Covered in the next articles of this blog will be these titles :
Tatry, the adventures in the south Polish mountains
Warsaw, the city i am glad i didn't skip !
What's the point in traveling ?
Stay Tuned !
Monday, October 12, 2009
Krakow
Some controversy was issued about my visiting of Krakow, it is the most touristic city of the country and i was even encouraged to skip Warsaw for it, the problem is it's hard to couchsurf if you don't plan it at least a month ago for such cities, so i spent a long time requesting and i postponed my visit twice because of that, at the end i had a positive answer right when i started looking for hostels !
My host was not yet available for the first half of the day so it was my first occasion to be what i would call a free visitor. A free visitor has the chance to make his own way through the streets, at times paying the most attention to how he would retrace his steps back, at others being totally taken by some wild envy to wander the simpler possible, staring at things and people here and there, being foolishly happy.
But the free visitor that i was didn't take long to get bored. In the morning i took the bus for the famous salt mine in Wieliczka, there i found one can only make his visit with a guided group. It was the first time, and i will make my best it be the last, that i make part of a group of people, or should i say a group of tourists, that carefully follow the steps of a guide, or should i say a person whose talks have been carefully recorded and kept tirelessly playing in loop forever. The place was impressive at moments and the sensation of being 135 meters below the ground didn't go unremarked. But to tell the truth it was a real pain, to belong to the group, although i'm glad i know what it is at least !
My host was not yet available for the first half of the day so it was my first occasion to be what i would call a free visitor. A free visitor has the chance to make his own way through the streets, at times paying the most attention to how he would retrace his steps back, at others being totally taken by some wild envy to wander the simpler possible, staring at things and people here and there, being foolishly happy.
But the free visitor that i was didn't take long to get bored. In the morning i took the bus for the famous salt mine in Wieliczka, there i found one can only make his visit with a guided group. It was the first time, and i will make my best it be the last, that i make part of a group of people, or should i say a group of tourists, that carefully follow the steps of a guide, or should i say a person whose talks have been carefully recorded and kept tirelessly playing in loop forever. The place was impressive at moments and the sensation of being 135 meters below the ground didn't go unremarked. But to tell the truth it was a real pain, to belong to the group, although i'm glad i know what it is at least !
Once back to Krakow i walked endlessly to see only a small part of the big views that offers the city, and was impatiently waiting to meet my host. Marek was a very caring guy, i enjoyed his company and he was a very good host. On sunday we cycled through the city and headed to a nice lake where i couldn't stop myself from swimming, and then up to a famous beautiful hill overlooking the whole region, the day was remarkable, and ended by a warm goodbye at the bus station, as i resigned from taking the train, and i couldn't have done a better choice, the bus was cheaper, very comfortable, and i was sitting in a good company with a girl from Torun, so i didn't get bored neither from silence nor talking.
Alcohol !
Disclaimer:
To all the big alcohol lovers, the following holds potentially shocking contents that may hurt your feelings, pride or dignity. If you doubt your emotional strength please skip this section or close this window. The writer is in no place to be hold responsible of the consequences of your decision to continue reading, do it at your own risk.
I've been told before i travel that poles drink a lot, it was a good thing as my mind has been long well formatted to go against the waves, so it was a nice occasion to prove myself a new time; it was with that spirit that i headed to Poland.
In fact, so far i never got "in touch" with the alcohol world, i just always had the rule in mind, rooted by religion and social habits: not to drink. It seemed reasonable and was a simple and easy rule to follow. Then was the time to land on the real mine field and get past theory.
To all the big alcohol lovers, the following holds potentially shocking contents that may hurt your feelings, pride or dignity. If you doubt your emotional strength please skip this section or close this window. The writer is in no place to be hold responsible of the consequences of your decision to continue reading, do it at your own risk.
I've been told before i travel that poles drink a lot, it was a good thing as my mind has been long well formatted to go against the waves, so it was a nice occasion to prove myself a new time; it was with that spirit that i headed to Poland.
In fact, so far i never got "in touch" with the alcohol world, i just always had the rule in mind, rooted by religion and social habits: not to drink. It seemed reasonable and was a simple and easy rule to follow. Then was the time to land on the real mine field and get past theory.
The first impression was by far relunctancy ! That drink smelled really bad, in fact, now that i think back about it, no wonder it stinks; it's rotten material ! So i couldn't get how people stand drinking it... That, already, has definitely been my big no no to me even thinking about trying it.
Came then the phase in which i realize how widely and commonly spread the drinking was, you could hardly conceive a friendly meeting without alcohol, and you barely find someone who settles for just one glass or can. It was not irritating to me as long as they remained sober and rational in their acts, but there happened many situations in which some friends were so drunk it was first funny to stare at them and then they raised some pity inside of me... How can one cause his mind to lose control while it is the one thing that distinguishes him from the animal reign ?
That, without mentionning all the crazy money spent behind it, i was lucky and proud to not only be called juice man, but also to be the one who spends the less money on the soft drinks ^^
Came then the phase in which i realize how widely and commonly spread the drinking was, you could hardly conceive a friendly meeting without alcohol, and you barely find someone who settles for just one glass or can. It was not irritating to me as long as they remained sober and rational in their acts, but there happened many situations in which some friends were so drunk it was first funny to stare at them and then they raised some pity inside of me... How can one cause his mind to lose control while it is the one thing that distinguishes him from the animal reign ?
