The next morning, waking up was miserable. Four hours of sleep is not enough. We made the trek out to Wawel Castle (vavel castle, if youre wondering how to pronounce it). Wawel was gorgeous on the outside, sort of lame on the inside. The cathedral was beautiful and Eric and I pretended to be british tour guides, making up our own explanations for the tapestries and artwork which I think was more fun than an actual tour guide. While we were waiting for the other half of our group to return, I managed to accidentally make our professors 4 year old son cry. Apparently if you tell a four year old "no you can't just take that out of my hand" they cry. A lot. So then I felt like a douche bag. And he apologized to me in English and his mom in Romanian. Yaniv is pretty adorable. We made up, so its okay. We hugged it out.
It was hot as hell at the castle which explains the four-year-old's temper tantrum. So naturally we went for some hot chocolate. Now let me tell you something. We are doing it wrong. In Krakow, they literally melt down chocolate - hence the name "liquid chocolate". It was amazing. Might have been the cause of my cavities. But thats another story. In our post-chocolate stupor, we went into the caves below the castle. Slowly following our elderly statistics professor down a wet spiral staircase was really entertaining. He is a very silly old man. Every time we would go around a full turn, we kept thinking we had reached the bottom. We hadn't. It was deceptively deep. The myth is that there was a dragon living in the caves beneath the castle which protected the castle back in the day. Now it sort of looks like where the bat cave should be built. Today, there is a large iron works dragon statue that actually breathes fire. Its pretty cool looking. Outside the cave there was a polish renaissance festival. Needless to say, I got very excited and wanted to stay and play. But there was a boat to catch. We took a really nice boat ride up and down the river that runs through Krakow. Lunch was on our professors and I did some work on some really delicious mushroom risotto. After shopping, some ice cream and thinking that Caroline got taken, I took a much needed awkward nap with my dirty feet hanging off the bed. We finally woke up, rallyed the troops and had some pierogis for dinner. But not after taking some pictures with Caroline and her "ski" sign. While we were in Krakow, Caroline printed off a sign that said "ski" and she would put it up with signs that said Krakow on them. Krakowski. Its her last name. Adorbs. The bars were sub par and way too American. Although we did try this really tasty drink that was vodka and apple juice. It was AWESOME. But the night was lame, and we were all so tired so we decided to call it a night and limp home.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Krakow and Mr. Gluck.
Ee sorry this is so late. Life has been insane.
So I left you off at a depressing point, after Auschwitz. The night improve significantly afterwards. Caroline, Eric and I struck out in an attempt to find the Jewish festival going on that night. It would turn out that the festival was more of a serious of events going on throughout the city for two weeks. But we didn't know this as we adventured through the streets, very confused as to why there was nothing going on. Using my Jew-senses, we of course managed to stumble upon the JCC, Jewish Community Center for you gentiles out there. Naturally, the head of the JCC invited us in for pickles, salada and kosher wine. This is where we met Yakov Gluck. Yakov is the man. But we'll get to that later. We left the JCC in an attempt to locate Eric's russian TA in the midst of a hoppin hipster bar in the middle of Kazimierz, the Jewish district in Krakow. This bar was sick. The beer was delicious, and the only lighting upstairs was candles. The walls were covered with black and white prints. It showed up Kafe Keuroac. In the basement, there was a Jewish DJ with stars of david illuminated on the walls. It was pretty freaking sweet. We finally left this bar in search of an underground gay bar, we never found the bar. I did however, get teased mercilessly by a couple of 16 year old Polish girls because I couldn't pronounce my words properly. Jerks. We ended up at a very strange bar with weird manacles on the walls. We ordered something, and the waitress came back with 6 blue shot glasses. We tried to share our drinks with the head of the JCC who happened to be there. He ignored us, which was naturally hurt my feelings. After wandering around lost for a little while, we ran into Yakov again. Only this time, he wasn't alone. We accompanied him and several Ukrainian girls to their friend's underground bar. If you've ever wondered what a party with 7 people in a bar would be like - its freaking awesome because you can dance like a total fool and play whatever music you like, and the bartender gives you free drinks because oh wait, he owns the place. We may or may not have danced on the bar. But the night didn't end here. We needed to go to Zinger. Zinger is a bar that is open until the last person leaves. Apparently, you go to Zinger for your last drink around 4 am. But before we went to Zinger, Yakov needed us to go back to the weird manacles bar. This time, the head of the JCC talked to us and had a drink with us (all of which Yakov paid for). This was when we found out that Yakov is friends with Sublime, 311 and is an orthodox jew. He whipped out his tzitzis, the ropes that orthodox jews always wear, to prove it. He pretended they were nun-chucks. I almost fell of my barstool laughing. We finally left, only to be dragged into another bar with more drinks that still wasn't Zinger. Finally we made it, I double checked upon arrival. Zinger was hopping at 4 am, about the same time the sun starts to rise. We had our last drink at Zinger and Eric hailed us a cab. We bid Mr. Gluck a wonderful night and made a very giggly way home, past Wawel castle, which I thought had a dinosaur - Caroline broke my heart when she told me it was supposed to be a dragon.
