Poland Diary - Sunday 3rd July, 12:09, Gate 3, Kraków Airport

After breakfast yesterday morning we headed out walking to another part of town to visit Wawel Castle. We also got told we were going to another traditional Polish restaurant in the evening so I was a bit apprehensive after the whole fish/vegetarian debacle in the Chata restaurant on the first night. We walked around the castle and took some pictures (including a bunch in front of the Pope statue where I wasn’t really smiling because I couldn’t see…bet I look fun on those pictures…) From there we paid to go down a tower into a cave called Dragon’s Den. Loads of people took pictures but, seen as every single family holiday I go in involves going into a cave, I think I only took two. It took us out to the river Vistula where we went on boats down the river, eventually ‘racing’ each other (we won :P) - on our boat there was: Jade, me, Jess, Bethan, Emily, Becky, Stevan, Nigel Jess and Fiona (I tried to do that in order of who was sitting where but I can only remember half of it). 

We then walked back to the Square to get lunch. Me, Bethan and Stevan went to get bread (brilliantly inventive lunch) and corn from a stall and Jade walked off and left us without bothering to tell us where she’d gone. It annoyed us a bit because we weren’t supposed to go off alone at all, and she’d said she’d only be a minute. She later texted saying she was in Coffee Heaven with Jess and Jess. We all had to do group quizzes so we ran around all afternoon doing it then Jade and I went into St Mary’s Basilica. Everything was so detailed and beautiful - especially the stained glass windows - so it was annoying we couldn’t stay long. But, I’m glad I got to go (another Lonely Planet recommendation).

We got to go back to the hotel for about two hours but I couldn’t be bothered changing so I just sorted my make up out and sat in reception. For some reason, I just felt rubbish, and I had to sit down there to calm myself down. I ended up connecting to the wi-fi and doing a much needed blog post - it was mainly just a rant about being annoyed but it felt so good to write it and then post it. Fiona was also sat down there using the internet on her phone. I observed some random exchanges between the friendly receptionist lady and a random taxi driver…they shared an ice cream.

We went to Rocking Horse, the restaurant, and I was sat with Jess, Jess, Jade, Becky and Emily. We finished the group quiz, which was won by Jess, Jess, Becky and Emily then went back to the Square for one last time. Jade decided it would be a clever idea to change her mind about coming shopping with me and went back to the hotel. There was an awkward five minutes where all the teachers, myself, Jade, Jess and Jess were all standing in a circle trying to figure out who would stay with me instead of going back. Jess A volunteered even though she really didn’t feel well at all. We set off walking to the shops to go and finish souvenir buying and I randomly just started crying, so we went and sat on a bench and talked for about half an hour, which was so nice and we’re so similar. Everything she said I agreed with and vice versa. We decided to get thank you presents for Nigel, Lindsay and Fiona…one small problem though, everything closed for the festival. We managed to get Nigel a notebook and pencil from Empik (I say managed, because we were in there for AGES), and three gift bags, and eventually our favourite ‘Pope card’ shopkeeper reopened so we managed to get Lindsay and Fiona a dragon keychain and a pen each. The shopkeeper gave us some more Pope cards which we gave all but two of to Nigel again. While waiting for the shop to reopen we went and had one last coffee in our favourite little coffee shop. We had a nice little chat. The others all came back 'drunk' again. Great. There's nothing better than sharing a room with people who've been drinking...

When we went back to the hotel we asked the teachers to hang behind to give them their gifts but once we were back at the hotel, Jess got embarrassed and ran off…not embarrassing for me at all… They liked their gifts though, so it wasn’t so bad. They seemed genuinely surprised too, which was nice. When we were walking back from the Square, Fiona had asked me what I’d bought and I’d had to reply ‘stuff’ twice because I obviously couldn’t say what it actually all was. Nigel hugged me, which Jess found rather amusing when I later went to her room and told her what had happened. Sarah and Steph had clearly been drinking a lot more than the first night of them being drunk, so I quickly went to bed. Sarah did decide to leave the air conditioning on all night, though, so it took ages to get to sleep because it was SO noisy.

Poland Diary - Saturday 2nd July, 9:40ish, Reception, Alexander 1 Hotel

I was the first down to breakfast this morning and it was nice to have some space. I’m now just sitting in reception away from everybody else so I get time to write. Someone just asked if I was waiting for the receptionist and she just responded “she’s writing” - reception is clearly the place to be if I want leaving alone. I’m currently filling in the bits I didn’t get chance to write about from the Auschwitz visit.

