30th June: Czech Republik

Rise and shine. It's time to travel again. Today started at 6 a.m. From Kalisz, we took the earliest bus to Wroclaw to catch a train to Prague. According to our tour guide Dagmara, it is cheaper if we took a train to the border and switch a train. Oh well, it's quite complicated to explain :S

When we reach  Wroclaw , we just missed the train and had to take the next one which is at about 1.30 pm. So, we decided to go over to some nearby shopping centre to chill and have lunch. Our plan was to catch a cab back to the train station at 1 pm. So after lunch, we went to the main road planning to catch a cab,but fail miserably! So we walked down the road to see a taxi stand (phew!). Looking at the watch, hey, it was 1.15pm already. And guess what, it was lunch time, so yeah, traffic jam. Dagmara asked the driver to drive as fast he could and the driver was such a kind soul to understand. He sped, throwing us around in the car. We reached the station 1.30 sharp, just to hear announcement that the train to Prague is about to leave from some platform (it was all in Polish and only Dagmara could understand). So we ran, with all our luggage (more than 5 kg mind you). When we finally saw the platform that we need to board, we were soooo happy. Running up the stairs, thinking that we could dash into the train. Arriving on the platform, The only thing we see is that the train was still a good 100-200 metres away! Argh! I am almost giving up, because the load of my backpack is really slowing me down. I bet the train conductors were laughing their heart out, seeing 3 Asians running like madmen. But, they are such kind soul to ask the train driver to wait for us. That was a run to remember.

Bus station in Kalisz

Station at the Polish-Czech border

One of the old old trains that passed by

The cafe in the station

After changing a few trains, we finally reached Prague, the beautiful city of Central Europe. So we checked into our hostel, rest and have a dinner at a supposedly traditional Czech food bar. We decided to have pork knuckle which in my opinion is still okay since I have yet to try the German ones.

Dinner!

Pork Knuckle and souerkrout 

Soup!

After a short stroll around the city, a small one, we decided to turn in. It was so tiring!

29th June: The way home—Dagmara’s home

We woke up today, just to find that it was still drizzling. Since it rained the whole day and night yesterday, the surrounding sort of fogged up. So, no cable car up to the mountains in the mountain and no horseback riding. boohoo…Well I don’t really mind not having a horse ride because they are so smelly. But according to Dagmara, the view, if we were to go up was really breath-taking. Oh well, like what the Polish said skoda (too bad).

So we packed our bags in the morning, and decided to go for McDonald’s for breakfast. We lost our way once we were out of the housing area and had to asked for directions. We drove all the way to the Polish-Slovakia border. We wanted to get some sweets to just realised we could not use our Polish Zloty anymore. The locals never fail to entertain us. We stopped this local and asked him where McDonald was. He asked us if that place sells pizza or something? Hahaha in the end, we have to thank Daniel for his GPS!

So after breakfast, it’s a really long drive back to Kalisz. Boyfriend and I practically KO-ed behind the car LOL, such piggies. So, half way through the drive, we stopped by this cafe in a town, well I forgotten what the town was called to have this huge pizza! They said you get what you paid for, which is indeed what we got! Not delicious blek! But just something to line our stomachs.

After lunch, the drives continues. Dagmara kept feeling bad for not showing us the best part of Zakopane, so she suggested to go to this famous monastery on the way home. People from all around the world will come here during some days for pilgrimage. The monastery was huge and when we were there, there was also a few groups of visitors from Italy. And the picture of the previous pope was everywhere too!

Tourists

One of the room

After an hour or so, we continued the drive home, only to met with an adventure. We were on this coastal road back to Kalisz and the road was a little bumpy. So we were all chatting in the car and the boys wanted to get photos of the sun setting. And there was this hole/a little elevated ground, I couldn’t remember and Dagmara couldn’t stop in time to avoid it, so the car went on it and actually flew up a little! Our hearts all skipped a beat and luckily we were all safe!

After that little adventure, we stopped to allow the boys to take photos of the beautiful sunset. Nature never fails to mesmerize us in its own way. Look at this!

Sun set

The nature never fails to surprise us

So, we reached home and Dagmara’s mother was so kind to prepare us dinner (supper to them). Tomorrow is yet another country. Czech Republik!

