Easter 2000 in Krakow
I had 20 – 25 April off of work for Easter break. My plan was to go to Krakow for a day to find a place to stay for relatives coming in June to visit, then I would slowly make my way back up north, stopping at a few different places along the way. However, I love Krakow and didn’t end up leaving until it was time to return home. This trip turned out to be different than the others in the sense that the people that I met were mainly travelers, not locals.
20 April
I left for Warsaw on the 5am bus for the dreaded 5-hour bus ride (242 km, 29zl). After arriving in Warsaw, I checked the prices to get to Krakow. I knew that the train wouldn’t be cheap, as Warsaw - Krakow is a major InterCity train route. The bus was about 20zl cheaper, but it takes 8 hours! I took an express train that left at 11:15am and arrived at 2pm. Not bad..under three hours. However, it did cost 60.69zl (including a seat reservation of 10zl) for 292km. With the time it saved, I felt it was worth it. If I had known that I would be staying in Krakow for a longer period of time, I would have probably taken the bus.
I put my backpack in a luggage locker and went off to find them a place to stay. I looked at the Hotel Europejski, which was quite nice. Rooms with a shared bath were 180zl (single)/230zl (double). Next stop was the Hotel Polonia, which is across from the train station, and quoted prices of 153zl/187zl, and then the Hotel Saski, with is in Old Town, and quoted a price of 170zl (single or double). I made reservations at the Saski and Polonia for them and emailed them to see which they want. My preference would be the Saski.
By the time I was done with this, it was 4pm. I called the hostel I wanted to stay at (the one I stayed at in Sept 1998), I found out that they had beds available, and went to retrieve my backpack from the train station. On my way there, as I was passing the tram station in front of the train station, I heard 3 ladies speaking North American English, and they sounded lost. I offered to help them, and it turns out that there were going to the same hostel I was. I went to the train station and arrived back in time to catch the tram with them.
It turns out that they (Christine (30-Texas & DC), Jody (28-California), and Lisa (23-Minnesota)) were all with the Peace Corps and were based out of different towns of Slovakia. Jody and Lisa were full time English teachers, and Christine worked on an environmental project and taught English one day a week. We got to the hostel and checked in. I only paid for one night, as I still didn’t think I would stay longer.
Our rooms were close, so I met up with the girls again. Christine, who had a friend that lived in Krakow, knew a lot about the city as she had been there before, and Jody knew a bit, as she had also visited, but Lisa never had been to this city. We walked around Old Town and then Jody saw a poster for the Symphony (Krakow was having their 4th annual Beethoven Easter Festival). We decided to check out the cost, and it turned out that a "standing room" ticket cost only 10zl. We decided to get tickets and go, even though it was standing room. None of us were keen on standing for two hours, but we hoped to get a seat after the doors closed. We still had an hour before the concert started (19h30), so we went and grabbed a quick bite to eat then went back to the symphony hall. It turns out that we were able to get seats for the entire concert.
The concert itself was EXCELLENT. The orchestra played for 2 ½ hours with an intermission on about 20 minutes. Afterwards, we went to a newly opened jazz club that a friend of Christine’s friend was performing in. It was in one of the many cellars of this wonderful city. I can’t remember the name, but it is definitely a place I will return to when I visit again. We stayed there for about an hour then returned to the hostel for the night, as we were all quite tired.
21 April
I met up with Jody and Lisa at 8h30. Christine was going to see different sights. I took them to the visitor’s center, then I went a different way for the day also. I took the tram out to the Museum of Polish Aviation. It’s about 5km outside of center of Krakow, and you still have a 20-minute walk after you leave the tram. The cost with an ITIC card is 2.50zl, but there is an additional 3zl charge if you want to take pictures. I paid that, so I took a lot of pictures.
The museum has three main areas..The first is the outdoor part, where there are many different types of airplanes for different reasons (military, civilian, transport, etc.), the second is a smaller hanger which has (approximately) 12 of the earliest planes in Poland, and the third is a large hanger which as a very wide variety of planes, which also has a few military items out back. Most of the airplanes are foreign built (primarily Russian with a few American ones), except for the gliders, which hang from the ceiling, which were all Polish built. I guess flying gliders must be big in Poland. I spent several hours in this museum. After that, I spent a little time in the park like setting that opens from the museum onto the main road. There is a greenbelt that is for walking, cycling, etc. It was nice to take a load off of my feet. I did some reading and hung out for a while before catching the tram back to the city.
Next stop was Old Town again. I wanted to visit the Historical Museum of Krakow, which is located in the Krzysztofory Palace, right on the Old Town Square (#35). It’s mainly an art museum, with only a few artifacts. That surprised me. Most of the other regional historical museums I have visited in Poland have been better.
At 18h, I went to the area that I had had a brief dinner with the ladies the night before. We had talked about meeting up at that time, depending how everyone’s day went. Lisa was the first there, then I arrived, followed shortly by Christine. We went to pick up Jody, as she was having her hair cut. I’m glad that we were all able to meet up again.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant right on in the Old Town Square. It was pricey for Polish standards, but as one of the ladies said, "Live it up, you’re on vacation." So, I did. I had the spaghetti po bolonsku (spaghetti with meat sauce), and it was quite good.
