Jarrett
Giga Poster
Date:4/25/2026-5/6/2026
Destination: Poland, Germany
Goal: Energylandia, Phantasialand, Europa Park, Poland Culture, Germany Culture
Distance: 4700 Miles
Means of Travel: Flying, Train, Tour Bus
Potential Credits: 40
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A pair of small, white apartments on the right with ornate roof decor, on the left a cathedral of red brick with two towers capped with ornate spires, the spire on the left features a golden crown and a pointed tower.
In a few days you will be in the land of your ancestors," read the text message from my grandmother. But unlike in 2022, she was not referring to France. No, that weekend, I was flying out to the place that set the stage for a much earlier part of my family's long, scattered European heritage: Poland. This was the choice not out of a massive desire to see a certain city or experience specific cultural elements, but rather, a few things here and there had made me want to go. WWII history, Energylandia, Wieliczka Salt Mine, and of course, any chance to try another country's culinary offerings.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A timber-framed German inn with several dormers, balconies, and a turret.
I invited my friend Drew, a buddy of mine who goes way back, and mentioned the plan. With LOT Polish Airlines exiting my beloved United codeshare, our best bet looked to be reaching Poland via Frankfurt through Lufthansa and/or United. Drew, like myself with the Polish heritage, has German heritage himself, and while he liked the Poland plan, talked more about our layover in Germany than he did anything in Poland. This gave me the idea to hella, hella extend our layover in Germany, cutting Legendia from the Poland roster and upgrading in its place with Europa Park and Phantasialand. Over New Year's Eve, we fired up Rhine River travel content and picked the sleepy winery town of Bacharach to set the stage for a rural German culture day. With us spending time on two very different halves of Europe with very different political histories, we dubbed the trip Iron Curtain 2026, as a chance to see how the different halves of Europe developed in the 80 years since the WWII things we were seeing.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two men in their thirties drink coffee in an airport.
I did everything I could to sleep in like a lazy bum today, knowing I had not only a domestic and Transatlantic flight ahead of me, but another domestic after that! I got up, got ready, and had my mother drop me off at the airport where I waited on Drew.
And while waiting outside TSA, we had a guest in the form of a bird getting stuck in the airport! Fortunately, I told the nearby people at the Delta counter, who got airport services to come humanely let this little guy free.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Against DAY's tarmac and control towers, a hand holds a small plush panda.
My girlfriend Keely sometimes gives me cute little plushies, and the smaller ones often go on trips with me so I can send her photos of them traveling around the world. My accompaniment on this trip was Noodles, this little panda. Here he is ready to take to the skies from Dayton!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett pulls down a Survivor Buff to smile at the camera with a tall dinosaur skeleton in the background in Chicago O'Hare's B terminal, wearing a blue jersey that says "100 YEARS OF" and a United insignia.
After a very short flight to our first connection at Chicago O'Hare, we went on a quest to find the legendary Terminal Transfer Bus to the distant Terminal 5, where most of the international flag carriers do their work in the Windy City. We were told our first clue was basically to find the dinosaur, who was rocking the United 100th Anniversary jersey this time.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a green strip of paper reading "Prospect Airport Services Bus Transfer C" against Chicago O'Hare's tarmac and control tower out a bus window.
To get to Terminal 5, you take the escalator down from the B concourse, across the tunnel with trippy lights, and hang a right at the end before the escalator back up to find the bus station. Prospect will look at your passport, your boarding pass, and then give you a little piece of laminated paper. From there, it's about a 20 minute ride to the M gates.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Several airplane tails with art for Air France, Iberian, Cathay Pacific, Austrian Airlines, and LOT Polish Airlines.
Here we are, Terminal 5! Man, this was beautiful to see all these colorful and artistic tail arts in one place. And I see our ride!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: People line up at a counter for Austrian Airlines OS46 to Vienna at Gate M24.
