July 9, 1997
Hey all,
So, we're in lovely Krakow, Poland. Hopefully, we are heading to Prague tonight on a night train, followed by Warsaw, the Baltic states, and then Russia!!! The trip is just over half over, and my mood is a strange mixture of exhaustion and elation that is likely due to too little sleep, too much beer, too incredible sights, and hitting my head too hard (more on the last one below...).
Our last day in Budapest was almost entirely dull. We had too little time or energy to go to a thermal bath or caving, so we walked around town a bit. Our lunch was in a nice little pizzeria, which would be not at all noteworthy except watching the mob deals going down in the corner was entertaining. The best part of the day, though, was the mechanical bull. That's right, a mechanical bull. We went to a really cheesy amusement park in the City Park, and almost rode the bumper cars, and then almost the roller coaster, etc. until we saw the mechanical bull. I hope you can see the picture of Eugene reliving his Western roots...
The night train from Budapest to Krakow was perfectly nice and comfortable, except for the 2 AND 4am border crossings with oh-so-friendly guards. Well, at least we got passport stamps.
The highlights of Krakow are in the following list: the cathedral, the salt mines, Auschwitz, and my cracking my head open.
The cathedral here is in the old Wawel Castle, which used to rule all of Poland. So, about 400 years of Polish kings are buried here, with sarcophagi everywhere. The Wieliczka salt mines were something of which I had not heard before I came to Krakow, but I'm very glad I went. The mine is on UNESCO's list of 12 World heritage sights, along with things like the Pyramids, Versailles, and the Taj Mahal! Most of the tour was nondescript - walking though tunnel after tunnel hewn from solid salt. However, some of the chambers were incredible. The best was the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga. It's about 170 ft by 55 ft, and it looks like a ballroom. It has 5 chandeliers made of pure rock salt, and the decoration is exquisite; the walls are adorned with bas-relief carvings of stories from the New Testament, but they take nothing from the pure salt altars and statues. Wow. And the Polish Oom-Pah band in the next chamber was an unexpected treasure.
Auschwitz was an awing experience. I was familiar with much of Auschwitz, from film and studies in America, but actually seeing the bunkers, the gas chambers, pictures of smiling children unknowingly being led to their deaths... I don't feel comfortable putting the experience into words like this. I hope to be able to talk to you about it in person when I return.
Finally, yesterday, exiting a basement restaurant, I decided to not look up where I was going. The door open over the stairs decided to not move respectfully out of my way, and my head decided to slam at high speeds into an immovable object. Owwwwww.... Luckily, the cut was in the hairline, so any scarring will not be visible, and I lost no consciousness, just pride. Ouch...
Well, that's all with this netlag-addled email experience. I hope you enjoyed!
Lance
