomorrow to talk and to teach him the game.

We were sufficiently intoxicated to the point that none of us could drive, so we walked the way back. We took another route, which I thought would circumvent Gewaltgasee, Rape Alley. I asked Marita to hold my hand as we walked through. I did manage to get a picture of it:
- posted by Matt @ 8:05 AM 0 comments