Some action in the Czech Republic:
There is a soccer game tonight and the Polish are here. They have thousands of extra police in outfits similar to those seen at the RNC as well as the U of M riot. Very exciting.
Note to self:
Stay away from drunk Polish people.
Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Home Again
Over the weekend I got the opportunity to experience what the East Coast Experts I traveled with deemed to be the New Jersey of Europe. Take that to mean what you may. Having never been to Jersey, I can only assume from the way they said it that this is not a good nickname to have. Despite their apparent disgust with Poland, I was still able to find some good things in it because I'm just a positive person like that.
In no particular order, my favorite things about Krakow:
- Pierogi: Dumplings that can be filled with meat, potatoes or cheese. Obviously at the top of my list. Not only do they taste amazing, they are also dirt cheap (and coated in butter).
- Food in general: If there is one thing that could make me love Poland, it is the food. They eat like the Czechs, but do not have sauerkraut, from what I can see. It is also amazingly cheap.
- Cute markets: They have this cute market in their Old Town Square (though really it is not all that old because they had to rebuild it after a war, I think). I was able to find some [really cheap] hand-knit wool sock/slippers. Amazing.
- Salt Mines: I do not think I have ever come across a country where the people say to themselves, "Well, I work in a salt mine. I think I will carve five chapels out of salt," or "Hmmm...I seem to find myself with some extra time in the salt mine, after spending all day in this salt mine. I think that, instead of coming above the surface and going home, I will carve a statue of Pope John Paul II out of salt." It's very endearing how attached they are to their salt.
- Auschwitz: I can't say that I "like" it, but I can say that it is an incredibly interesting [and draining] place. Auschwitz-I is not at all like what I pictured it--it looks more like a New England college campus than what I picture a concentration camp to be, but this makes it all the more creepy. It's the facade of normalcy that makes it so unsettling. Auschwitz-II was more how I expected it to look. It was just as unsettling, though this time it is not the normalcy, but instead the great expanse of emptiness, marked by traces of what was once there, combined with the incredible amount of work the Nazis did to create this place. They built Auschwitz-II for this specific purpose, and when you look at it all, it feels as though the broken down chimneys, all that's left of the buildings they burned to try to cover their tracks, could continue on for miles. It was an interesting place, though one that I think a person could only handle once in their life.
- Swing: It's a jazz club Eric, Maddy and I found the first night in our attempts to get into the nightlife despite being deathly tired. We enjoyed it and the live music it provided us. The second night we went back and discovered we it was a hotspot for old people with no dance skills. We went back the third night. It was closed. This did not ruin our love of the club.
- Fat Boys: I am not being insensitive, I am merely calling them by name. Fat Boys are giant bean bag mattresses meant for, at most, two people. Eric, Maddy, and I, in our first ever couchsurfing experience, had to share one because a British guy was sleeping on our host's couch the first two nights we were there. The last night we shared the Fat Boy because we didn't know anything different.
- Bathroom Sign: The last night we spent in Krakow, we pooled our leftover Zloty to buy ourselves one last round of drinks. The bar we went to had the most inviting bathroom sign, and I almost felt the need to take it up on its offer. Because I didn't have any good reading material with me, however, I decided against this, and instead spent my night in the company of my friends rather than a toilet stall.
- Exchange rate: Everything was cheap cheap cheap!
In no particular order, my favorite things about Krakow:
- Pierogi: Dumplings that can be filled with meat, potatoes or cheese. Obviously at the top of my list. Not only do they taste amazing, they are also dirt cheap (and coated in butter).
- Food in general: If there is one thing that could make me love Poland, it is the food. They eat like the Czechs, but do not have sauerkraut, from what I can see. It is also amazingly cheap.
- Cute markets: They have this cute market in their Old Town Square (though really it is not all that old because they had to rebuild it after a war, I think). I was able to find some [really cheap] hand-knit wool sock/slippers. Amazing.
