I will start off by saying they do not speak English in Poland. This hasn't been too much of a problem in other countries that didn't speak English, but this was Eastern Europe. We land in Poland, and get a taxi to the hostel, and when we arrive it is 100 zloty, the Polish currency. This sounds like alot but the money is cheap, so with the exchange rate it is about $35, so for about a twenty minute taxi ride split between two it was cheap. Cheap became the theme of this trip, with the average price of a beer being around $1.25, compared to $6.00 in other countries. When we get to the hostel we are given a leaflet about Auschwitz, which was 99zloty for students, so again, roughly $35 all inclusive.
So the hostel itself made the trip amazing, for three reasons, it was cheap..again, it was an awesome place, and we et some awesome people there. We go down to the basement which is a converted brick dungeon, I kid you not, a dungeon. So we go in, get a beer, and walk into the movie theater down there, and Schindler's List ironically is on. So we sit down and watch it with three other guys, and after the movie, we decide to play pool but these guys decided to play too, so we got to talking. We would spend the rest of our trip with these three Aussies, and a fourth that arrived the next day. We played pool, watched movies, and drank cheap beer. It was awesome, because it was about -15 degrees outside. We are playing pool when some random guy in a sweater walks in with a glass of wine and his own pool cue. First impression was he was some lonely dude who was too cheap to pay for a hotel, but liked to be classy and buy wine. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. This was Nathan, which till now is irrelevant to you, but it was to us too. It wasn't until Nathan leaves that his friend walks in, and after a few minutes of talking we find out he owns the place. We were drinking with the owner, and he even bought us a round. He downplayed it by saying he only did a few odds and ends here and there, but I really like that.
The next morning, the five of us get up and head to Auschwitz. This was about a six hour tour, and the thing about Europe I was most looking forward to, and the only reason we went to Poland in the Winter. So you can understand how much I wanted to go, and how much I appreciated it. So outside of saying it was an incredible experience, but saying it was fun, or awesome just seems wrong. We were a little rushed, but n matter what I would feel rushed. And when we got to the gas chamber and crematoria, there were scratches on the wall that you knew was someone's last effort at survival, and right next to it, "JIM WUZ HERE 2009". That infuriated me, that someone had the balls to disrespect something like that. But apart from that, I was very affected by it.
The next day, we did a walking tour of the Jewish part of the city so we could see Schindler's factory, but that was the biggest disappointment since I have been here, because the one from the movie doesn't even exist. It is a renovated office building that had no significance to the movie other than it was an office building of Schindler, the movie didn't even mention it. We did get to see a lot of Schindler set pieces, and the last remaining part of the Ghetto wall, so it wasn't a complete bust. But the fact we were walking in 4 hours in -24 was beyond terrible. So we got a tram and headed back to the hostel for dinner. We had traditional food, peirogies and potatoes...along with a lot of kebab and calzones during the trip. But the traditional food was very good.
We were supposed to leave the next day so we get a cab to the airport, sit there watching blizzard conditions, and eventually after a few hours of delays, they finally cancel our flight. Stranded. We get a cab back to the hostel tell them what happened, and start looking up flights. From Krakow, where we flew into, it was about a week until we could get a flight because of all the cancellations rebooking. So we look at Wroclaw, and one is open in 2 days, but it was a 5 hour train ride. So we blow 620 zloty to get that flight, and 80 for the train to get there, and then 70 for the taxi to the airport again. Then booking a hostel for two more nights didn't help either, so needless to say it was an expensive snow storm. Afterwards the Aussies arrive back and are confused as to why we were there, but their flight was the next day, so they were worried the same thing would happen. But either way it bought us more time to hang out.
The next morning our room is robbed, but they gave us free locks and lockers, so I was fine, but our friends got raided. So the guy got caught raiding another hostel, and we were all informed to look for missing things, but I was fine. So our friend had to go down to the police station to claim his things, and make his 3:00 flight. I walk down to the lobby, and who is there sitting, at 4:45? Yup, they missed it too because some guy stole his things, but he got them back. The only thing missing, were his pictures, the guy deleted them, but this is no small problem. The camera is replaceable, the pictures aren't, and that was the only reason he went to get his stuff, was the entire European trip was on that card.
Finally it comes time to book our train at the station. It is 8:55, and the train leaves at 9:30, will get there roughly at 3, and our flight is at 6...plenty of time. WRONG. The receptionist wrote everything in polish s I could just give the lady the note. That worked fine for booking the ticket. Once we got it, the train platforms were about a ten minute walk, after we found our way. So it is now about 9:15 when we get to the platforms, 20minutes to spare, no problem. WRONG. The train is not on the board, so we do not know what platform. We have to wait in line to ask. The lady doesn't speak English, so we struggle to communicate, until she flashes the number 4 on her hand, which we understood. So we go to platform 4, everything is fine. WRONG. We go back to the same lady, there is no train on that schedule, and there no people waiting there, with only 5 minutes to go. We are going to miss it. So we go back in line, and ask again, luckily some old guy speaks broken English, and we get out of him, number 5, 20 minutes. Perfect. Now we have the correct platform and time. We finally get there and confirm our ticket matches everyone else,. Thank God it was snowing, and the train was 30minutes late. The train doesn't announce the stops, but we know the time of travel so we estimate, then pay attention, and right on time, we see our stop. We get off the train, amazed we have made it, and mad at all the trouble we have gone through. In looking through my pockets, I realize my wallet fell out while I was sleeping on the train. I see a conductor and run up to him, tell him what happens, and he says this train is leaving in two minutes, I ran on as he was shutting the door. This really was something out of a movie, and I regrettably begin to run over old people in this small train car, get to the car I was in, say "I lost my wallet." I don't think I need to remind you, they do not speak English. I start to feel the crack of the seat, conveniently placed next to a 50 year old lady's skirt. But I found it, managing to only creep her out a little, but I didn't care, I had my wallet, and was never going to see her again.
FINALLY, at the city we need to be in, all we need is a cab to the airport, which finding one was no problem, convincing him that 70 mph in a foot of snow wasn't the best idea, not so easy. Luckily we made it alive, and with a few little procedures we could finally breathe, no snow, and sitting at the gate. Now you know why the title of this entry is what it is.
