6 posts tagged “european vacation”
In a few minutes I start my long journey back home. I catch a flight to Frankfort and then a connection to Chicago. I didn't get much sleep last night because my cell phone rang. It was my mom, but she didn't stay on the line or lost
the connection because it only rang once. Attempts to return the call from my cell phone failed.
At the Wieliczka Salt Mines, I made a new friend. Along with our guide Stefan, we also had an employee of the mine who was there to make sure we moved along in a quick and orderly fashion. I can see why it was necessary with a large group and other groups wanting to get their time in. But it got old quickly as people were trying to take photos and the Mine Nazi was saying "Move along please." He didn't seem to appreciate it when I responded "oh, I'm sorry. I don't understand Polish."
I have about 14 hours left in Warsaw before I head home. Since I'm pretty much toured and museumed out, I haven't done much today except go for a run this morning and check out the town square. Yesterday, after Brian left, I took a walk around the area and found a small grocery store and a pharmacy -- Warsaw's version of a Osco and a Walgreens -- and was able to purchase some items at a very reasonable price. I also had a good dinner nearby that was half the cost and twice the food of the hotel soup I had for lunch.
When I left my hotel this afternoon, I passed a bank that was running a promotion. If you apply to open an account, you get to spin the wheel and win a prize. The lady dressed as a clown brought me in even though I told her that I wasn't "from around here." They still had me fill out a form and let me spin the wheel. I won a pen but convinced the manager that giving me a T-Shirt would make more sense since my wearing it back home would promote it to hundreds of thousands of Polish-Americans.
Next I ran into two American missionaries from the Church of Latter Day Saints. Since I was starving for some conversation in English, I chatted with them for about 5-10 minutes and then politely dismissed them. Nice enough fellows but obviously brainwashed into a life that doesn't mess with mine.
Then I walked through the town square, which is smaller than Prague or Krakow's, but still fits the template: some fountain or monument in the center and beer gardens around it. I walked a little more and found a display of Bears with their arms up, as if surrendering. A quick Google reviews that these are the Buddy Bears that represent the 138 countries acknowledged by the United Nations. My camera ran out of battery power at the Mines or else I would have taken some photos.
Near the Buddy Bears, was a stage that had some choir singing some songs in Polish. I decided to take a seat in a nearby garden and nurse a couple of beers to enjoy the performance. Sitting there and watching the crowd walking back and forth, I realized it wasn't very different from sitting at the Taste of Polonia back home and watching the mix of Polish-Americans, newly arrived Poles and non-poles who were there to see the fest. You have the same mix of good and bad fashion. Same mix of good looking ladies with guys who somehow traded up. And the requesite amount of smokers. The only difference is that there seemed to be more young people on their own.
Suddenly I feel very alone. Brian has just left to catch his flight back to London where he will stay for two nights before returning to St Louis. Meanwhile, I'm feeling exactly how I felt 5 years ago in Paris when my friends caught their earlier flight back to the airport and I had to kill a half a day before it was time for me to leave. I could have and should have gone with to the airport because it would have been easier than the ordeal I went through with the Metro system to the airport, but I didn't know that at the time.
I'm a big boy and I can handle two days in Warsaw by myself. I do have the contact of someone who is a relative of a friend so I do have options. I can also walk around on my own and find a tour to pass the day tomorrow.
When I plan my next trip to Europe -- and it is looking like there will be future trips -- I'm gonna make sure that I have traveling companions during the crucial transistions. I can deal with arriving a few hours or even a day ahead of others, but when it comes time to leave, I want to share a cab or train to the airport and maybe even the same flight back. Because even if you are starting to get on one another's nerves, at least you have someone to talk to while you're waiting for your luggage to arrive.
Today I woke up very early and went for my first post-marathon run. It's really cool to run through a city or town before the vast majority of its residents are up and about. I decided to revisit Wawel Castle and the Old Town area. While I didn't find the Chakra, I did find the restaurant my girlfriend recommend I go to find my favorite breaded pork cutlet. We will hit this place for lunch after we return from the Wieliczka Salt Mines. After lunch, we'll probably just chill out and walk around the Old Town grid or come back to our fancy room and take turns in the fancy whirlpool. Brian isn't a big partier but maybe I can convince him to hit the town and see why my Polish friends thought we were crazy for not staying longer in Krakow.
We arrived in Krakow yesterday morning and it was a bit of an adventure getting to our hotel. As part of the expensive hotel package Brian and I agreed to purchase from Kirker Travel Agency, private transportation from hotels to train stations and airports are included. However, this means using locals in each city and sometimes that can mean working with unreliable, flaky individuals.
In Prague our driver was at the baggage claim area with a sign with our name on it and we assumed a similar situation here. Instead, our driver was no where to be found. We dragged our suitcases from one end of the station to the other, checking where the buses arrive, and all the parking lots and taxi stations. After a call to the agency, we finally tracked him down and he returned to the station.