Poland Diary - Friday 1st July, 12:13am, Room 46, Alexander 1 Hotel

This morning we were up by 7:30 and I washed my hair. Not the best or easiest shower in the world, but it could have been a stream halfway up a mountain so I’m not complaining, especially after yesterday. We all boarded the coach in the pouring rain and headed to the Jewish Quarter. We saw the graveyard and then went into the only active synagogue left in Kazimierz. The pieces of epitaphs that made up the wall fascinated me. Anna told us that when it had been destroyed, the pieces had survived but because they didn’t know who they belonged to, they compiled them all into one memorial. From there, we went to the Schindler’s Factory museum, which was insanely long. Anna spent ages explaining things but nobody really knew what she was talking about, it seemed. Lots of us all agreed it wasn’t what we were expecting, in that everything was replicated or ‘what they imagined it might have been like’.

We then went back to the hotel and out to get lunch. We then went back in Empik and I bought some beads and elastic. I started the day pretty annoyed at how everybody was just bitching and moaning about each other and telling made up stories to cause trouble (particularly between me and my friends). It’s just pathetic and completely immature. I did a good job of staying out of it all, though, with the exception of a small moan to Nigel when he picked up that I wasn’t in a great mood and asked me about it. We had tea at Mamma Mia again (this time with Becky and Emily too) then went back to the hotel, where I sat on Jess, Jess and Bethan’s floor.
 
Our ghost walk tour guide, Jacek (I think his name badge said that, anyway), met us at the hotel later in the evening. The tour itself was pretty dull but Pati, Jade and Nigel just messed about and made everyone laugh so we all got into it eventually - not too hard when the tour guide clearly had no idea what he was doing. It all culminated with us being taken into a random dark room and a randomer jumping out at us. To say I have major issues with the dark, I was one of the only people that didn’t scream and/or run for the door. Jade did decide it best to stand on me, though :(

After that, me, Jess, Jess, Jade, Stevan, Bethan, Emily, Becky and Pati all went to Coffee Heaven (me, Jess, Jess and Jade has been earlier in the afternoon as well). I had a caramel macchiato, which was way too nice. We spent ages in there, probably annoying all of the other customers with our constant laughter and the loudness of certain people probably didn’t help either. We then walked around and has a really good night overall, and we all seem to have bonded as a little group. On the way back to the hotel, we managed to lose Nigel…who we were later told was hiding somewhere to try and scare people. When in Poland…

Poland Diary - Thursday 30th June, 11:32pm, Room 46, Alexander 1 Hotel

This morning started with getting up at 7:20pm and rushing to get ready to go out with Jade and Pati to get Jade’s money changed…before finding out that we couldn’t until 9am because it wouldn’t actually be open. Luckily, we’d already been woken up at something like 6:30 by bin men outside, so it’s not like I got up specifically for it. We all showered and went down for breakfast. I had watermelon and a bread roll with fruit juice and sat with Jade and Pati. I have a bit of a thing about having watermelon for breakfast… We then got ready and headed into the Square again.

Me, Jade and Pati wandered around together but we all went up into the tower at St Mary’s Basilica first. By the time we’d reached the top it had gone from dry sunshine to just pure rain. Still, it was fun looking out of the windows at the top and watching rainy Kraków down below. I was oddly proud of myself for managing it without having a near panic attack (wish I was joking, but I'm not).

After that, we did some souvenir shopping and then hunted down Wedel Chocolate Lounge to have some hot chocolate like I saw in Lonely Planet magazine. I had the milk chocolate and cherry hot chocolate and it was so rich but so nice. It cost about 12z for it, which was roughly £4...expensive for a hot chocolate over here but over there it somehow seemed cheap. We then walked back to the hotel. From there we got ourselves sorted and on the coach to Auschwitz with our ‘proper’ tour guide, Anna. It took about two hours overall. Anna had us watching a film about what happened there all the way, it was all generally not too horrific to watch, until the parts where they showed people examining dead babies and children. For me, that was the wake up call about what we were going to experience.

When we reached the Auschwitz I Museum, we were given headphones and Agata, the tour guide for the afternoon, described everything we saw. At first, it was strange to physically be in a place that I had seen before in pictures and just seen on a film. I really didn’t like having to wear the headphones at first, firstly I have major issues with headphones like they were staying on my head, and secondly, I don’t like listening to something (like music) while I’m walking. I don’t know, I like to be aware of what’s going on around me, I guess. Probably something that stems from having to walk home in the dark over winter. After a while, something struck me. Although probably not the intended purpose, listening to the commentary through headphones made it a very personal, solitary experience. I suppose you could talk to those with you if you so desired, but it seemed somehow disrespectful. 