- Salt Mines: I do not think I have ever come across a country where the people say to themselves, "Well, I work in a salt mine. I think I will carve five chapels out of salt," or "Hmmm...I seem to find myself with some extra time in the salt mine, after spending all day in this salt mine. I think that, instead of coming above the surface and going home, I will carve a statue of Pope John Paul II out of salt." It's very endearing how attached they are to their salt.
- Auschwitz: I can't say that I "like" it, but I can say that it is an incredibly interesting [and draining] place. Auschwitz-I is not at all like what I pictured it--it looks more like a New England college campus than what I picture a concentration camp to be, but this makes it all the more creepy. It's the facade of normalcy that makes it so unsettling. Auschwitz-II was more how I expected it to look. It was just as unsettling, though this time it is not the normalcy, but instead the great expanse of emptiness, marked by traces of what was once there, combined with the incredible amount of work the Nazis did to create this place. They built Auschwitz-II for this specific purpose, and when you look at it all, it feels as though the broken down chimneys, all that's left of the buildings they burned to try to cover their tracks, could continue on for miles. It was an interesting place, though one that I think a person could only handle once in their life.
- Swing: It's a jazz club Eric, Maddy and I found the first night in our attempts to get into the nightlife despite being deathly tired. We enjoyed it and the live music it provided us. The second night we went back and discovered we it was a hotspot for old people with no dance skills. We went back the third night. It was closed. This did not ruin our love of the club.
- Fat Boys: I am not being insensitive, I am merely calling them by name. Fat Boys are giant bean bag mattresses meant for, at most, two people. Eric, Maddy, and I, in our first ever couchsurfing experience, had to share one because a British guy was sleeping on our host's couch the first two nights we were there. The last night we shared the Fat Boy because we didn't know anything different.
- Bathroom Sign: The last night we spent in Krakow, we pooled our leftover Zloty to buy ourselves one last round of drinks. The bar we went to had the most inviting bathroom sign, and I almost felt the need to take it up on its offer. Because I didn't have any good reading material with me, however, I decided against this, and instead spent my night in the company of my friends rather than a toilet stall.
- Exchange rate: Everything was cheap cheap cheap!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Housekeeping
Just a few housekeeping things before the weekend starts, just to get you all up to date on where I'm at (mentally--physically I'm at home in Prague).
1. Patrick Swayze died. I just learned this. Apparently news travels slower across the Atlantic than mail (Grandma sent me a letter on Monday and I got it today, and by my calculations, it took me 10 days to hear of Patrick Swayze's death).
2. Bob Barker is 85. After I heard the unfortunate news about Patrick Swayze, I checked on Bob Barker to see where he's at. He's still fighting for animal rights, it would appear.
3. Everyone hates Poland. Whenever I tell [Czech] people that I am going to Poland this weekend (by the way, I am going to Poland this weekend), they all ask, "Why?" I never know how to answer this because, honestly, I don't know. I am hoping that when I get there I find something to do, but looking ahead to this trip, I have to ask myself, "How am I going to keep myself occupied for the next three days?"
4. My blog has had 43 views. When I discovered how to check how many views it has, it had 40 views. Since then I have checked it three other times to see how many views it has. It figures.
5. I hate sauerkraut. This is not an overstatement. This is probably the truest statement I have said thus far in my blog. Sauerkraut is quite possibly the bane of my existence (in the food world at least) apart from animal organs and mushrooms. It is therefore most upsetting to me that I have stumbled upon a country where sauerkraut seems to be its own food group. Everything else about Czech food makes my mouth water--goulash, dumplings (both bread and potato), potatoes, meat, and beer (only when washing down dumplings)--but sauerkraut makes me sick. The first time I had it, I was fooled until I sat down at the table. They had told me we were eating cabbage. They served me sauerkraut. I didn't even realize that sauerkraut comes from cabbage--it smells like some vile substance that could not have come from a plant, or at least if it it come from some formerly living thing, it would be from onions which already smell weird (though taste delicious).
