The Capital of Poland Warsaw, Poland May 4,5,6
Warsaw doesn't immediately capture my attention, but it doesn't take long to warm up to the place. I wake up the first morning with a conversion with a Polish girl. She is working for FIFA and is temporarily in the city working with the Euro Cup events. Warsaw is hosting some of the games this year. She immediately decides to give me the lowdown on the city and inform me of some things I must do. She tells me go to a show at the fountain after the sunset.
I spend the day relaxing (AKA washing clothes, writing in the blog, figuring out where to go next, buying plane tickets to Peru, buying bus tickets to Krakow, etc) Even out here you need to spend some time doing chores. Eventually my clothes dry and I hit the town. I walk through the old town past the street musicians, flower sellers, and flashing helicopter sellers. I eventually find my way down to the fountain. There are loads of other people there, and the fountains are pretty impressive. I'm not much of a fountain guy, but this seems to be the place to be in Warsaw right now. Most of the people are sitting up on a hill overlooking the fountains so I follow suit and find a spot on the grass. I'm not sure exactly what is going to happen next. A voice comes over a loud speaker "show starts in 10 minutes." The sun has just set.
All of the sudden, the fountains come to life and a projector shoots out form the distance like a laser beam. Music starts playing from the loud speakers. This projector is painting a movie onto the fountains; on the water vapor from the fountains to be precise. I'm not sure exactly how this is working but it's cool. In fact, it's so cool that everyone in the crowd has their cell phones out taking video of it. There are thousands of little lights from the screens all pointing in the direction of the fountains. It reminds me of being at a concert when everyone puts their lighters in the air and flicks them on. Only this time it's cell phone screens.
I begin to realize the absurdity of all these people watching the show through their cell phone screens. Why do people feel the need to document everything! Whenever there's something amazing going on we pull out our cameras and snap pictures or video instead of experiencing the thing directly. Why doesn't one person just take the video and send it to everyone else? It would be a lot easier this way. Then I realize that all of these people are recording their own angle; their own story of the night, not a generic one. They will post it on Facebook for all their friends to see. It seems that our reality right now is less interesting than the story we will tell about it later.
The next day I eat breakfast with my new friend. I tell her that I'm leaving and want to visit one museum before catching my bus. She tells me that shes going that direction and we catch a tram together. She even gets off the tram and walks me over to the front gate, asks the guy in polish where I can put my bag while touring the museum, and gives me a tram ticket to get to the bus station. People in Poland are awesome! The museum gives a history of the occupation of Poland by German and Russia. It's really fascinating to go to the places where all of the history actually happened. As you walk through the streets, you realize that not that long ago tanks were driving where you are walking. Someone might have died at your feet. A building next to you might have burned to the ground. It really makes the history come alive and it puts your life into perspective.
Have I ever had to fight for my country to keep out foreign invaders?
Have I ever had to run from mortar rounds?
Have I ever had to live in a city that is burning to the ground?
Of course the answer is no, and it's easy to sit back at home and not think about it. If you happened to be born in another place or in another time it could have been a lot worse. In other words, don't let a traffic jam ruin your day (guilty).
Castles and Fire Breathing Dragons Krakow, Poland May 6
I arrive late in the day and meet a good group in the hostel; An Australian girl, a couple Canadian guys, an older guy from The Netherlands, a couple of Americans.
Concentration Camps Auschwitz, Poland May 7 2012
Any trip to Krakow requires a day trip to Auschwitz; the town where the largest concentration camps were located in Hitlers reign. It's not a fun filled day, but it's a day to absorb and think about a reality during WW2 where 2.5 to 4 million people (mainly Jews) were exterminated. It's a cloudy, misty day which adds to the ominous atmosphere of the place.
A sign over the main gate to the camp reads Arbeit macht frei roughly translated to Work will set you free. The irony of the situation is that the terrible working conditions killed many of the prisoners in the camp. The only thing that set them free was death in the end. After walking around for hours, looking at pictures, the gas chambers, the massive piles of prisoner suitcases, shoes, glasses, and listening to the stories you begin to realize that under the right conditions people have the capacity to be perfectly terrible to one another. The powerful always have the scales weighted in their favor. Luckily Hitler wasn't in power too long.
A Long Walk, then Absinthe Krakow, Poland May 8
I spend the day with my friend from England and another guy I met at Auschwitz the day before. We follow a tour guide around the city for a couple hours. After the tour me and Ella find a Absinthe bar and stay for awhile. The bartender shows us how to properly prepare one. It involves sugar, fire, and water, plus absinthe. It tastes like black liquorice, moonshine, and death mixed up in a glass. I like it.