Picking a flight out was hell for this trip, both because of EES implementation and Lufthansa going on strike. Our third or fourth plan ended up with us on Austrian Airlines connecting through Vienna to get to Krakow, with a long 5 hour layover in the Austrian capital. With a quick document check on the ground, they put one of those little sticky page markers on our passports and sent us aboard!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Drew stands before the cabin door of a white Boeing 787 with red lettering on the fuselage.
Austrian Airlines, here we come! New airline for me, and second flag carrier.
And just like that, I think I have a new favorite airline! Oh my god, the seats were so comfortable and reclined so far, we were greeted to the friendly skies with "Vienna's favorite beer," as we were told, and they played Austrian waltz music during boarding. This is the way to fly! You can't fly directly there from the states, get Vienna to get you a lift!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett and Drew toast Ottakringer beer cans across the aisle.
Prost! Welcome to the skies, we've got about eight and a half hours to Vienna!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black tray with a triangular dish configuration containing pasta, cucumber salad, and white chocolate mousse on an airplane traytable.
Even the food was incredible for what it was. Normally I have an expectation that the better the airline is, the worse the food is. United food sucks because it's a good airline, Air Canada's food is so good because that airline sucks. Austrian broke the mold here, and I knew we were in for a treat when I saw someone dressed like a chef running around the plane. Orichette pasta with cream sauce, peas, and these lovely blistered cherry tomatoes with a Greek salad, dinner roll with butter, and white chocolate mousse.
PRO TIP: This food tasted great, but if you fly economy on Austrian, their options are only meatless. If this'll make you hungry, bring something else from the airport packed with protein.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a water bottle that is slightly caved in.
I slept like a baby on this flight! Boeing's lovely 787 Dreamliner aircraft pressurizes at a lower temperature to make sleep easier on the plane, normally I sleep maybe 30 minutes to 2 hours at most, I probably slept 4 hours of this flight. Between the low cabin pressure and the comfy seats and actual pillows that weren't wrapped in cheesecloth, I might as well have been curled up on the clouds outside the windows. Plus, when we landed and the cabin returned to atmopheric pressure, it made my water bottle implode like a submarine full of billionaires, so that was funny.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tower of jams, cold cuts, and fruit sit on a table with croissants and rolls against a window to VIE's tarmac.
EES who!?!? The cutest, nerdiest border patrol officer ever took our photos and fingerprints, asked us if we were staying in Austria, and wished us safe travels no more than ten minutes after deplaning. The original plan was to head into Vienna and get breakfast there while we were forced to leave security, but Vienna is awesome and we didn't even have to go back through. So it wasn't worth the risk leaving and getting sensually frisked by Hans to see the city, so we instead did an Austrian breakfast in the airport while plane spotting.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table in an airport terminal holds a pint of beer.
Adjacent to one of those 9 am pints that has frumpy Ryanair guy's britches in a twist, of course.
After a nice, leisurely breakfast and some souvenir shopping for possibly the most BS country credit I could ever possibly claim, we found the bus to our gate to Krakow...and the First Order's latest droid! I'm all for Roombas and Automowers and robots helping us out, but the unblinking LED eyes of the Scary Austrian Roomba were starting to dip into the uncanny valley. Look at this god awful thing!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in front of an Austrian Airlines gate for Krakow.
Finally, over fifteen hours later, on our last flight to Krakow! Let's make it, finally!
That last flight was a domestic Austrian flight, not nearly the level of care we had on the way in, but it was an hour so you wouldn't expect it. Longest hour of my life, though, and while Drew was all happy to get to Krakow and take a nap, I knew damn well we probably had another hour or two of navigating public transport to get to our AirBNB.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The Polish countryside under an aircraft.
Our little Airbus plane dipped below a rough cloud ceiling over the Polish countryside on approach to Pope Jan Pawel II airport...and just as I can see the cute little farms of rural Poland, I hear the sound of digested food filling a paper bag. Drew's trademark motion sickness has struck again, not on a roller coaster, but on an unexpected rough landing. "Get me another!" he screamed as the paper thin barf bag struggled to keep it together, so I gave him the one from my seat. And two other seats, bro ended up filling four bags of his vomit it was disgusting.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On airport tarmac under a red-tipped wing, a blue bus with Energylandia promo material wrap opens its doors behind a cone.
