Polish Weekend

I am trying to be slightly more timely with my posts - it is tough to write much about a trip when it was a month ago. This weekend I went to Krakow for my first solo weekend break. I figured since I have been here a year, it is about time I went to Poland. I am Polish after all.

One of my customers has an apartment in Warsaw and an old farm in the countryside and he spends most of the summer working from there, going to the office during the week and spending weekends on the farm with the family. I had heard him talk about it a couple of times now, including a couple of weeks ago, so I decided it was time to go check out Poland. So last week, I booked a package on lastminute.com and away I went.

This was my first cheap airline experience here in Europe. I had heard some horror stories about flying the budget airlines, but for the most part my experience was fine. I flew Ryan Air from London Stansted. They have very tight luggage restrictions - 10kg for hand baggage, 25kg for checked baggage - and basically if you check a bag, you pay a handling fee. I bought a cute little bag especially designed for the tight restrictions, and even weighed it downstairs at the gym before I left. It was perfect - 7.4kg and it fit in that funny little cage they have at the check in counter. It was funny - I did not see much fuss checking in at Stansted, but when I came home yesterday they were really hassling folks at the airport in Krakow. I got the tag of approval though.

The only annoying part of my flight (both legs) were the drunken (or soon to be drunk) groups of Brits going for their stag weekends. I guess it is a very popular place for cheap drinking vacations. And not surprisingly, when one beer is the equivalent of 70p. And its mighty good beer as well. I had several Zwieckes - though I cannot pronounce them I could drink them without a problem. There were many parties of these guys in my hotel too. I think I heard retching on Sunday morning. Yum.

When I first arrived Friday night - I have to say I was less than impressed. I took a taxi from the airport and mid-way noticed that he hadn't put on the meter. I had read in Time Out that a cab ride should cost between 30 and 60 zlotys based on the integrity of the driver. Well mine charged me 65, and then only gave me 30 zloty back from my hundred in change - assuming i meant to tip him extra on top of his rip off fare. I just let it go, because it is really only about 10 pounds, less than I would pay for most taxi rides around here. But I was disappointed to be immediately ripped off by one of my own brethren. Luckily, that did not continue and everyone else was on the up and up for the rest of the trip. Then, my hotel, the Chopin, was kind of a ways out of the town center, about a good 15-20 minutes walk rather than the 'steps' away as it was advertised, so after walking around for a while in the dark Friday night, I gave up on having a decent dinner, so I just had a drink in the hotel bar and went to bed.

The next day in the daylight I ventured out into the nice part of the town, and it was much, much better. The main market square is a combination of historic buildings, churches, modern shops, restaurants and bars, and is crawling with people at all hours of the day. The buildings surrounding the market in the old town are beautiful and colorful, reminiscent of Prague but nicer I thought. The nicest part of the city, I thought, was the lovely green belt that runs from the Wawel Castle to the train station, with a quaint shaded path and clear directional signs to all the major sites in the area. Very tourist friendly, especially in the stifling heat when I needed a cool path to walk. It seems locals and tourists alike spend a lot of time downtown.

Most everyone speaks English, but I did try to do a bit of Polish. It wasn't so bad. After all I do know that a W is pronounced like a V. Particularly amazing to me was a waitress who effortlessly switched from Polish to Engligh to German based on the customers in our little area, without any trace of accent.

Besides the yummy beer, I practically ate my weight in pierrogies. Mmm...spinach, cabbage and mushroom, and ruskie style - potato, cheese and grilled onions. Luckily I cannot get them all the time in London or I would eat them every day here as well.

Pictures from Krakow are posted here.