So I left you off at a depressing point, after Auschwitz. The night improve significantly afterwards. Caroline, Eric and I struck out in an attempt to find the Jewish festival going on that night. It would turn out that the festival was more of a serious of events going on throughout the city for two weeks. But we didn't know this as we adventured through the streets, very confused as to why there was nothing going on. Using my Jew-senses, we of course managed to stumble upon the JCC, Jewish Community Center for you gentiles out there. Naturally, the head of the JCC invited us in for pickles, salada and kosher wine. This is where we met Yakov Gluck. Yakov is the man. But we'll get to that later. We left the JCC in an attempt to locate Eric's russian TA in the midst of a hoppin hipster bar in the middle of Kazimierz, the Jewish district in Krakow. This bar was sick. The beer was delicious, and the only lighting upstairs was candles. The walls were covered with black and white prints. It showed up Kafe Keuroac. In the basement, there was a Jewish DJ with stars of david illuminated on the walls. It was pretty freaking sweet. We finally left this bar in search of an underground gay bar, we never found the bar. I did however, get teased mercilessly by a couple of 16 year old Polish girls because I couldn't pronounce my words properly. Jerks. We ended up at a very strange bar with weird manacles on the walls. We ordered something, and the waitress came back with 6 blue shot glasses. We tried to share our drinks with the head of the JCC who happened to be there. He ignored us, which was naturally hurt my feelings. After wandering around lost for a little while, we ran into Yakov again. Only this time, he wasn't alone. We accompanied him and several Ukrainian girls to their friend's underground bar. If you've ever wondered what a party with 7 people in a bar would be like - its freaking awesome because you can dance like a total fool and play whatever music you like, and the bartender gives you free drinks because oh wait, he owns the place. We may or may not have danced on the bar. But the night didn't end here. We needed to go to Zinger. Zinger is a bar that is open until the last person leaves. Apparently, you go to Zinger for your last drink around 4 am. But before we went to Zinger, Yakov needed us to go back to the weird manacles bar. This time, the head of the JCC talked to us and had a drink with us (all of which Yakov paid for). This was when we found out that Yakov is friends with Sublime, 311 and is an orthodox jew. He whipped out his tzitzis, the ropes that orthodox jews always wear, to prove it. He pretended they were nun-chucks. I almost fell of my barstool laughing. We finally left, only to be dragged into another bar with more drinks that still wasn't Zinger. Finally we made it, I double checked upon arrival. Zinger was hopping at 4 am, about the same time the sun starts to rise. We had our last drink at Zinger and Eric hailed us a cab. We bid Mr. Gluck a wonderful night and made a very giggly way home, past Wawel castle, which I thought had a dinosaur - Caroline broke my heart when she told me it was supposed to be a dragon.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Stolat Momma!!
Happy birthday momma!! I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as often as you would like, but I wanted to wish you a big happy birthday from Warsaw!! I hope you had a great day, I know there's still more for you even though it's night time here. I'll give you a big birthday hug when I see you in a little over a week. I love you momma, I don't know what I would do without you. You absolutely are the best mom in the world. Hands down. Have an awesome day and celebrate accordingly :)
Sunday, July 1, 2012
We're going to Ooge!
Okay I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. When I have time to blog, sleep usually comes first and then Lisa forgets to blog.
Last weekend, we went to Lodz, or phonetically Woodge. We like to call it Ooge. Lodz started off pretty lame - when we got off of the train it looked like we were in Youngstown, OH. Almost immediately following the dreary landscape, we were forced to watch the worst movie ever made ever. Three hours. Black and White. About cotton factories. The polish either don't have a sense of humor, or they have a cruel sense of humor. We all went to bed that night thinking that the weekend was going to be miserable. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to 75 degrees and sunshine. We then saw the beautiful side of Lodz, which really is quite lovely. That night, we got a taste for european techno and silly danced to our heart's content at a random bar we stumbled upon. We continued the fashion of getting home as the sun rises around 330. The next day we spent the day at Manufactora, an old factory complex turned into a baller shopping center. I finally got my Polska football jersey, super cheap because I can fit into small boys clothing. Thank you Annie for always telling me to check children's sections.
Week of classes, boring. I'm pretty certain nothing exciting happened. Except for delicious Indian food, shopping failures and a store named after Caroline with tons of random food in it. OHH. We went to a karaoke bar! How could I forget? We befriended a Ukrainian gentleman down the hall, Oleg, who came to a karaoke bar with us. Eric and I did a beautiful rendition of piano man together when we discovered that don't stop believing wasn't an option (tragedy). Benny and the Jetts also happened, along with Bye, Bye, Bye and American Pie. Six zloty beers and karaoke made for an excellent night, which ended with Caroline running into a bar because she heard Polka music. Turns out there are 24 hour food places in Warsaw and they sell awesome mushrooms and wear adorable hats.
