Poland

So I really wasn't planning on coming to Poland, but Dave was headed South from Latvia and we figured a few days in Poland would be fun. I found a cheap flight from Krakow to Stockholm so I was in for the adventure. We did some brainstorming but all we knew about Poland was pierogies and kielbasa and beer and amber... Does anyone know know if the polka is from Poland?

We took a night bus from Riga to Warsaw, arriving at the bus station at 6am. Super.
We had no idea what the exchange rate was, where to get money, how to get to the train station or where we were in relation to the city, so upon arrival in Warsaw we were left to our creative devices to get us to the train. I knew from the internet that we could take a fast train from Warsaw to Krakow so that was all that existed of the plan.

I had some euros in my bag and we set out to use those to change into the unknown Polish currency. People weren't too happy with us, but we managed to score 3 doughnuts filled with yummy apple stuff and a hoagie. We asked around and found a bus that took us into the city... but didn't see anything that resembled a train station so we stayed on the bus til the end of the line. 45 minutes later and a tour of the suburbs of Warsaw. Off the bus. Asked some police officers to help us find the train station. Lots of confusion here- Dave had a small train in his bag and I drew one in my book but they still didn't get it. Ridiculous actually. Two men told us two different things and we opted for the one from the man that spoke better English. Success. We got to the train station 15 minutes before a fast train to Krakow and got two seats and on the train in record time, considering we had a lot of crap in tow.


Dave on the bus with his skis

At this point we had been up for about 5 hours and it was only 10am... A short nap on the train and some beautiful countryside to look at through the windows.

We got to Krakow just before noon- Walked off the train to find a few different people that came up to us and asked us what our plans were or if we needed any help. Being skeptical of people that do nice things, we both immediately said NO but she explained that the city had a tourist board and they were just helping people out for free... novel idea! We aren't in Asia anymore, Doroty...

Went in search of the hostel we booked only to find that it was closed for two weeks- so we went to a hostel that we had a flier from... an Aussie guy was handing out fliers for the hostel to get guests because it was a new place in exchange for room and board.

The hostel was nice and clean and empty and we were psyched to be settled in somewhere after being awake for a full day already at noon. No real plans- just walking and exploring and Auschwitz tomorrow.