It kills me that they keep feeding it to me. When eating it, I have to make sure the meat and dumpling to sauerkraut ratio is in my favor, though this gets difficult. Daka has taken it into her head that she will send me back to the States with curves. I am fine with this--as long as the curves come from food that tastes good. Meat? Fine. Dumplings? Sure. Chocolate? Sign me up for gaining 5 kilos. Potatoes? Definitely. Sauerkraut? Please shoot me in the foot and never allow me to eat again.
Honestly. Sauerkraut sucks all the fun out of eating.
Tonight we had sauerkraut. It was red for some reason, I'm assuming it's from the sauce. And dumplings, and veprove (pork). They gave me four dumplings, two and a half pieces of meat, and a veritable mountain of sauerkraut. I would have just eaten the dumplings and meat, but Daka was watching, and already the rest of my food had been contaminated by the "cabbage," so I decided to make everyone (except myself, my stomach, and my tastebuds) happy and ate it.
To review:
Patrick Swayze: dead
Bob Barker: alive
Poland: universally loathed (by the CR)
Blog views: 43 (about 75% are from me admiring how nice it looks)
Sauerkraut: bane of my existence
1. Patrick Swayze died. I just learned this. Apparently news travels slower across the Atlantic than mail (Grandma sent me a letter on Monday and I got it today, and by my calculations, it took me 10 days to hear of Patrick Swayze's death).
2. Bob Barker is 85. After I heard the unfortunate news about Patrick Swayze, I checked on Bob Barker to see where he's at. He's still fighting for animal rights, it would appear.
3. Everyone hates Poland. Whenever I tell [Czech] people that I am going to Poland this weekend (by the way, I am going to Poland this weekend), they all ask, "Why?" I never know how to answer this because, honestly, I don't know. I am hoping that when I get there I find something to do, but looking ahead to this trip, I have to ask myself, "How am I going to keep myself occupied for the next three days?"
4. My blog has had 43 views. When I discovered how to check how many views it has, it had 40 views. Since then I have checked it three other times to see how many views it has. It figures.
5. I hate sauerkraut. This is not an overstatement. This is probably the truest statement I have said thus far in my blog. Sauerkraut is quite possibly the bane of my existence (in the food world at least) apart from animal organs and mushrooms. It is therefore most upsetting to me that I have stumbled upon a country where sauerkraut seems to be its own food group. Everything else about Czech food makes my mouth water--goulash, dumplings (both bread and potato), potatoes, meat, and beer (only when washing down dumplings)--but sauerkraut makes me sick. The first time I had it, I was fooled until I sat down at the table. They had told me we were eating cabbage. They served me sauerkraut. I didn't even realize that sauerkraut comes from cabbage--it smells like some vile substance that could not have come from a plant, or at least if it it come from some formerly living thing, it would be from onions which already smell weird (though taste delicious).
It kills me that they keep feeding it to me. When eating it, I have to make sure the meat and dumpling to sauerkraut ratio is in my favor, though this gets difficult. Daka has taken it into her head that she will send me back to the States with curves. I am fine with this--as long as the curves come from food that tastes good. Meat? Fine. Dumplings? Sure. Chocolate? Sign me up for gaining 5 kilos. Potatoes? Definitely. Sauerkraut? Please shoot me in the foot and never allow me to eat again.
Honestly. Sauerkraut sucks all the fun out of eating.
Tonight we had sauerkraut. It was red for some reason, I'm assuming it's from the sauce. And dumplings, and veprove (pork). They gave me four dumplings, two and a half pieces of meat, and a veritable mountain of sauerkraut. I would have just eaten the dumplings and meat, but Daka was watching, and already the rest of my food had been contaminated by the "cabbage," so I decided to make everyone (except myself, my stomach, and my tastebuds) happy and ate it.
To review:
Patrick Swayze: dead
Bob Barker: alive
Poland: universally loathed (by the CR)
Blog views: 43 (about 75% are from me admiring how nice it looks)
Sauerkraut: bane of my existence
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