Of course the Energylandia bus fittingly gets us from plane!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a wall of white tile decorated with triangle-based graphics, teal font says "Welcome to Krakòw and Malopolska."
...and takes us into the most unsettlingly quiet baggage claim. Maybe we were just landing at an odd time, but Poland dressing their airport security in army green was a little unnerving. But we were here!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A look at a train staion from an escalator, under a sign reading "GALERIA KRAKOWSKA."
After getting our bags and catching a train to Krakow Glowny (pronounced "gwuvny" per the train conductor taking our tickets), we made it to Krakow's chaotic central station, made it up and headed the mile to our AirBNB.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A courtyard of high rise apartments with balconies and rounded cylindrical stairwells in the concrete.
Did we make it to the right spot? I thought Harry Potter was in Florida. Nope! This was our AirBNB, up five flights of these stairs. Turns out this place used to be employee housing for some Polish bank, per our host.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant facade painted with flowers reads "PIEROGARNIA KRAKOWIDACY" on a blue sign.
After about an hour nap, we found the little paper handout given to us by our host, Daniel, and saw him recommend a little pierogi place we had seen on the walk in. It was settled: grab dinner here and walk around Krakow's Old Town for a few for a chill, jetlagged evening.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant with white tables and chairs and light blue walls painted with flowers and decorated with traditional farming equipment.
This place was adorable! It had that rural Midsommar vibe I love while playing crazy Polish folk music, the perfect welcome to this country! I knew damn well there was a Babcza in the back about to whip up the best meal I had ever eaten.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate of pierogi dusted with powdered sugar surrounds a sauce dish of sour cream.
Our server was this cutesy Polish girl in a little traditional farmhand dress and flower hairpiece straight out of Midsommar. I do not know what kind of charm Drew pulled talking to her, but after we sit down, she sets down a plate of cream cheese pierogi that neither one of us ordered and smiles at me, "these are for your friend."
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue bowl of tomato soup topped with herbs with a few rotini noodles floating in the red broth.
Having not eaten since Austria, I treated myself to a little zupa pomidora, or tomato soup, mostly because I saw it on the menu and I knew how to order it in Polish. It was honestly better than I expected! Not much different from American tomato soup, but the pasta and garnish goes a long way.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue plate holds several dumplings topped with bacon, onions, and scallions surrounding a dish of diced apples.
This is what we did order! Duck pierogi topped with caramelized onion and bacon jam served with cinnamon apples. It was amazing, nice fatty flavor from the duck and the jam complimented it so well. An amazing welcome to the country!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of European housing.
With us now full, we figured a walk across Old Town was in order. Krakow's old town is separated from the modern city by a little band of green space with a bike path running around the old quarter, but it's a quick crossing through a band of park to go from the modern rat race of Poland's second city into its historic capital.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Several buildings in old European style, with a tall brick cathedral of two spires in the background.
They weren't kidding when they raved about this square! It's huge, it's full of life, there's a big market a la Charleston at the center, and St. Mary's Basilica towers over it beautifully at Golden Hour.
Some legend set up a speaker in the middle of the square and it drew these drunk American college kids in like a moth to a flame. Next thing you know, every brainless tourist in Krakow is doing the Macarena while surrounded by an eternity of rich history for some reason. I had no idea why, but at least they were having fun and not annoying the locals like we'd seen earlier. But I'll be damned if this was not a good laugh!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two cathedral spires, one taller than the other, of red brick bathed in golden sunlight.
St. Mary's Basilica had sadly closed not long before we got here, but I promised Drew we'd check it out before leaving Krakow because he was interested in what could possibly be inside such a majestic building. But hey, we were there just in time for golden hour shots!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall clocktower of brick with a few medieval European buildings in the background.