Back at the hostel I talk to a older guy from the Netherlands. Since, I've checked into he hostel, I've noticed him walking around the hostel with an iPad and laptop in-hand. I learn that he has his own business trading financial assets. This job doesn't require an office, only an internet connection. He has been traveling for awhile and we have a late night conversation about economic hit men and macroeconomic monetary policy. I get his contact information on LinkedIn. He is a unique person in the mostly younger traveler scene. He gave me new motivation to start some kind of business where I could have the same freedom he enjoys. Maybe I wouldn't want to be sitting in a hostel when I'm fifty years old but I'm not sure I would want to be sitting in an office either.
There's another older Asian guy at the hostel who seems out of place. My first experience with him was waking up at around 10am after staying up late talking to everyone at the hostel. He comes in the room and shoots a "it's 10 o'clock" statement my way, clearly implying from his tone that I should be awake and doing something. It has an air of 'get up you lazy kid' and I ignore his statement and him with intention the rest of the morning. After awhile I realize that this guy is just a sad, scared, old man in a place where he doesn't belong. He has his bag chained to the bed, he constantly ensures that the door is locked, and sports a money belt in the hostel. There are only 7 people in the hostel and everyone is friendly and cool. After meeting literally hundreds of people so far on my trip, you begin to realize that people just are who they are. There is not much intention in someone's general outlook and attitude. It has been developed over decades and mostly rides on autopilot. I end up talking to him later and find a couple things I like about him. I have found that I'm good at this, and I haven't yet decided if this is a character flaw yet. I later see the guy checkout and take his suitcase out of the room leaving the door wide open. Some people are doomed.
Turkish Baths and the 2nd Best Bar in the World Budapest May 9, 10 2012
I put my ear buds in, turn on the radio, and head out to explore the city. My time in Budapest is short so I get after it.
Finally and after a full day of walking the only reasonable thing to do is visit the Turkish baths which the city is famous for. These places are basically mansions with pools of water inside and outside. All of the pools are different temperatures and all of them have some kind of minerals in them. There are fountains, statues, and men playing chess around the complex. It is absolutely perfect after a long day of exploring. I meet some people who tell me about a sauna, so I go off to find it. It feels like an oven and I only stay in for 5 minutes before I start having problems breathing. Outside of the sauna there is a pool filled with freezing cold water and a stone sink with ice shavings in it. I never do figure out what the process is to use this stuff so I just jump in the ice water pool and move on. I stay until nightfall, ten head back to the metro to return to the hostel. A group of us are going to the 2nd best bar in the world (as voted by lonely planet).
Back at the hostel I meet up with some others. I randomly meet Ella from England on the street and invite her to join us. The bar doesn't dissapoint. It's filled with odd artwork, every chair and table is different, there are 15 or so rooms of varying sizes, a black and white movie is projected on a giant brick wall, everything is different colors. Ella and I ditch the rest of the group (the guys are bent on consuming as many Jager bombs as humanly possible and the girls think they are more interesting than they actually are) and hang out the rest of the evening. It was a good and night day for sure.
I arrive late in the day and meet a good group in the hostel; An Australian girl, a couple Canadian guys, an older guy from The Netherlands, a couple of Americans.
- We decide to go grab some ice cream from a good place in the old town. This place has so many delicious desserts that it takes everyone 10 minutes to decide what to get.
- We stop off at a liquor store and grab some Zubrowka (polish vodka) to sample later.
- We get into a discussion about skydiving over vodka and I offer them some words of wisdom. I tell them that jumping out of a plane in the Alps would be excellent. I tell them that they won't regret it. As we talk, I can hear excitement with a dash of panicked fear coming through in their voices. A few weeks later I see the pictures of it on Facebook. Well done guys...well done.
- We go out at night to see a fire breathing dragon near an old castle. We arrive not knowing if it turns on every hour or every 10 minutes. After about 15 minutes we hear a rumble and fire come pouring out of it's mouth. We proceed to climb on it for the next couple of hours.
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| Fire Breathing Dragon |
Concentration Camps Auschwitz, Poland May 7 2012
Any trip to Krakow requires a day trip to Auschwitz; the town where the largest concentration camps were located in Hitlers reign. It's not a fun filled day, but it's a day to absorb and think about a reality during WW2 where 2.5 to 4 million people (mainly Jews) were exterminated. It's a cloudy, misty day which adds to the ominous atmosphere of the place.