The rest of the evening we walked around and talked. I wanted them to see the Grand Theater lit up. We also talked about things that we did today and life in general. We ended up at a restaurant/bar kind of place (in a cellar) trying crepes and having tea. We were all very tired and laughed a lot. This was the last time I saw them. We went different ways for the rest of the time I was in Krakow.
I enjoyed their company and am glad that I met them. It was different to be around Americans again. Where I live, there are two native English speakers, the other teacher at our school, Mary (who is Irish), and myself. We teach British English, so I am not exposed to a lot of American expressions. With the ladies, I heard a lot of "Americanisms" that I hadn’t heard in a long time and loved it.
22 April
I went to the tourist information center today to find out information on a few places just outside of Krakow that I wanted to visit. I arrived about 5 minutes before it opened and waited. While I was waiting, I met an Aussie who had just arrived in Krakow. We started talking and he mentioned that he was going to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) today and asked me if I knew the best way to get there. I‘d been there in 1998, so told him that the best way is from the other train station and directed him towards it. The tourist info center didn’t open, probably due to the fact that Easter was the next day.
I went across the road to the train station and bought my ticket for the journey home that I would make on the night of 23 April. What a great deal. Krakow – Olsztyn has one direct train per day, and it is a night train. It takes about 10 hours, covers 633km, and only cost 40.59zl (without a sleeper).
My first stop was an English Language bookstore. I browsed around and found "100 Short Stories" by O. Henry for only 9.50zl in paperback. It’s 700 pages long and consists of many of his short stories. It was an excellent deal.
Off I went again. I spend most of the morning and part of the afternoon touring the many different churches in Krakow. Polish people build WONDERFUL churches. Even the smallest church has a great interior. They are all open to the public and are a great to see. Around 15h, I went to rest and decided it sit for a while in the park like setting around the castle. The castle was built very close to the river and there are grass, trees, a path for walking/cycling, etc around it. I was reading and looked up, and whom did I see? The Aussie I had met earlier in the day. We talked for a while. He said that hadn’t made it to Oswiecim, as the last morning train had just left when he arrived and would go tomorrow. He was coming from the castle and was going to see a site that was just out of the city. He went his way and I went mine.
I went back to the main part of the city. I wanted to see if I could get another inexpensive ticket to the activity that was going on for the Beethoven festival. It turns out that there were still 10zl standing room tickets available. This night was a string quartet. They started playing at 17h and played until 19h and they were excellent. There was an intermission in the middle, and the lady in charge of the festival stood up and said (in Polish, German, and English) that there is a tradition that on the Saturday evening of the Beethoven festival, cake and coffee is served during the intermission. I thought that was very nice. I was able to speak to her briefly during the intermission expressed my gratitude for the concert and it’s quality.
After the concert, I went back into Old Town to find a place to eat. As I was walking in, guess who I saw walking out..the Aussie. We decided that we would hang out for a while together.
His name was Jeff. He’s from Sydney, but lives in London. We talked for about 3 hours. It was interesting to hear his views on Krakow and contrast them with mine. For instance, he said that it was great to hear Polish everywhere and he loved how inexpensive everything was. I, on the other hand, heard English everywhere and thought that Krakow was quite expensive. He also said that he was worried about Polish people's teeth and eyes, as he saw what he thought were dentists and opticials everywhere (I've never noticed that). We had a good time. I’m glad that I met him.
23 April
This was my last day in Krakow. I checked out, took my backpack to the train station and left it in a luggage locker.
This was also Easter Sunday, so I didn’t know what to expect in the way of tram and/or bus service within Krakow. I assumed that they would follow a Sunday schedule.
My first plan was to go out to a monastery about 12km from Krakow. I took the tram out to where I would have to change to a bus, but found out that the bus was an hourly bus and I had missed the last one by about 10 minutes. I wasn’t going to wait that long for another, so I took the tram back into the center.
Plan B was to go out to an old abbey, about 14 kilometers out of Krakow in a different direction. I took a bus to where I could catch another bus out there. I waited for 45 minutes for bus 112, but it never came. Some of the other busses and trams that pick up at that spot arrived, but not 112. I’m still not sure what kind of time the busses and trams were running on, as their pick up times didn’t match any of the daily schedules posted at the bus/tram stops. It appeared that even the locals didn’t know what kind of schedule they were running on. I guess it was "whenever" time (they show up whenever they want). So much for plans A and B. By now it was 12h. It was time to improvise.
I walked. I started off by walking through the Jewish quarter again. I hadn’t been there in a couple years. Then, I ended up by the castle again. I walked around the grounds. Next, I sat down by the river for a while, read the book I had bought, and people watched.
Krakow is different for me than the typical traveler. I have been there many times before and know the city well. I have seen many of the major sites. I don’t mind just chilling out for a while, as I know that I will be back in Krakow this summer and will have plenty of time to do other things.
At 21h, I caught my train to Olsztyn. The train was almost empty. I had a compartment all to myself. It was a nice train car..not the typical 2nd class car..it had a much nicer interior. I was happy with it.
This was the end of my Easter Break Trip 2000. I’ve decided that I will spend Easter Break in Krakow every year that I am in Poland. I guess that’s mainly because of the Beethoven festival. The music was fantastic and the tickets were inexpensive. It’s a bit of culture that I don’t get up where I live.