Krakow's old city square reminded me a lot of the square in Bruges, but with a clocktower, statues, and city market built at the center of the cobblestone. I believe it's the largest of its kind in Europe, per the Poland book I purchased before coming here.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hollow metal statue head without eyes lays sideways on a base, bandages over its mouth.
Cool statue head as an art piece near the clocktower/market. Couldn't find what the significance was supposed to be, sadly.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brick building with ornate cement accents, with the towers of a cathedral in the background.
They also had this touristy little market, which was a bit more expensive than the souvenirs elsewhere in town, but it was fun to walk around and see what they were selling.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dimly lit street market with wrought iron light fixtures hanging from a vaulted ceiling, lined with little vendor booths on either side of the corridor.
It reminded me of Charleston, South Carolina's Market Street, if you've been there. They sold typical city souvenirs, in addition to pigeons, things related to Krakow's Jewish district, and dragons referencing some dragon statue down by Wawel Castle.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hook hangs many smiling pierogi plushies, all reading "Krakow" in red letters
...and also pierogi plushies like the ones Poland's Olympic team had in Milan! Which I had to get for Keely and I!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A stone dormer jutting from the corner of a cement building with vaulted archways and a light-bathed cathedral with uneven towers in the background.
It was getting late, I was losing sunlight, so we elected to return to the AirBNB, and more importantly, return here in a few days when we had time to properly explore it.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The uneven spires of St. Mary's Basilica against a blue sky.
So we headed back, with goals to visit again in three days after two very busy days ahead of us.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wrought iron sign over a gate reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI."
UP NEXT: The most difficult thing I have ever seen traveling brings a shocking, sobering welcome to Poland as we visit the number one place I had to see if I ever came here. An early morning two-part tour starts at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, full of the most horrible things I had ever seen and heard in all my years traveling. It was an honor to be able to do this, and while no amount of interest in this topic can replace the sensation of actually standing in one of these horrible places, I will do my best to write it up honestly, respectfully, and tell anyone who cares to read what I saw that day. I will also be covering our dinner in Kazimierz, as we intentionally did it on this day for a reason.
(SIDE NOTE: As usual, this was copy pasted from my blog. If dark historical content such as this is too much for CoasterForce, mods please let me know so I can just edit this bit out and skip it altogether or direct readers somewhere offsite to read it.)
Destination: Poland, Germany
Goal: Energylandia, Phantasialand, Europa Park, Poland Culture, Germany Culture
Distance: 4700 Miles
Means of Travel: Flying, Train, Tour Bus
Potential Credits: 40
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A pair of small, white apartments on the right with ornate roof decor, on the left a cathedral of red brick with two towers capped with ornate spires, the spire on the left features a golden crown and a pointed tower.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A timber-framed German inn with several dormers, balconies, and a turret.
I invited my friend Drew, a buddy of mine who goes way back, and mentioned the plan. With LOT Polish Airlines exiting my beloved United codeshare, our best bet looked to be reaching Poland via Frankfurt through Lufthansa and/or United. Drew, like myself with the Polish heritage, has German heritage himself, and while he liked the Poland plan, talked more about our layover in Germany than he did anything in Poland. This gave me the idea to hella, hella extend our layover in Germany, cutting Legendia from the Poland roster and upgrading in its place with Europa Park and Phantasialand. Over New Year's Eve, we fired up Rhine River travel content and picked the sleepy winery town of Bacharach to set the stage for a rural German culture day. With us spending time on two very different halves of Europe with very different political histories, we dubbed the trip Iron Curtain 2026, as a chance to see how the different halves of Europe developed in the 80 years since the WWII things we were seeing.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two men in their thirties drink coffee in an airport.
I did everything I could to sleep in like a lazy bum today, knowing I had not only a domestic and Transatlantic flight ahead of me, but another domestic after that! I got up, got ready, and had my mother drop me off at the airport where I waited on Drew.
And while waiting outside TSA, we had a guest in the form of a bird getting stuck in the airport! Fortunately, I told the nearby people at the Delta counter, who got airport services to come humanely let this little guy free.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Against DAY's tarmac and control towers, a hand holds a small plush panda.