Krakow. Is. Awesome. For everyone who has ever said that Poland is lame - I would like you to take your words and eat them now. Gorgeous city, absolutely gorgeous. The central square was just so pretty. It looked like something out of a movie. There were cafes everywhere, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and an ice cream shop every 20 feet. Street performers, we saw the Krakowiak dancers and statues - one of which juggled for me and the other pretended to write me a novel. The ice cream here, in case you were wondering, is divine and they always have pistachio which rocks. Our first night, Eric, Caroline and myself sat at a cafe in the old square and sipped wine and just admired the scene. Friday morning, we went to Auschwitz. After one of our professors told us several off hand inappropriate jokes about Auschwitz. "Are we going to take a train there?" "Well the trains to Auschwitz haven't been running for a very long time." "Well no one ever complained about going to Auschwitz over the salt mines, in common era." Auschwitz was eerie and surreal. Thats the best way to describe it. After trying my hardest to say a few hebrew prayers Eric taught me, we left Auschwitz after promising our tour guide to pass on all that we had seen there. The bus ride back gave us some time to cheer up a little bit to rally the troops for the night.
I have a tooth ache from hell right now- tomorrow I find out how good Polish dentists are, and the codine the pharmacist gave me is kicking in so i'm going to stop my saga here for tonight, tomorrow i'll write about the JCC, Zinger's, Schindler's Factory and some fantastic free cake. Oh and of course how my trip to the dentist goes. Wish me luck!
Last weekend, we went to Lodz, or phonetically Woodge. We like to call it Ooge. Lodz started off pretty lame - when we got off of the train it looked like we were in Youngstown, OH. Almost immediately following the dreary landscape, we were forced to watch the worst movie ever made ever. Three hours. Black and White. About cotton factories. The polish either don't have a sense of humor, or they have a cruel sense of humor. We all went to bed that night thinking that the weekend was going to be miserable. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to 75 degrees and sunshine. We then saw the beautiful side of Lodz, which really is quite lovely. That night, we got a taste for european techno and silly danced to our heart's content at a random bar we stumbled upon. We continued the fashion of getting home as the sun rises around 330. The next day we spent the day at Manufactora, an old factory complex turned into a baller shopping center. I finally got my Polska football jersey, super cheap because I can fit into small boys clothing. Thank you Annie for always telling me to check children's sections.
Week of classes, boring. I'm pretty certain nothing exciting happened. Except for delicious Indian food, shopping failures and a store named after Caroline with tons of random food in it. OHH. We went to a karaoke bar! How could I forget? We befriended a Ukrainian gentleman down the hall, Oleg, who came to a karaoke bar with us. Eric and I did a beautiful rendition of piano man together when we discovered that don't stop believing wasn't an option (tragedy). Benny and the Jetts also happened, along with Bye, Bye, Bye and American Pie. Six zloty beers and karaoke made for an excellent night, which ended with Caroline running into a bar because she heard Polka music. Turns out there are 24 hour food places in Warsaw and they sell awesome mushrooms and wear adorable hats.
Krakow. Is. Awesome. For everyone who has ever said that Poland is lame - I would like you to take your words and eat them now. Gorgeous city, absolutely gorgeous. The central square was just so pretty. It looked like something out of a movie. There were cafes everywhere, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and an ice cream shop every 20 feet. Street performers, we saw the Krakowiak dancers and statues - one of which juggled for me and the other pretended to write me a novel. The ice cream here, in case you were wondering, is divine and they always have pistachio which rocks. Our first night, Eric, Caroline and myself sat at a cafe in the old square and sipped wine and just admired the scene. Friday morning, we went to Auschwitz. After one of our professors told us several off hand inappropriate jokes about Auschwitz. "Are we going to take a train there?" "Well the trains to Auschwitz haven't been running for a very long time." "Well no one ever complained about going to Auschwitz over the salt mines, in common era." Auschwitz was eerie and surreal. Thats the best way to describe it. After trying my hardest to say a few hebrew prayers Eric taught me, we left Auschwitz after promising our tour guide to pass on all that we had seen there. The bus ride back gave us some time to cheer up a little bit to rally the troops for the night.
I have a tooth ache from hell right now- tomorrow I find out how good Polish dentists are, and the codine the pharmacist gave me is kicking in so i'm going to stop my saga here for tonight, tomorrow i'll write about the JCC, Zinger's, Schindler's Factory and some fantastic free cake. Oh and of course how my trip to the dentist goes. Wish me luck!
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