28th June: Up to the mountains and the rain came down

Today, we are heading to the last town in Poland. This mountainous place is actually a ski town in Poland for the locals and according to Dagmara, she always comes here with her family to ski and buy real animals’ fur winter clothing. The quality of the clothings are really of good quality. So, we drove up and up to the mountain, seeing interesting houses along the way, until,it started to rain. So, when it started to rain, the temperature will drop, to about 16 degrees. And we were not prepare for this cold weather at all!

Up to the mountains

Fur anyone?

Anyway, finding an accommodation here is interesting. You can look for a room through internet. But as you drive up to the mountain, you will see people holding signs, or waiting at the curb in a car,stating that there are empty rooms. So we drove and drove nearing the city, and to avoid getting a more expensive room in the city, we stopped in front of a red car and bargained with an old man. He offered us an ensuite double room for 90 PLN per night, which is pretty good looking at the condition of the room! The old man was a little creepy at first. When he stepped out of his car, he looked like he was drunk. And when he leans towards the car to talk to us, he had food all over his moustache and beard LOL!!! Then when we reached his house, he needed our IDs for record. So boyfriend, Daniel and I gave him our ID. And old man, in a confused look, asked Dagmara :” You mean they were not Polish?” We had a good laugh!

Our room for the night

Oh yes, I have yet to mention the name of this place. It is Zakopane. After settling into the room, it is time for lunch. A typical lunch in Zakopane is eating roasted meat in a wooden house. And to avoid tourist trap, avoid colourful lightings shop. Here are what we had:

The menu

Various grilled meat

Grilled meat upclose

Pork-knuckles

My soup - sourcroute soup

Bacon!!!

The waiter in the shop

Yummy, isn’t it and mountain men are big! After that, we tried to walk around the town despite the drizzle. Tried. But the weather was too cold for our summer clothes. So we stopped in a cafe to have some coffee and dessert. Well, I guess this is a good rest for us after so many days of rushing and travelling around.

Dessert

For dinner, we went to this restaurant a little bit out of the city. This is an interesting restaurant in a hut and the boss went on to Poland’s TV series called “Big Brother”.

The scary owner- gentle giant

According to Dagmara, she visited this restaurant with her dad when she was little. And to enter the restaurant, you must knock on the door. And you need to knock real hard before the owner can open up the door. With an axe. And asking you what you want in Polish! So, boyfriend went up to the door, knock hard and we waited anxiously for the door to open.When it finally opens, we were then waiting for him to shout. For some reason, maybe the mountain man never see an Asian before, he was not shouting. He even invited us into the shop. But as we were settling down, he suddenly knock a metal hike against a metal chimney, loud, scarring all of us. And throughout the meal, the shop owners will drop trays to scare the customers. It was really funny than scarry to me! Hahahaha. After the meal, boyfriend went to tried the chimney thing when the owner slam the hike right in his face. So boyfriend tried the chimney thing too, which excited a crowd of mid-age women, and they ask for an encore! It was a really thrilling night!

The interior of the shop

The rain is not stopping and the city has quiet down. We really had nothing more to do except going back to our room and rest. After a few hours of drive in the morning, we were quite tired and we still have a long drive back to Kalisz! Hopefully the rain will stop tomorrow and we will be able to take the cable car up to the mountains, in the mountain

Looked like Japan? It's just Zakopane

27th June: Relieving the Nazi’s era in Auschwitz

No visit to Poland is complete without the trip to Auschwitz, a concentration camp. Despite all the stories from people saying how depressing and scary the place is, we all decided to go over. For 30 PLN/person, we have a English-speaking tour guide and it was a 4-hour walking trip. But before we have all the depressing stuff, we were on our way to look out for Polish delicacies again, and this time it is a holy one.

The name of the shop 

The last pope, pope Jean-Paul II is a Polish. And his favourite dessert was a thing that tasted like a mille cake. Pastry with custard cream in the middle. And Oswiciem is actually famous for that! We went to this store, which supposed to make the best mille cake in the country. And it didn’t disappoint us.