My girlfriend Keely sometimes gives me cute little plushies, and the smaller ones often go on trips with me so I can send her photos of them traveling around the world. My accompaniment on this trip was Noodles, this little panda. Here he is ready to take to the skies from Dayton!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett pulls down a Survivor Buff to smile at the camera with a tall dinosaur skeleton in the background in Chicago O'Hare's B terminal, wearing a blue jersey that says "100 YEARS OF" and a United insignia.
After a very short flight to our first connection at Chicago O'Hare, we went on a quest to find the legendary Terminal Transfer Bus to the distant Terminal 5, where most of the international flag carriers do their work in the Windy City. We were told our first clue was basically to find the dinosaur, who was rocking the United 100th Anniversary jersey this time.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a green strip of paper reading "Prospect Airport Services Bus Transfer C" against Chicago O'Hare's tarmac and control tower out a bus window.
To get to Terminal 5, you take the escalator down from the B concourse, across the tunnel with trippy lights, and hang a right at the end before the escalator back up to find the bus station. Prospect will look at your passport, your boarding pass, and then give you a little piece of laminated paper. From there, it's about a 20 minute ride to the M gates.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Several airplane tails with art for Air France, Iberian, Cathay Pacific, Austrian Airlines, and LOT Polish Airlines.
Here we are, Terminal 5! Man, this was beautiful to see all these colorful and artistic tail arts in one place. And I see our ride!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: People line up at a counter for Austrian Airlines OS46 to Vienna at Gate M24.
Picking a flight out was hell for this trip, both because of EES implementation and Lufthansa going on strike. Our third or fourth plan ended up with us on Austrian Airlines connecting through Vienna to get to Krakow, with a long 5 hour layover in the Austrian capital. With a quick document check on the ground, they put one of those little sticky page markers on our passports and sent us aboard!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Drew stands before the cabin door of a white Boeing 787 with red lettering on the fuselage.
Austrian Airlines, here we come! New airline for me, and second flag carrier.
And just like that, I think I have a new favorite airline! Oh my god, the seats were so comfortable and reclined so far, we were greeted to the friendly skies with "Vienna's favorite beer," as we were told, and they played Austrian waltz music during boarding. This is the way to fly! You can't fly directly there from the states, get Vienna to get you a lift!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett and Drew toast Ottakringer beer cans across the aisle.
Prost! Welcome to the skies, we've got about eight and a half hours to Vienna!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black tray with a triangular dish configuration containing pasta, cucumber salad, and white chocolate mousse on an airplane traytable.
Even the food was incredible for what it was. Normally I have an expectation that the better the airline is, the worse the food is. United food sucks because it's a good airline, Air Canada's food is so good because that airline sucks. Austrian broke the mold here, and I knew we were in for a treat when I saw someone dressed like a chef running around the plane. Orichette pasta with cream sauce, peas, and these lovely blistered cherry tomatoes with a Greek salad, dinner roll with butter, and white chocolate mousse.
PRO TIP: This food tasted great, but if you fly economy on Austrian, their options are only meatless. If this'll make you hungry, bring something else from the airport packed with protein.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a water bottle that is slightly caved in.
I slept like a baby on this flight! Boeing's lovely 787 Dreamliner aircraft pressurizes at a lower temperature to make sleep easier on the plane, normally I sleep maybe 30 minutes to 2 hours at most, I probably slept 4 hours of this flight. Between the low cabin pressure and the comfy seats and actual pillows that weren't wrapped in cheesecloth, I might as well have been curled up on the clouds outside the windows. Plus, when we landed and the cabin returned to atmopheric pressure, it made my water bottle implode like a submarine full of billionaires, so that was funny.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tower of jams, cold cuts, and fruit sit on a table with croissants and rolls against a window to VIE's tarmac.
