Poland? More Like Woah-land!

Talk about hidden gem! I would rate Poland 10/10, would recommend (I say that about everything, so my roommates will hopefully laugh).

Let us start from the beginning! Lucky for us, Kenon's host dad drove us to the bus station because our bus came at 12:30. Other wise we would have waited there for about 2 hours. The bus (Lux Express) was soooo nice! The seats reclined, I had my own TV (stocked with movies), and there was even a bathroom! There was also hot chocolate, but I didn't try any. I slept pretty much through the whole first bus ride. When I woke up, we were in Poland!

We had about 3 hours to kill until our next bus ride, and it was pretty cold so we went down into a metro station and tried to sleep some more. But then we got kicked out by a patrol officer.

It's the metro station, not a forest ;) 

We walked around for a little while, trying to stay warm.. I love how the culture are so different, even if the countries are so small and close! I guess that would be a given, but ya know.. Coming from America it's not what I expected. We also got some cash out. Polish currency is different. Basically you divide it by 4 and that's how much it is in euros. So below I'm really only holding about $20. (There's 80).

Polish currency!!!

View from bus stop

Driving through Warsaw

Just driving through Poland was blowing me away. I swear, pictures don't do it justice. It was love at first sight, trust me. 

We eventually made it to Krakow! Immediately, we found a restaurant and ordered pizza. The place was awesome. And the waitress spoke English! The only downside was the people smoking around us, so I did have a headache but it wasn't bad. 

We found our hostel, dropped our stuff off, and then decided we needed to buy our tickets back to Kaunas. There were a few dilemmas... Such as the bus we needed was sold out. So it took longer than expected BUT we figured something out and it was all settled! After that we headed to Old Town.

Twinning with Cameron!

Me and Kenon :)

First thing we found in Old Town were these awesome markets! The gingerbread men were so cute I almost bought one. Alas, I wanted dinner more. Cameron and I walked up to one shop and the food looked good, so we ordered. I got Black Pudding and potatoes. It looked like ground beef or something. Anyways, it tasted pretty good. The more I ate it, the more I started getting nervous though. What I am eating? Eventually I was full anyways and stopped. Later, Cameron looked it up. Black Pudding: "Made of groats, blood, and giblets: liver, lungs, pork crusts, fat". Plus buckwheats or what-not. Ummm........ WHAT. I'm not one to eat such foreign foods. Glad I didn't know! I mean, it wasn't bad... My brain doesn't like to think about eating that, though. Now I can say I've eaten an authentic Polish dish!

Potatoes and BLACK PUDDING

We went to the Main Square after that. So many people!! It was crazy, but it wasn't tourists, it was like a festival. I loved it! Cameron and I kept trying to take pictures and apparently these drunk guys kept trying to photobomb us but their timing was awful haha. 

Everybody smokes

A Mexican restaurant!!!

We eventually headed back to our hostel. By this point, we were all in love with Poland, I think! Pictures do not do it justice, I tell you! Just go and see for yourself. 

Hostels... They're either good or bad, and they make for great stories! For the most part, this one was good. Some of our roommates were British, and super chill. The other roommates didn't show up until after I had fallen asleep. I'll tell you the rest later (AKA Mom you can just text me and let me explain). Ha!

Our bus picked us up for Auschwitz around 8:30. I wasn't really sure what to expect.. You go through school learning about it, but it was like a distant dream; something that didn't really ever affect you personally. It was an amazing experience. Our tour guide was Polish and the way she described it made it less mournful, and more like something that they suffered from, but rose above. At times I was moved to tears, and other times disgusted by how these people were treated. But overall it was generally a very reverent and eye opening day. 

There were some rooms that they asked no pictures to be taken. We went through the gas chambers, but what I had forgotten about were the suffocation and starvation chambers. There was no way I could even fathom why anyone would, or how anyone could do such a thing. We also walked through a room will a show case full of hair from women (something like 20,00?) who were shaved. It was completely mind boggling. 

 "Abeit Macht Frei". Work will set you free.

Arbeit Macht Frei (Hard to see it)

The camp was huge. 

The wall where victims were shot 

The boards prevented witnesses of shootings

Luggage of victims

Shoes

Kitchen utensils

Zyclon B, used in gas chambers

Hole where gas was dropped into chambers

Gas chamber

Cremator stove

Destroyed gas chamber

After that, we decided to spend our last few hours in Old Town again. 

My 8th grade self is jumping for joy! 

The detail was amazing!

Seriously, so stunning

So for this photo, Cameron was determined to get us all in it (and not have it be a selfie). We started looking around for trustworthy-looking people. She finally picked out an old couple, and we agreed. But then I told her that they probably didn't even know how to work a phone. She asked anyways, and they said of course! Then... He said, "It's the round button here?", and flipped the phone around so he was taking a picture of himself without knowing it. Cameron had to show him how to do it. I called it! The whole experience was just hilarious to me. Not discriminating against elderly people. I got a kick out of it though! 

The ride home was uneventful. It feels really good to be back in Lithuania. I mean, we don't understand anything here but at least what we don't understand is familiar! Ya dig? Also, we ate at McDonald's in Poland and it was a treat! 

P.S. We are only going to London this week and I'm super stoked! Dublin is being saved for another time.