What’s the biggest Polish city in the World?

(Chicago! Joke told to me by a Polish guy in Krakow)

My Polish adventure began on Dec 26, when I left the US on a flight bound to Warsaw, via Amsterdam. It didn’t begin very smoothly. As the airplane was taxiing into the terminal in Warsaw, the pilot came on the intercom and said (exact words), “Welcome to Warsaw, and thank you for flying KLM airlines. We will be at the terminal soon; however I have some sad news for some of you. Because of a computer malfunction, about half of the baggage did not get loaded onto the plane in Amsterdam. We apologize for this, but if you will contact the agents in the terminal, they will be happy to assist you.”

Fortunately, I had packed some clothing in my small carry-on backpack so that I wouldn’t have to get into my large backpack during the one night I was planning to spend in Warsaw. To the credit of the KLM representatives in Warsaw, they got my bag back to me within three hours, which is a lot better than the full day it took the Louisville, Kentucky Northwest office to get the same bag to me when it failed to arrive with me on the flight home.

Warsaw is a great city, and I tried my best to spend my time there seeing as much as I could, but Poland in the end of December is bitter cold, and I have to say that the most I could take at a time was a couple of hours before I had to duck inside a café for some hot wine or tea. I had dinner at a jazz club the first night I was there and enjoyed some perogies, the Polish national dish. The next day I visited a museum of photography, the tomb of the unknown Polish soldier, and spent a lot of time walking around the old town area before I had to board a train to Krakow that night. (For some pictures of Warsaw, click here: http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/album23)

On the way to Krakow, I encountered the most sincere and enthusiastic display of helpfulness I’ve ever experienced in all the traveling I’ve done. To set the scene, I was in a typical Eastern European train compartment in which there were six seats. At some point, I asked one of the people traveling with me if they could speak English, and fortunately, she could. I then asked that if I called a hostel on my phone, would it be possible for her to talk to the staff there and ask them if there were any rooms available for the next three nights. This soon turned into a full on telethon conducted by her and the other two people in the compartment to find me a suitable room! Despite their efforts, which lasted for about 45 minutes, there didn’t seem to be any rooms available at any reasonably priced places.

Well, as luck (or fate) would have it, I was greeted as soon as I got off the train by an older Polish guy who introduced himself as Ted and proceeded to tell me at great length about the spacious apartment he had for rent. A little questioning revealed that the apartment was actually more like a room in the apartment that he and his wife owned and lived in. It wasn’t what I’d consider an ideal situation, but I agreed to take a look and see if I liked it.

It turned out to be a bit run down, however at 50 zlaties per night (about $16) the price wasn’t bad, and if I turned it down, I had no idea how long it might take to find another place. Besides this, they seemed friendly, and I knew that at their age they were probably both on government pensions and could use the money – so I decided to take it. More about the apartment situation later...

Krakow turned out to be a great city! With the snow covering everything, it had a very “Christmas wonderland” kind of look and feel. The city center is a walled town, with cobblestone roads that lead inward from all directions towards the center square, each one passing through a massive gate as it comes into the city. A massive castle called Wawel overlooks the old town and the river that snakes behind it. There are cozy little restaurants of all varieties and excellent jazz and music clubs throughout the city. One of the highlights of my visit was a classical music concert in a beautiful (but very cold) church! (To see my pictures from Krakow, click here: http://www.okcomputer.org/gallery/album160)

A more somber fact about Krakow is that it is located about an hour away from the largest of the former Nazi death camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had every intention of seeing the camp, but the weather took a bad turn and it began snowing harder than I’d seen yet. Instead I decided to take a look around the old Jewish quarter of town. This is the area where thousands of Jews had lived prior to World War Two in a vibrant community that was hundreds of years old. By 1945, the Nazis had killed or imprisoned all of them. Now, only a few hundred Jews actually live in this area, but it has recently experienced a rebirth as a center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. The modern residents of the area are mostly students, intellectuals, young professionals, and artists. I had a traditional Jewish dinner at a restaurant called Aleff, which was so good and filling that I actually fell asleep for a few minutes while I was waiting for dessert!

So, you might be wondering how things went staying with Ted and his wife? Well, they turned out to be a little crazy. Apparently, they like to get drunk and fight with each other. Ted seems to get the worst of it, as I saw her give him a few good punches in the chest. Although she doesn't know English, she seems to react strongly to the words "my wife", because thats when she knows he's talking about her. Ted explained her aggressiveness by saying she has "German blood". So much for Polish-German relations!