krakow part 2. when in Poland, troll as the Polish do.
I continue part 2 in Linkoping, after the magic of the holiday has worn off, and reality sets in. I might also have forgotten loads of things, so I might make up stories along the way. Part 2 of Krakow, however, is NOT day 2, because I realise I had forgotten to mention anything about our free walking tour. Our guide, Alicja, was a born and bred Polish, and led us on a tour to Old Town Krakow. We walked about the Old Town Square, which was actually raised by 5m since medieval times! There, we heard the story of the bum note at the end of the bugle piece, played every hour, on the hour, from 9-9.
Legend goes that during the Tartar invasion of Krakow, the bugle player had spotted the Tartars from a distance away, and played his bugle to warn the people within the city walls. Tartars, however, were master archers, and one of their bowmen shot an arrow right through the bugle players throat while he was still playing. And now, since that day, bugle players end the piece suddenly, exactly when the bugle player was killed, to honour his sacrifice for the city. This story, though very inspiring, was in the words of Alicja, totally not true. The true story was that someone made this story up some 40 odd years back, and the bugle players have been trolling ever since. I have never seen people so committed on a practical joke! A salute to the Polish for that.
Next, we walked through some other places like the Barbican, which contributed to the strong defence of Krakow in the medieval times, the Old Medieval City North wall, which has a funny story behind how it was kept standing as well. Basically, it was to be torn down, like the others, but a man whose name escapes me at the moment, told the king that the North wind would blow in without the wall, and make people sick. The king was still not convinced, so he said that the strong north wind, without the wall, would blow, and therefore lift women's skirts, leading to indecent exposure. While a king of today(if it was me) would say, "hmm, very good, I want to see her legs" the king then agreed to keep the wall up. What did I say about the Poles again? Oh right. Trolls.
We also walked by museums, which unfortunately I don't remember much of. There were many stories on Polish history, which was very interesting. I noticed that the guides in Europe all have a very good grasp of their countries history, and also this national pride arising out of them when they tell the stories. Wonder when that will happen for Singapore.
Next up was Wawel Castle, which I don't remember anything of, other than the nice views, the troll dragon that was supposed to breathe fire at 12, drawing a huge crowd, then proceeded to NOT do anything, the super magic wall that gives you magic powers (we all touched it), and one side of the castle courtyard that was built just to close up the courtyard, and therefore had no rooms, just windows. We saw the extent of fire damage of the castle (because the King was an amateur alchemist, meaning he obviously didn't know anything), destroying the wall paintings, which were otherwise quite pleasant to look at.
In the afternoon, we had a nice lunch(I think) and some awesome cake at this cake shop,
Pastries @ Galeria Tortow Artystycznych (ul Bozego Ciala 22), which specialises in creating mouth orgasms. I kid you not. We were having such a good time that we went to the Jewish Quarter tour late. We also joined the wrong tour group for awhile, leading to Tees finding true love for just about 10 minutes with his RAG. And then because the guide was not very good, we moved on, finally finding the way back to our old tour. Tees was depressed for the rest of the trip, muttering something about lost love under his breath, DESPITE being the one who led us away. The Jewish Quarter Tour ended up at Schindler's Factory, where we heard some of the story of Schindler's List, and how he saved over 1000 Jews during WW2. Schindler is a complicated character, and what he did, while admirable, was not always without self interest. Very interesting. And so with this, we headed off for dinner, and back to Greg and Tom, nicely rounding up day 1 out of 4. So far as I can remember that is.
Next up, Auschwitz... In the next post.
justin.
welcome to trolland, where the polish live.
I'm doing this entry in Prague as I try to stir up memories of Krakow, Poland, but I think stirring them up in chronological order is too much to ask of my brain. So I will start with what I remember the most vividly. The people.