We got shown around all of the buildings. The first buildings we went in mainly just described what had been happening at the beginning and we saw lots of things like postcards that had been preserved and, of course, photographs from the time. We then went in the ‘Material Proof of Crime’ building, Block 5, which I really did not like. There were certain parts of the building where photography was not permitted, but some people in the group still tried to take pictures. There was just a whole wall that had one long display cabinet full of human hair. It was almost too surreal to understand. The thought that all of that hair belonged to so many different people is sickening. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was decided that it should be put on display. We also went into an entire room full of shoes which was also surreal. I found myself mainly just fixating on certain objects and trying to understand the fact that yes, it did really belong to a person. One day, a long time ago, somebody was wearing that shoe, and now it is on display to demonstrate the cruel reality of their life. Lots of the group found the section with baby clothes and shoes the worst - I know Lindsay definitely didn’t go in but I don’t know about anybody else. Somehow, when it’s about a child, it’s so much more horrific. I guess it’s about the fact that they didn’t really live…that their innocence was taken away. There was also a room full of suitcases that have names, arrival dates and death dates of all the people they belonged to - they were all different ages, some just children again.

We also went into prison cells, were shown ‘living’ quarters and finally, the gas chamber. We were told to look for the ‘vents’ in the ceiling from which the gas was leaked. As we looked up, it was just like a tiny little window in the ceiling. In Media, we’ve discussed the concept of light being used to symbolise hope quite a lot. Standing in the gas chamber, staring at the ceiling, that simple concept couldn’t have seemed more contradictory.

The coach then took us about 5 minutes away to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. We were told that, generally, it is the camp that provokes the most emotion. I think I knew I wouldn’t cry, and I didn’t. Only just. Although I know it was more than likely due to the humidity and weird weather we’d been experiencing (sun > torrential rain > no rain > warmth + torrential rain etc), the entire camp seemed to be drained of air. It was there that I began to see the rain as less of an annoyance, but simply as appropriate. We went into more barracks and saw more ’living’ quarters. We then had a ’break’ while the tour guide and the teachers went off and, presumably, argued about the tour guide being awkward. Some of the group quickly jumped at the tension and immediately began speculating about what was going on. To be honest, I really couldn’t have cared less. I wanted to say something like “you’re at one of the most historical places in the entire world, is lame gossip all you can think about?” but I didn’t. Firstly, it wasn’t worth it, and secondly, even though it irritated me, weird behaviour could be forgotten given that it was a completely surreal day. We then walked all the way down the train track to the bottom where the memorials and crematorium remains are located. At the memorial site, a large group of Israeli soldiers were holding a service, we were told. The most poignant moment of the whole day came when I was walking behind most of the group, listening to the service (even though I obviously don’t speak Hebrew or Yiddish…) and the person speaking began singing what I can only assume was some form of Jewish hymn. It was somehow haunting and, even though I understood none of it, communicated the pain and suffering of the victims there. I did understand one word spoken, milim (words). Also poignant, for me, because I realised that there literally are no words that can describe it. Nothing will do it justice. The soldiers had all placed candles along the train track and the train carriage. All I wanted to do was walk slowly and take them all in.

And then, somehow, we reached the coach again and before we realised, we had left. Some people slept but, even with the ridiculous wake up call from the bin men and the day of walking, I couldn’t find it within me to be tired.

This evening we all (minus Nigel, Lindsay and Fiona) went to Mamma Mia, an Italian restaurant round the corner from the hotel. I sat with Jade, Stevan, Bethan, Jess and Jess. To be honest, I was relieved to be away from the people wanting to drink because I think that was why I felt a bit left out during the meal on the first night. I was especially pleased to hear Josh Groban and Nelly Furtado - Silencio - playing in the background while we ate. We then all went into the Square and got some ice cream (I had apple and cherry…my favourite) and went in a department store (Empik) then we all sat and talked. A lot of the group went out drinking again and it was obvious that the teachers weren’t exactly impressed with them all when they got back (including Fiona doing a very stern midnight room check, haha). Luckily for me, Sarah was just doing that ridiculous ‘I’m going to act drunk because everybody else is’ thing and I didn’t have to share a room with two drunk people, but it really annoyed me/I practically ran for the key and then up to the room to try and get organised before they both got in. Hmm. I recall telling Jade I’d refuse to sleep in there if they were too drunk. Ha.

