I turned 21 in Krakow...

...where I was already legal.

The Krakow weekend was an adventure planned by the student organization 2Wroclaw, whose basic purpose is to ensure that the Erasmus students enjoy themselves in Poland and don't die or end up in prison. At about 8:00am (a little later actually--nothing ever happens on time in this country) about 80 people crowded onto two buses for the four-hour ride.

Not everyone went to Krakow (ie, my Polish flatmates, the majority of my Indian friends, and the big Maldovian), so we had a small pre-birthday party on Thursday night.

Kasia educated Zehra and I in the art of making traditional Polish pancakes with apples. Zehra and I took a lot of notes and photos. We really didn't do that much actual cooking (Between the two of us, we fried a total of four pancakes and put the powdered sugar on about five of them, so we're not completely worthless).

Here we have the cook/teacher/expert of all things Polish (I go to her with all my questions; I've decided that Kasia is basically my Polish Big Sister):

Zehra and I "helping."

The final product (the bottle of Russian champange was Emila's contribution):The beginings of the birthday crew, minus Diana and Emila. Diana went home to pack for Krakow and Emila was in the Learning Room preparing for her exam.

And then the Indians arrived: We had ice cream and wine...and Sorin had piwo, which he was kind enough to continually pour into my little wine glass.

It was an excellent birthday eve--I think we all got to bed at around 2:00ish. And, we had to be up and ready to go the next morning (we slept on the bus).

Nina and I have decided to define the Krakow expirience as "The Sharing Trip." She, Steffi, Shail, and I shared all of our food, a hostel room, a tour group, and germs...because we were all sick in some way when we returned. Well, Shail didn't get sick--we're thinking of disowning him for not being a "team player."

The main market square in Krakow complete with a view of the Church of St. Mary. The inside of this church is absolutely gorgeous; Picaso once called it "the eighth wonder of the world." It's important to note that Krakow (unlike Wroclaw, Warsaw, and Gdansk) survived the war unscathed--everything is original. No rebuilding; no reproductions. The line of saints in front of St. Peter and Paul's church. The street is literally lined with churches, one directly after the other.

Here one can seen the gate of the Church of St. Andrew and how is leads directly into the yard of the St. Peter and Paul church.

A view of the river from the Wawel Castle:

Being bums by the river:
Free piwo on my birthday! I really wanted to start following this guy around while chanting "piwo, piwo, piwo!" We could have been such good friends, Free Piwo Man and I....

This photo had to be taken; it was an opportunity we just couldn't pass up.

In the Rynek on the way back to the hostel:
Ah....the Hostel from Hell. This place is icky, and smelly, and really uncomfortable. But it's cheap...and really disgusting. And none of the outlets actually work. Ick. Don't stay there.

Nina and Shail attempting to pretend that the hostel isn't so bad. (Disclaimer: No one was forced to smile in this picture. All happiness was displayed through the individual's own free will.)Hostel life can be entertaining. Like when Nina has lots of scarves in her bag, and you can't decide which one to wear. So, when in doubt, showcase them all.
My official birthday piwo in the Krakow Rynek. It was about this point that all the drunk Americans stumbled over to sing me "Happy Birthday." Honestly, I don't think any of them eveh remember that...

After piwo, Shail drug us to an Indian restaurant he had discovered just outside the Rynek. We shared a really spicy rice dish.
We had to be back at the hostel by 1:00am, or be locked out until 5:00am, so it wasn't that late of a night. It was the best birthday I've had since Prom fell on the April 25th when I was a high school junior.

Saturday was guided tour day. We went back to Wawel Castle:

And to the top of the bell tower in the Cathedral attached to the Castle. The view was pretty impressive:

The legend says that if you touch the bell in the tower, you will get married very soon. Zehra appears very eager to tie the knot. I touched the bell twice (by acciedent), so you're all invited to both my weddings, as well as my divorce hearing.

Getting up to these bell towers is never easy...and going down is a tramatic expirience. Just ask the knot on Nina's head.The yellow building on the right is where John Paul II lived when he was Bishop of Krakow.

And here we have a gentleman in traditional John Hulinsky attire:

St. Peter and Paul's church, once again:

Back in the Rynek:

The bugaler at St. Mary's. He plays every hour to the four corners of the Rynek. Even durning the war and the Communist years, the bugaler was on duty.

I am 21, and the fact that I took this picture is a testament to my maturity level.

I saw this movie last night--it's really good, and oddly funny. I enjoy Germans making fun of their own history.

The Jewish Quarter which was redone/restored for the making of "Schindler's List."

Another landmark from the film: this sewer cover. I thought it was funny that "I love you" is written in Polish on the wall behind it.Even more from "Schindler's List." There's actually a cafe in the square now.

The subtext of this photo: Why, why, why did we let these people drag us to this Polish cafe? Why? This was supposed to be a really nice picture of us in front of the dragon at Wawel Castle, but some lady jumped up on the statue just as the picture was taken. Thanks to modern technology, I cropped her out.

The Berlin crew reunites...minus a Maldova Man.

Returning to that theme of "sharing," Steffi and I had only one scarf between the two of us (which we had actually borrowed from Nina). We wore it like this all through the evening, and while we ate our dinner on one of the patios in the rynek.

Krakow is really green and bright. All the walk ways seem to look like this.

These were the most entertaining living statues that I have seen thus far in Europe. People were constantly giving them coins just to see what kind of turns the story they were acting out would take.

On Sunday, we only had about three hours for roam the city before the bus left for Auschwitz. We left the hostel with three missions: 1) Go to the top of the clock tower in the rynek 2) Buy postcards 3) Find ice cream.

The clock tower was 110 steps to the top (I counted). It would have been nice, but you couldn't go out on the balcony. You just had to take pictures/look through the glass.

These pigeons had a better view than we did.

I have no idea what this lady was doing, or if those are her normal clothes. I just thought she was really interesting.

We wandered around the city center for almost a half hour trying to find post cards. That's part of the reason I really liked Krakow--it's not terribly touristy. We finally just bought some at Empik (a chain store that sells media and random Polish souvenirs). Then, it was onward to the ice cream. We crawled up on the statue in the city center across from the church and ate out "lunch."

When I asked Steffi, "Why didn't you smile?" She replied with, "I was eating!"

This picture personifies the entire trip: Shail is explaing something, and the rest of us are thinking "huh?".
Auschwitz was a completely surreal expirience. It hasn't quite sunk in that I was actually there. The facility itself reminded me of the Armery near Grand Island where Lowell and Grandpa used to store their boats in the winter. It's simply a conglomerate of military-like brick buildings sitting in perfect rows.

Through the window of the tower at Auschwitz II--the most famous camp. Our guide descibed it as "where hell literally came to Earth."

Krakow is officially my new favorite city in Europe. Since we've been home, Wroclaw just doesn't seem quite as nice. Though, after the Hostel From Hell, Olowek is a luxery suite.