EES who!?!? The cutest, nerdiest border patrol officer ever took our photos and fingerprints, asked us if we were staying in Austria, and wished us safe travels no more than ten minutes after deplaning. The original plan was to head into Vienna and get breakfast there while we were forced to leave security, but Vienna is awesome and we didn't even have to go back through. So it wasn't worth the risk leaving and getting sensually frisked by Hans to see the city, so we instead did an Austrian breakfast in the airport while plane spotting.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table in an airport terminal holds a pint of beer.
Adjacent to one of those 9 am pints that has frumpy Ryanair guy's britches in a twist, of course.
After a nice, leisurely breakfast and some souvenir shopping for possibly the most BS country credit I could ever possibly claim, we found the bus to our gate to Krakow...and the First Order's latest droid! I'm all for Roombas and Automowers and robots helping us out, but the unblinking LED eyes of the Scary Austrian Roomba were starting to dip into the uncanny valley. Look at this god awful thing!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett smiles in front of an Austrian Airlines gate for Krakow.
Finally, over fifteen hours later, on our last flight to Krakow! Let's make it, finally!
That last flight was a domestic Austrian flight, not nearly the level of care we had on the way in, but it was an hour so you wouldn't expect it. Longest hour of my life, though, and while Drew was all happy to get to Krakow and take a nap, I knew damn well we probably had another hour or two of navigating public transport to get to our AirBNB.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The Polish countryside under an aircraft.
Our little Airbus plane dipped below a rough cloud ceiling over the Polish countryside on approach to Pope Jan Pawel II airport...and just as I can see the cute little farms of rural Poland, I hear the sound of digested food filling a paper bag. Drew's trademark motion sickness has struck again, not on a roller coaster, but on an unexpected rough landing. "Get me another!" he screamed as the paper thin barf bag struggled to keep it together, so I gave him the one from my seat. And two other seats, bro ended up filling four bags of his vomit it was disgusting.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On airport tarmac under a red-tipped wing, a blue bus with Energylandia promo material wrap opens its doors behind a cone.
Of course the Energylandia bus fittingly gets us from plane!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a wall of white tile decorated with triangle-based graphics, teal font says "Welcome to Krakòw and Malopolska."
...and takes us into the most unsettlingly quiet baggage claim. Maybe we were just landing at an odd time, but Poland dressing their airport security in army green was a little unnerving. But we were here!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A look at a train staion from an escalator, under a sign reading "GALERIA KRAKOWSKA."
After getting our bags and catching a train to Krakow Glowny (pronounced "gwuvny" per the train conductor taking our tickets), we made it to Krakow's chaotic central station, made it up and headed the mile to our AirBNB.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A courtyard of high rise apartments with balconies and rounded cylindrical stairwells in the concrete.
Did we make it to the right spot? I thought Harry Potter was in Florida. Nope! This was our AirBNB, up five flights of these stairs. Turns out this place used to be employee housing for some Polish bank, per our host.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant facade painted with flowers reads "PIEROGARNIA KRAKOWIDACY" on a blue sign.
After about an hour nap, we found the little paper handout given to us by our host, Daniel, and saw him recommend a little pierogi place we had seen on the walk in. It was settled: grab dinner here and walk around Krakow's Old Town for a few for a chill, jetlagged evening.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A restaurant with white tables and chairs and light blue walls painted with flowers and decorated with traditional farming equipment.
This place was adorable! It had that rural Midsommar vibe I love while playing crazy Polish folk music, the perfect welcome to this country! I knew damn well there was a Babcza in the back about to whip up the best meal I had ever eaten.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate of pierogi dusted with powdered sugar surrounds a sauce dish of sour cream.
Our server was this cutesy Polish girl in a little traditional farmhand dress and flower hairpiece straight out of Midsommar. I do not know what kind of charm Drew pulled talking to her, but after we sit down, she sets down a plate of cream cheese pierogi that neither one of us ordered and smiles at me, "these are for your friend."
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue bowl of tomato soup topped with herbs with a few rotini noodles floating in the red broth.