Poland Diary - Wednesday 29th June, 11:21pm, Room 46, Alexander 1 Hotel

We landed at Kraków Airport about 20 minutes early and had to wait a little for our tour guide, Joanna (no idea of spelling), because of how early we were, which was fine. I wish I could remember Jade’s reaction to her first sighting of Kraków once we were outside the airport, I think it was something like “Poland has a lot of car parking spaces”. It was nice and warm and, surprisingly, not at all rainy (unlike what we were told on the plane). On the plane I ended up talking to the woman next to me (I always seem to meet chatty women on planes…) who was a teacher from a school in Liverpool.

We had a 40 minute coach journey to the hotel and then we got divided up into rooms and we unpacked. After that we got showered (ours has a lovely cigarette burn in the bottom…classy) and got ready to go out for our meal at the traditional Polish restaurant - Chata. They prepared a special vegetarian meal for me…of fish. Cue first awkward Poland moment. I managed not to go into a rant about vegetarians vs. pescatarians and just explained that I don’t eat fish…and after a while the waiter came back and told me I could have Russian dumplings. Clearly, I didn’t have a choice, so I accepted that offer. It did mean waiting until everybody else on my table had finished eating before I could have my meal, but I’m strangely used to that after birthday meals gone wrong etc. The meal itself wasn’t as bad as expected, we had a vegetable/rice soup to begin, Russian dumplings for me and chicken with sauerkraut and potatoes for the others, and some form of apple cake for dessert. My response at the time, when asked by Lindsay, was “well, it’s not terrible”, which was true, it could have been a lot worse and I tried everything, which was the main point. It was such a cute little restaurant and it was fun to experience something traditional. The only issue I really had was that I got left out by pretty much all (not all, though, thankfully) of my table all evening except for when my main meal finally arrived and they all watched me. Great. Cue awkward Poland moment number two…

From there, we walked around Main Square and had free time. I went with Jade and Stevan because we didn’t want to drink and everybody else went off drinking. It wasn’t exactly the best situation because we’d all been approached by a random Polish man with drinks vouchers who took them all down an alley to a club. We later found out it wasn’t exactly as bad as we were all imagining, thankfully, but we were still a little worried for them all. Luckily, they had Pati (the native Polish speaker). The three of us took lots of pictures and sat and talked for a while which was nice. I’m now back in the room with Sarah and Steph and we’re thinking about going to bed.  

Poland Diary - Wednesday 29th June, 2:23pm, Plane to Kraków

Been in the air for just over an hour (I think). I’m sitting with Sarah and a woman I don’t know. Jade and Pati are behind us and Beth and Talor are two rows in front. We’re all spread out all over the plane but I don’t think anybody in our group had problems getting a seat.

When our gate number (1) appeared, we all went and queued for what seemed like ages before we could finally get on the plane. It probably wasn’t all that long to be honest, but having a dad who refuses to fly means I’ve only ever flown three times (six if you count both ways) and have never had a flight longer than 3 hours.

So far, all of us girls except 3 are generally alright with being in a large group together. I doubt it’ll stay that way, but at the moment it’s fine. The other two girls went off together a lot and Bethan generally stuck with Stevan. I definitely think my experiences with Croatia are helpful because if I didn’t have that experience, I’d probably find it a lot harder.

Fern texted me earlier to tell me that a certain two people have been annoying her. NOT surprising because one of them is beyond irritating 24/7. I’m glad to get away from it all for a few days to be honest.

First impressions of things so far - Pati, Jess and Jess are all lovely. We’ve just been chatting to whoever we’re with which definitely reminds me of Croatia. It strikes me that when in a situation like ours, people just automatically bond and get along well, plus we’re all older and nobody seems like that stereotypical high school bitchy girl sort of person so I think we’re alright.

Update - 2:50ish
    - Just been told we’re flying over what we think is Cologne (Germany) and we’re 20 mins ahead of schedule. Sarah’s playing games on my iPod and we’re in a bit of turbulence as it’s raining in Poland. Apparently it’s 19*C though, so not all bad :)

Poland Diary - Wednesday 29th June, 12:24am, Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Currently sitting on the floor by a lift with Jess, Jess, Jade, Sarah, Pati, Beth, Talor, Lauren, Eliza, Steph and Amy. A few of us have taken pictures etc and we’re waiting to find out which gate we’re at. I seem to spend 90% of my waiting time in airports sitting on the floor somewhere…