A sign over the main gate to the camp reads Arbeit macht frei roughly translated to Work will set you free. The irony of the situation is that the terrible working conditions killed many of the prisoners in the camp. The only thing that set them free was death in the end. After walking around for hours, looking at pictures, the gas chambers, the massive piles of prisoner suitcases, shoes, glasses, and listening to the stories you begin to realize that under the right conditions people have the capacity to be perfectly terrible to one another. The powerful always have the scales weighted in their favor. Luckily Hitler wasn't in power too long.
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| Thousands of shoes, no longer needed |
A Long Walk, then Absinthe Krakow, Poland May 8
I spend the day with my friend from England and another guy I met at Auschwitz the day before. We follow a tour guide around the city for a couple hours. After the tour me and Ella find a Absinthe bar and stay for awhile. The bartender shows us how to properly prepare one. It involves sugar, fire, and water, plus absinthe. It tastes like black liquorice, moonshine, and death mixed up in a glass. I like it.
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| Burning Absinthe |
Back at the hostel I talk to a older guy from the Netherlands. Since, I've checked into he hostel, I've noticed him walking around the hostel with an iPad and laptop in-hand. I learn that he has his own business trading financial assets. This job doesn't require an office, only an internet connection. He has been traveling for awhile and we have a late night conversation about economic hit men and macroeconomic monetary policy. I get his contact information on LinkedIn. He is a unique person in the mostly younger traveler scene. He gave me new motivation to start some kind of business where I could have the same freedom he enjoys. Maybe I wouldn't want to be sitting in a hostel when I'm fifty years old but I'm not sure I would want to be sitting in an office either.
There's another older Asian guy at the hostel who seems out of place. My first experience with him was waking up at around 10am after staying up late talking to everyone at the hostel. He comes in the room and shoots a "it's 10 o'clock" statement my way, clearly implying from his tone that I should be awake and doing something. It has an air of 'get up you lazy kid' and I ignore his statement and him with intention the rest of the morning. After awhile I realize that this guy is just a sad, scared, old man in a place where he doesn't belong. He has his bag chained to the bed, he constantly ensures that the door is locked, and sports a money belt in the hostel. There are only 7 people in the hostel and everyone is friendly and cool. After meeting literally hundreds of people so far on my trip, you begin to realize that people just are who they are. There is not much intention in someone's general outlook and attitude. It has been developed over decades and mostly rides on autopilot. I end up talking to him later and find a couple things I like about him. I have found that I'm good at this, and I haven't yet decided if this is a character flaw yet. I later see the guy checkout and take his suitcase out of the room leaving the door wide open. Some people are doomed.
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| Newlyweds lock these and throw the key into the river |
Turkish Baths and the 2nd Best Bar in the World Budapest May 9, 10 2012
I put my ear buds in, turn on the radio, and head out to explore the city. My time in Budapest is short so I get after it.
- I walk over a bridge, climb up the citadel which provides great views of the city then climb down.
- I climb up to a castle and wander around then climb down.
- I walk into the art and history museum and gaze at old Hungarian paintings and sculptures and then walk out.
- I walk down the Danube river to an island in the city where people are reading and relaxing. There are colorful flowers and trees everywhere.
- I walk up the Danube river to the parliament building. It's the 2nd most impressive building I've seen so far. The Taj still holds the 1st place trophy.
Finally and after a full day of walking the only reasonable thing to do is visit the Turkish baths which the city is famous for. These places are basically mansions with pools of water inside and outside. All of the pools are different temperatures and all of them have some kind of minerals in them. There are fountains, statues, and men playing chess around the complex. It is absolutely perfect after a long day of exploring. I meet some people who tell me about a sauna, so I go off to find it. It feels like an oven and I only stay in for 5 minutes before I start having problems breathing. Outside of the sauna there is a pool filled with freezing cold water and a stone sink with ice shavings in it. I never do figure out what the process is to use this stuff so I just jump in the ice water pool and move on. I stay until nightfall, ten head back to the metro to return to the hostel. A group of us are going to the 2nd best bar in the world (as voted by lonely planet).
Back at the hostel I meet up with some others. I randomly meet Ella from England on the street and invite her to join us. The bar doesn't dissapoint. It's filled with odd artwork, every chair and table is different, there are 15 or so rooms of varying sizes, a black and white movie is projected on a giant brick wall, everything is different colors. Ella and I ditch the rest of the group (the guys are bent on consuming as many Jager bombs as humanly possible and the girls think they are more interesting than they actually are) and hang out the rest of the evening. It was a good and night day for sure.
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| Top of Citadel |
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| Castle |
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| View from Citadel |
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| 2nd most beautiful building |
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| market |