Mille cake

The interior of the cafe

The Auschwitz camp trip started with a video viewing session, giving us a rough idea on what a concentration camp is and how was the development of the concentration camp.  A lot of people thought that after a visit to Auschwitz camp visit, it will be very traumatising or depressing. And indeed it should be like that. I felt a little depressed, especially when we reach the section with rows and rows of pictures of children. It is quite bizarre to think that someone like Hitler will do something so cruel to achieve his goals. If you are in Europe, a visit to any concentration camp is a must in your itinerary.

Work for freedom

The one of the many barb-wired place

Over here and be shot to death

The supposedly road to freedom is actually road of death

The countries that were affected

The number of people killed

Well, nothing much be said about this trip other than through pictures. Despite all the sad encounter during the trip, the weather was perfect. Blue sky and the sun can make no one be sad forever. The following pictures were from Auschwitz-Birkenau which is different from the main camp. To get here, there is a shuttle bus ferrying visitors from the main camp to the Birkenau or Auschwitz II. There was supposed to be a third camp, the Monowitz but the building got torn down right after the fall of Hitler.

Entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau

The rows of bunk beds for the abductees

One of the many cells

Their toilet which one can use only twice a day

Today is relatively simple. The last night in Krakow, we went to this small little cafe for some dinner before walking around the town until night falls (mind you, night falls at 10pm?). And then it’s time to turn in early for a long drive again to our last destination in Poland, the mountain areas of Zakopane!

Starters : Tomato soup

Some chees-baked thingy

Duck and cranberry jam (super dry)

26th June: Wanna see a dragon?

The day started with a good breakfast provided by the hostel. And we started exploring the town, through the Old Town Square. Saw a lot of buskers around and Dagmara was even scared by one of them! Haha. So we walked to this place called the Florenc Gate and in front of the gate, there was this wall where vendors hang drawings of different size and shapes against it. And the effect is really beautiful, like a big piece of collage!

Pretty?

From there, we walked again to the castle, where there is a cathedral and a dragon. The cathedral housed tombs of previous kings and also the Polish president who died in a plane crash few years ago. There were many people there as well to pay their respect for the president.

The tomb of the previous president

And afterwards, we went up to the bell tower, to witness the large bell, which can produce sound that travels almost 30 km far! But the climb up the tower is not an easy one, with steep staircase and low arch at some places.But the bell was magnificent!

Ding Dong Bell

Next up, we went to see a dragon! A fire spitting dragon! It was actually just a dragon statue. According to the legend, the dragon attacked Krakow in the olden days and one of the warrior killed him by feeding him real salty water. Hmph, I wonder if the salt were from Waliszka?

Dagmara is always wanting us to get the best Polish food from Poland. So she wanted to bring us to this cafe which served krakovian traditional stew in the Jewish Quarter. She said that this cafe was on the television before and we couldn’t really find it when we were there. We asked around a few times but nobody seemed to hear it before. Then she thought that maybe the shop changed its name. So we went around the square which eventually lead us to the cafe. Yeap, the changed their name. Krakovian traditional stew was really good, a slab of meat in some tasty gravy, placed on top of two pieces of bread, that will soak up all the gravy. It was really tasty and filling.

The Krakovian stew

My ultimate yucky Caesar salad (no croutons)

And, boyfriend and I tried buttermilk for the first time. In my imagination, buttermilk is literally milk added with butter, and it is hot. But when the drink came, it was cold, and it tasted like yoghurt drink, a more sour version. And I like it!

After that, we went food hunting again, for this thing called Zapikanki. It seems that this is probably the only food that I can remember it’s Polish name. Basically, this is a long baguette, baked with cheese on it. You can choose any toppings of your preference. But the traditional one, according to Dagmara was fried onions only.No meat! We ordered one to share and it was really really good.

Dagmara and I, posing with our Zapikanki 

Boyfriend and Dagmara

Zapikanki!

And so we continued walking, to digest off our food, which was really a lot of food. In the evening, boyfriend and I decided to watch a classical musical performance in St Peter’s and St Paul’s church in the church district. It costs 30PLN per person for about one hour performance. This is my first classical music concert. And I must say, for the price I pay, it was really a good show. The soloists were very professional. Apart from violin, we had a flute and a trumpet soloist. It is amazing how the church can give good acoustic effect! How I wish we have this in Singapore/Malaysia! And after the performance, I had a sudden urge to pursue music again. But we will see!

The music hall

Us before the concert