On Thursday we had some free time in the morning in Krakow to explore on our own. I opted to do some more shopping and found a t-shirt for my dad, also stopped at a cute little coffee shop to relax a little bit. 

I walked around until about 12:30, headed back to the hotel, and we met up at 1:00 pm to take the bus out to Auschwitz.

Bit of a long ride but when we arrived and went through security, we met up with a tour guide, who did a very thorough job of taking us through Auschwitz one, which seems to me the main facility, and also Auschwitz two (aka Birkenau), which for which we had to drive a bit further away. Both were very sobering as I had heard about Auschwitz for many years but see everything up close and personal is a combination of educational, horrifying, and sad.

When we got back to the hotel rooms close to 8:00 p.m., and I definitely needed a drink. One of my tourmates and I went to a local bar and enjoyed a nice cocktail to decompress.

On Friday we had breakfast in Poland (at our hotel), lunch in Slovakia, and dinner and Hungary, which was kind of cool! It was a long bus ride that day with a lot of twists and turns and I was a bit white knuckled while we were going past cliffs. Beautiful countryside and lots of forests, which made the drive enjoyable. We stopped briefly at an interesting rest stop which at first looked a bit sketchy (I literally said, "this looks like a place where serial killers hang out), like a typical rest stop in the us. However when we walked across the street, it turned out to be a UNESCO site and was kind of cool. Unfortunately though, no paper towels for our hands in the restrooms, eww!

In the evening, we finally arrived in Eger, which was our first stop in hungary. We got out of the bus for a brief orientation of the town, got back on the bus that got to our hotel. 

After checking in and getting settled, I joined the group for dinner at a building across from the hotel. We had a delicious goulash soup, followed by veal stew, and some type of coleslaw. Also enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine as this area is a big wine region.The dessert didn't appeal to me so I said good night to the group and headed off to bed.

Magical Krakow

On Wednesday morning, we did a walking tour of Krakow's old town area and Wawel Hill with a local guide. We saw the inside of a couple of cathedrals and walked the grounds. Also heard the story of a woman who became King (not queen) at age 10, married a much older guy, than passed away at age 25 during childbirth, and apparently the baby also died. Crazy story! The cathedrals we saw in Krakow were very tall but tight quarters inside, so one of them wouldn't even let us take pictures because it would cause too much of a foot traffic jam. 

When we were done, our guide let us take a break and we went to one of the little buildings to enjoy some coffee and I bought a Polish chocolate bar as well, which was really good.

After the walking tour, a couple of friends tourmates and I went to a local restaurant that serves up food cafeteria style and you can pick from many different dishes for cheap... students often eat there. For example, I got six different items and a bottle of water for about $10. So far, the exchange rate has definitely been in our favor on this trip!

From there, we went to the Leaky Cauldron, which is a little cafe paying homage to the Harry Potter books and movies. Unfortunately they didn't serve alcohol, so we just got a couple of fruity drinks they called "potions," which contained dry ice, so they had that cool effect.

After that, we walked around, did some shopping, then one of my tourmates and I set out to find a laundromat so we would have some clean clothes for the next few days. There's only so much you can wash in your room and have it dry in time for to pack for your next destination! The key for when you only have hand washables is to wash all of them at once in a washer so that it can extract as much water as possible, then hang dry them in your room for at least one full day. The laundromat we found also serves food, so we enjoyed a couple of glasses of Prosecco and some duck pierogies while we waited for our clothes to finish. 

Lunch in Stramberk, arrival in Krakow

On Tuesday, we headed out early on our first bus ride, heading to Krakow. We met our bus driver, who was extremely easy on the eyes, but old enough to be my kid. (On left in pic)😄 Bit of a long ride, made longer by heavy traffic, but our tour guide gave us nice historical overviews of Poland and Krakow. I think we were in the bus for 7 or 8 hours that day. Oy!

While we were still in the Czech Republic, we stopped for lunch in a little town called Stramberk, where some of my tourmates and I went to a little cafe and enjoyed a pizza and salad. We then walked up to the tower on the hill where we saw some really pretty views of the valley below.

We hopped back on the bus and continued our journey towards Krakow. We finally arrived at our hotel where I checked into my room, which was tiny, but typical of single hotel rooms in Europe. Hey, as long as I have a nice clean bed, and a good shower, I'm a happy camper.

We then met up with our group in the lobby and walked to dinner at a really cool restaurant that looked like a log cabin on the inside. We enjoyed a sour soup with potatoes, mushrooms, and hard-boiled eggs, then I had chicken and some mushroom sauce, with potatoes and carrots. The rest of the group had cooked salmon, but I'm not a fan and they thankfully accommodated me.

We didn't get back to the hotel until late and I had trouble sleeping since the time between dinner and bed was so short. Definitely not used to late dinners like Europeans are!

Tomorrow, we explore more of Krakow!

Last day in Prague

On the first full day of our tour in Prague, after breakfast, our guide took us to the subway station, gave us tickets and oriented us with the public transit system. Our goal was to get up to Prague Castle using a combo of subway and tram. Easy peasy and we got up there and took tours of the castle which included a cathedral, a chapel, and an alley with tiny shops and former homes of tradespeople. Beautiful views and interiors throughout.

At about 12:30pm, they set us free to go explore Prague more on our own, and have lunch and dinner on our own as well. I opted to go catch the Frank Kafka rotating head as well as check out a shop where they serve naughty shaped donuts. (Not including the picture of that here.) 😉 

It was sunny and hot again, and all that walking definitely took a toll, so I spent a few hours relaxing in the AC in my room before heading out for a traditional Czech dinner on my own. I found a well-rated restaurant not too far from me, and enjoyed duck thigh, with dumplings, and what I believe were pickled beets or cabbage, along with a gross cucumber salad that I couldn't finish. Also opted for a local beer, even though I typically drink wine. I figured what the hey! Everything minus the cucumber salad was delish!

Tomorrow, we're off to Krakow!