My adventures in the East

Winter vacation, a wonderful initiative of the Germans, is a two week vacation in February. For the average German family, this time is spent skiing in the Alps. However, I used this free time to go to places I have yet to explore – Eastern Europe. I started my vacation on Monday February 14 by riding a train for ten hours from Dresden to Cottbus and after a change of trains on to Krakow. It was a long day, but I had brought things to occupy my time. I was fascinated by the Polish landscape. Beginning at the border, southwestern Poland is very flat and mostly forest. As we traveled east, the land become hillier and was used for agricultural purposes. I arrived well past dark and took a taxi to my hotel. My hotel was very nice and I would stay then again should I ever again reach Krakow. It was located in the main city center only a block from the main square. It was a bit noisy at night, but I was too tired to notice, and had a good breakfast of bread, meat, cheese, jam, juice and more.

My first day in Krakow was spent seeing the sights. It was a cold clear morning. I started by walking through the Planty, a parked planted on the remains of the medieval wall that once surrounded the old town. I entered the town from the north going through the only remaining gate of the wall. The gate opened onto the main north south road. I spent the morning walking along this street looking at the different items for sale and stopping at different points to visit the important sights. These included the cathedral, the old cloth hall and a tower, the only remaining piece of the original town hall, in the main square, St. Francis’ Basilica, where Pope John Paul II was once bishop, and the castle on a large hill at the south end of the town. 

Main square

Within the walls of the Castle

For lunch I ate at a traditional Milk Bar, a cheap self-service restaurant that serves traditional Polish food.  I had two humongous potato pancakes that were topped with a thick stew, ketchup, cream, and cheese. I also tried the local drink called the Kompot. It is a fruit juice.

After lunch I returned to my hotel room and took a nap. I was determined that this trip would be relaxing and stress free. If I wanted to stop for tea, that I would or if I wanted to go back to my room and rest, it was not a big deal. Three days in Krakow was plenty of time and ensured that I could take my time seeing the town. After I woke up from my nap, I headed back out and walked around. For dinner I went to an Italian restaurant suggested by my guidebook and had a delicious pizza. I returned to my room early and went to bed tired and wanted to get a good night’s sleep because the next day I would get up early and go to Auschwitz.