Our driver claimed he was waiting for us at platform three. The only problem is we arrived on platform five! And every board in that train station said as much. Yet he still insisted that we should have arrived on platform three. So we lost 90 minutes of our vacation time that we will never get back looking for a driver who probably was never there in the first place or was at the wrong platform and gave up too quickly.
I will say this about Krakow. I like it much better than Prague. It's less pretensious, money goes further and they don't seem to hold Americans in contempt. And Wawel Castle can hold its own against Prague Castle any day.
When I last wrote, I was on my way to the Marathon Expo. Keep in mind that I had very little sleep, my luggage was still en route and I still wearing the clothes I put on Thursday morning stateside. It took me two tries to get to the expo on the Tram system, mostly because I neglected to ask the hotel clerk which direction to take the Tram.
The Prague Tram system is actually very efficient and easy to figure out once you take a couple of minutes to figure it out. I would say it is even easier than the Paris subway system which I only had to figure out once since Betsy took care of our transportation needs when we did the Paris Marathon five years ago.
At the Expo, I was shocked to learn that runners were required to put down a deposit of 400 ck or 15 euros for their chip. I was certain that my online registration covered the chip but the only person at the booth who spoke english assured me that this was the system and that at the finish line, there would be a booth to get your money back.
"It wasn't my idea, I only volunteer here," he said. I'm gonna call him Radek since that's fairly common name in these parts.
Like many of the international athletes -- the ones not from Prague or Czech -- I was caught off guard with no local currency. I asked if they would take a credit card or American Currency and he said cash or czech only, meaning czech money (crowns or cz) or euros, no american dollar or British Pound accepted. My temper was starting to boil as the Common Sense Meter trickled to zero. I asked where the Bankomat machine was and he said that it was outside the Expo compound, a 5 minute walk.
I unleased a little more rage, screeching "didn't it occur to anyone that if people need money for chip deposits, that putting a freaking ATM machine nearby would be a good idea!" My new friend Radek looked at me like I asked if I could sleep with his sister without buying his family a farm animal first and said "it's only five minutes away."
I would later realize that to Czech, a five minute walk is what we in the states would call a walk around the block. The ATM -- Bankomats as they are referred to here -- wasn't hard to find and withdrawling 400 crowns (about $25 american) wasn't a big deal had I more sleep and fresh clothes.
When I went back to the booth, I asked if 400 cz equals 15 euros and he said that it was approximately the rate. I was going to say "do you know why it takes so much of your currency to equal a euro," but decided not to create an international incident on my first night in Prague.
This has been one long day. In fact, it has been two long day. I started my day Thursday waking up in he arms of my girlfriend. yah! Unfortunately, I had toget up and get packed for my trip to Prague, Republic of Czech. I haven't thought of a good code name for her, but my girlfriend is so wonderful. Not only did she volunteer to drive me to the airport, she actually parked the car and came in with me so I wouldn't have to sit for two hours by myself.
I wasn't able to fall asleep on the plane. Guy next to me, Jeff, did not need to get up once during the trip. for an antsy guy like me, that was a ordeal. I need to stretch my legs but didn't want to bother him each time, so I usually sat there festering. And to top it off, when we land, he went through the trouble to make sure I got to my connecting flight terminal. Dammit, how can you not like someone like that!
One time that I did get up, I tried to use the lavoritory and a flight attendant told me that since I wasn't in business class, I had to use this other one (with a longer line). I was tempted to do a bit about how Austria would be the outermost suburb of Nazi Germany if it wasn't for America but considered that was insensative and George Bush has long since damaged that card. The funny thing is, just before it was my turn in the long line, the FA said I could now use the BC lavority. I guess it was a time range thing.
My luggage did not follow me to Prague from Vianna. Given the size of the plane, i'm not surprise. I really thought I
was gonna be asked to either 1) help load the luggage, 2) take the wheel for 20 minutes while the pilot used the bathroom, or 3) help wash and wax upon landing.
My room was not ready when I arrived. Apparently checkout is noon and since I got here before 1pm they were not ready for me. I would have been fine if someone had told me...oh i don't know, when i booked the freakin hotel.
So while I've been up for almost 24 hours, I 'm gonna try and push through it and go to the Marathon Expo now. I want to get that out of the way before I crash and sleep the sleep of the dead.
Observations
Currency: They prefer crowns here. They will take Euros and in some places British Pounds. In most places they will resist the urge to laugh uncontrollably if you offer them American Dollars.
Smoking: A lot of Europeans smoke. It's a given, like most humans breathe oxygen. However, most Europeans seem to realize its a disgusting habit and they do their best to stand away from the crowd or hold their cigarette in a manner such to alleviate smoke. Most do anyway.
Music: You haven't heard Bryant Adam's "Everything I do" until you've heard it in Czech. Or Don't Stop Believing sung in English, but by an apparent local Czech band.
Language: Czech stems from Slavic but with a Germanic influence. Some of the words are very similar to Polish, so I've been doing my best to try and sound like a Pole on Holiday butchering the Czech language instead of an American on vacation butchering the Czech language.
