Over Easter weekend, we made a trip to Poland. I’ve been wanting to venture into Eastern Europe for some time and we decided Poland as good a place as any to visit on Easter. Big mistake. Apparently, Poland is very, very Catholic. I guess John Paul II should have tipped us off, but we had no idea. We arrived in Warsaw on Good Friday, and everything was closed.
A normally bustling square
Faced with few options, Dana and I wandered the streets looking for an ideal place to get traditional Polish fare. As we strolled, we came across this famous Warsaw statue of a mermaid.
Mermaid with sword and shield = cool
We eventually found a Rick Steves’ recommended restaurant, so we went in and sat down. When Dana tried to order, the waiter said, “No, not available.” I tried to order something while Dana searched the menu for another option. “No, not available”. The waiter then grabbed a napkin, and drew a map for us. Essentially, he told us, “Get OUT. NO SOUP FOR YOU!” Thoroughly confused, we headed around the corner and ducked into a tiny restaurant that was willing to serve us pierogi—traditional stuffed dumplings served with gravy or butter. Dana opted for butter and I opted for the gravy. Their gravy is really just bacon and butter; and, we all know that bacon and butter makes everything better.
With our lunch complete, we continued strolling the streets and eventually made it to the Polish Uprising Memorial [warning: educational content]. Poland, due to its flat landscape, has been subject to invasions throughout the course of time. In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded and took Poland (Russia would eventually take the eastern lands of Poland). Rebels went underground—literally. In 1944, with Russia advancing towards Warsaw, the Polish Rebels came out of the sewers and fought back the Nazis. The Russians sat, waited, and watched while the Nazis stumbled and then eventually crushed the rebellious uprising. Warsaw is now a very modern city as most everything was destroyed by the Nazis after this uprising. The memorial below commemorates those soldiers who came out of the sewers to fight for their country’s freedom.
Polish Uprising Memorial
With little else to do, Dana and I decided to head to a chocolate shop. You can get hot chocolate with just about anything. I opted for the hot chocolate with cayenne and Tabasco.
Tabasco and Chocolate? Yes please.
Unfortunately for me, my intended, “drip, drip” turned into a “glug, glug”. After a few sips, my mouth turned to fire and I couldn’t really taste anything. The chocolate would cool my mouth and the cayenne/Tabasco would reset it ablaze.
With our day pretty well complete, we headed to check out Stalin’s famous building. The building dominates the area, and served as a reminder to the Pols that Moscow was always watching.
Palace of Culture and Science
Our time in Warsaw was officially over. The next morning we were heading to Krakow. We headed to the train station early to purchase our tickets. I was pumped when I attempted to purchase tickets because the ticket vendor understood my “Kroc-oof”. I was quickly knock off my high horse when she asked me what time I wanted to leave. Luckily, numbers are numbers and you can just write them out.
We arrived in Krakow about 3 hours later and were greeted by grey skies and rain. After checking into our hotel, we ventured out into the old town. There isn’t a whole lot there, but we did get to see the major sites and snap a few photos.
What time is it?
Because of the rain, we headed indoors to get some food. We ended up in a cozy wood room near the drip of a leaky roof. Sounds ghetto, but actually was a pretty decent place. The service was a bit slow, but considering the leak was getting more and more intense as we waited, we figured the weather outside was pretty terrible. So we sat, ate, drank and philosophized—my favorite activity on trips.
Since we were headed to Auschwitz the next morning bright and early, we decided it best to make a quick lap of the city, grab some food to take to the hotel and call it an early night. The day after Auschwitz (our final in Poland) was gorgeous. We headed a salt mine in the morning (boring) before grabbing some lunch and hopping on a train. While walking around the city, Dana spotted a giant beer, but couldn’t get a hold of it.
Shunned by a feisty beer.