Having not eaten since Austria, I treated myself to a little zupa pomidora, or tomato soup, mostly because I saw it on the menu and I knew how to order it in Polish. It was honestly better than I expected! Not much different from American tomato soup, but the pasta and garnish goes a long way.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue plate holds several dumplings topped with bacon, onions, and scallions surrounding a dish of diced apples.
This is what we did order! Duck pierogi topped with caramelized onion and bacon jam served with cinnamon apples. It was amazing, nice fatty flavor from the duck and the jam complimented it so well. An amazing welcome to the country!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of European housing.
With us now full, we figured a walk across Old Town was in order. Krakow's old town is separated from the modern city by a little band of green space with a bike path running around the old quarter, but it's a quick crossing through a band of park to go from the modern rat race of Poland's second city into its historic capital.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Several buildings in old European style, with a tall brick cathedral of two spires in the background.
They weren't kidding when they raved about this square! It's huge, it's full of life, there's a big market a la Charleston at the center, and St. Mary's Basilica towers over it beautifully at Golden Hour.
Some legend set up a speaker in the middle of the square and it drew these drunk American college kids in like a moth to a flame. Next thing you know, every brainless tourist in Krakow is doing the Macarena while surrounded by an eternity of rich history for some reason. I had no idea why, but at least they were having fun and not annoying the locals like we'd seen earlier. But I'll be damned if this was not a good laugh!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Two cathedral spires, one taller than the other, of red brick bathed in golden sunlight.
St. Mary's Basilica had sadly closed not long before we got here, but I promised Drew we'd check it out before leaving Krakow because he was interested in what could possibly be inside such a majestic building. But hey, we were there just in time for golden hour shots!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall clocktower of brick with a few medieval European buildings in the background.
Krakow's old city square reminded me a lot of the square in Bruges, but with a clocktower, statues, and city market built at the center of the cobblestone. I believe it's the largest of its kind in Europe, per the Poland book I purchased before coming here.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hollow metal statue head without eyes lays sideways on a base, bandages over its mouth.
Cool statue head as an art piece near the clocktower/market. Couldn't find what the significance was supposed to be, sadly.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A brick building with ornate cement accents, with the towers of a cathedral in the background.
They also had this touristy little market, which was a bit more expensive than the souvenirs elsewhere in town, but it was fun to walk around and see what they were selling.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dimly lit street market with wrought iron light fixtures hanging from a vaulted ceiling, lined with little vendor booths on either side of the corridor.
It reminded me of Charleston, South Carolina's Market Street, if you've been there. They sold typical city souvenirs, in addition to pigeons, things related to Krakow's Jewish district, and dragons referencing some dragon statue down by Wawel Castle.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hook hangs many smiling pierogi plushies, all reading "Krakow" in red letters
...and also pierogi plushies like the ones Poland's Olympic team had in Milan! Which I had to get for Keely and I!
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A stone dormer jutting from the corner of a cement building with vaulted archways and a light-bathed cathedral with uneven towers in the background.
It was getting late, I was losing sunlight, so we elected to return to the AirBNB, and more importantly, return here in a few days when we had time to properly explore it.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The uneven spires of St. Mary's Basilica against a blue sky.
So we headed back, with goals to visit again in three days after two very busy days ahead of us.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wrought iron sign over a gate reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI."
UP NEXT: The most difficult thing I have ever seen traveling brings a shocking, sobering welcome to Poland as we visit the number one place I had to see if I ever came here. An early morning two-part tour starts at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, full of the most horrible things I had ever seen and heard in all my years traveling. It was an honor to be able to do this, and while no amount of interest in this topic can replace the sensation of actually standing in one of these horrible places, I will do my best to write it up honestly, respectfully, and tell anyone who cares to read what I saw that day. I will also be covering our dinner in Kazimierz, as we intentionally did it on this day for a reason.
(SIDE NOTE: As usual, this was copy pasted from my blog. If dark historical content such as this is too much for CoasterForce, mods please let me know so I can just edit this bit out and skip it altogether or direct readers somewhere offsite to read it.)
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