That, without mentionning all the crazy money spent behind it, i was lucky and proud to not only be called juice man, but also to be the one who spends the less money on the soft drinks ^^
My other days in Lodz
Manufaktura, the biggest attraction of Lodz, is a big compound of malls, restaurants, two museums, a hotel, clubs, and Cinema City. We once went to watch a movie in Cinema City, althought the film was not especially nice, it was good to see what a real cinema is, the screen was so huge one couldn't cover the whole of it in his field of view without moving his head ! Yet the sound was disturbing in some action scenes, a bit of normalization would've done better.
There are things i will not forget about Lodz, all are naturally linked to the cs_ers i met. I've been taught juggling in Lodz, it's one of the things leaving such good impression on you that they make you take decisions such as i will do my best to highly improve my skills and go back there someday especially to impress my masters.
In Lodz i also learned to play Poker, in the dorms i was heading to my room some night and found a group of IAESTE friends having placed two tables in the hallway and were playing Poker. I had some idea that there were tactics in that game, but i have been deceived when i realized it was just another card game highly and essentially based on luck. We surely didn't play on money, but i developed some possessiveness over my nice looking tokens during the game, and it helped feeling how easy, stupid and irresponsible it was to lose one's real money over such an infantile game.
There are things i will not forget about Lodz, all are naturally linked to the cs_ers i met. I've been taught juggling in Lodz, it's one of the things leaving such good impression on you that they make you take decisions such as i will do my best to highly improve my skills and go back there someday especially to impress my masters.
In Lodz i also learned to play Poker, in the dorms i was heading to my room some night and found a group of IAESTE friends having placed two tables in the hallway and were playing Poker. I had some idea that there were tactics in that game, but i have been deceived when i realized it was just another card game highly and essentially based on luck. We surely didn't play on money, but i developed some possessiveness over my nice looking tokens during the game, and it helped feeling how easy, stupid and irresponsible it was to lose one's real money over such an infantile game.
We once gathered a group and went to a forest bordering Lodz, it was a rainy day so it was brief and then we decided to have lunch. We were all very hungry and agreed we won't wait to return to the city, instead we would try that fancy restaurant in the middle of the forest. The fact is among the many times i decided to try spending unreasonable money on food in the hope it would be worth it, i was never satisfied. Turns out the more the food is expensive, the less valuable it is. That fancy Polish restaurant did make no exception, so what was worth was making sure of it. There was a Swiss among us, he said the prices were comparable to a Mc Donalds in Switzerland ! No wonder it was a very good thing i went to Poland and not a western european country, as it happens, later i found out even Italy was already very expensive.
But all in all, i wouldn't say i'm habilitated to comment about the polish food being established it's mainly based on meat and that i couldn't eat meat back there.
Wroclaw, Poznan
Contrarily to what i was used to in Tunisia, there is no control when entering the quay or train in Poland, you only get asked for your ticket during the travel. Trains were fairly nice, and i liked those with compartiments, non existant back home, another difference is the rails are rationally wide in Poland, i always thought they were unreasonably narrow in Tunisia, no wonder it influences stability, speed and comfort. What is comparable on the other hand, is how much crowded the trains can turn to be; after the compartiements get busy, it gets even hard to find your place in the cold narrow and noisy hallway along the wagon, where many don't hesitate to spread their sleeping bags on the floor and take a set of naps regularly disturbed by those people walking over their heads back and forth along the corridor, at times accidentally stepping over their feet.
It was a tight schedule i planned for my first tripping week; one day and a half for Wroclaw and the next day and a half for Poznan. When i arrived to the first city i was nicely welcomed by by my host Marta. My first positive impression about her was enhanced by she asked me whether i like walking; we spent that whole day striding almost non stop ! Couldn't be better. At night i am very warmly welcomed by the parents, mother is interested and asks a lot of questions, in polish ! but Marta was a good interpreter. In the morning we were supposed to visit some other places. Instead, we more worthily spent it chatting at home and teaching languages. Time passed so nicely that for a while i reconsidered my plan and thought of staying instead of going to Poznan, but at the end i did leave.
Among the interesting topics raised in our discussions was the question about the point in making brief couch surfs; you get to meet wonderful people, spend magical time together, but then you leave as soon, settle for keeping it as a simple memory, and return to your daily routine. How disappointing is that ?
I believe it's not for nothing that it's meant to be so; what makes the visit good is justly its briefness, in a short time you can only get the ephemerally enthusiastic state of mind of the newly encountered person; the best of him. In a short time you are yourself excited about your visit and can only see the best of the place: this is how great a couch surf can be. If you make it long, well, if you make it long it will be different.
What is sure is that later, comes the time to make the effort of keeping in touch, and depeding on its reciprocity, you will know the extent of the friendship.
I still remember the goodbye at the train quay as if it was yesterday, it was definitely a very good first surf.
Wroclaw was beautiful, Poznan was different, was quiet and peaceful. Ania, my host, accentuated that feeling. Our many discussions were mature and calm, and to my big pleasure, there have been of those mutually comfortable silences, i always loved the people who appreciate silence. We did not spend a lot of time touring the city. At night we went to meet Ania's friends, cs_ers as well. Happened then an effect i would name The Turtle Effect !
I will unexpectedly not develop that ! Although i know you are greatly interested in getting details ^^ I can yet hint that a story can only be related after it ends.
No wonder Poznan was a highlight in Poland.
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