Having never stayed in a hostel within a building before, Greg and Tom Hostel looked pretty much like a sleazy establishment. The door was locked, and we had to buzz the reception, and then walk up 3 flights of stairs to reach the reception. When the door opened, we winced, for the light coming from the smile was too dazzling, like that from a tiny mouth sized sun. It was Toads true love, Karolka (somehow pronounced as Karolina). "Hello!" She said, "You can't check in yet, but drop your bags and go for breakfast! =D" You might wonder why I left an emoticon, but I assure you it is absolutely necessary. By the way, breakfast meant FREE breakfast provided by the hostel. That's not the point though. The point was that it felt like home.
After breakfast, Karolka (whom I forgot to mention, other than being Toads true love, was also our receptionist for the day) used her Google pen (term coined by Adam with the bicycle in Budapest) to show us places we could go for food, and where might be interesting to see. And so we set off, having not checked in, to explore this city which we grew to love. For the whole day. With our bags in the lounge area. When we returned to Greg and Tom, at the shady building, our receptionist had changed. It was Adam, who would become my smoking buddy for the next 3 nights. So we checked in without much event, and met some people for dinner, including John, an old American war veteran, the New Yorker (whose story I will cover later), and the Sarong Party Girl with cankles (we did not know yet at the time, the level of disgust we would all feel). Then we split into 2 rooms, me and YY in one room with some unfriendly Brit people, and Tees, Vern and Toad in another room with some other people. We slept.
So this kind of concludes day 1 of Krakow, 6 days ago. Part 2 will follow when I remember more stuff, or rather, feel like writing more.
justin.
we are not in the right east.
South East Asia is not the right place to be. I'm really glad I cut class to head to Eastern Europe with the guys. Here, the learning experience is in real life. And there are hot girls. In Vienna, I learnt much of it's history from the city tour. Walking around in the city, while looking at the monuments and listening to the explanations is really much better than sitting in a classroom, with no disrespect to the teachers.
Bratislava was a hotbed of pretty ladies and awesome architecture, as is Vienna. At night, the city seems to have a totally different face. The aesthetics of the buildings are played up with lights, making the scene even more surreal. It was a shame we were only there for 3 short days, one of which was spent in Bratislava. The only regret was perhaps the fact that I have school now. And I am not attending it, hence I have to do a make-up essay, which after learning so much about the histories and politics of the 3 countries (I am currently in Budapest), is only half complete, with 1800+ words.
Budapest is also filled with lots of lovely sceneries, of different varieties. If you know what I mean. Of course you do. Buildings, and CAVES! Caving was an epic experience, where we had to go on our hand, knees, chest, butt and every part of our bodies, squeezing through holes I never knew I could fit through. Our guide, Silar has had 12 years of caving experience, and works through the year. I swear he can fly in a cave. And his holiday (which he will be taking in December for 2 days) consists of going to Vienna to EXPLORE MORE CAVES! Talk about loving your job.
Went for a communist tour in the afternoon, and learnt a boatload on the Communist past and young democracy of Hungary. Our guide had lived in the transition period, and in fact is still living in the transition period, where Communism was suddenly replaced by Capitalism. This quick change meant that the older generation could not keep up, and it would take another few generations for Hungary to be a fully democratic country. Yet democracy, as illustrated, has its own problems, and in my opinion, there is no better system. Democracy is just the system the world has chosen, and hence, the system one has to adopt if they still want to stay connected with the world.
Many parallels can be drawn between the history, culture and political systems of Singapore. Maybe not culture. But city states, filled with immigrants, aiming to be the hub (in the case of Vienna, cultural, and in Singapore, whatever the hub it is they are aiming for next) of the region. In the case of Hungary, the past political system of communism resulted in several similar features to Singapore, for example the housing, where the guide talked about her small kitchen and house, which looks just like one another. Which is the HDB isn't it? Perhaps I am looking at this through my own eyes, and not so much an open mind, but from the exterior, I think the buildings are aesthetically more pleasing that the HDB flats in Singapore. Nevertheless, I hope for the happiness of the Hungarian people, that things like corruption can be weeded out of their government, and they can find the most suitable people to represent their voices. (Which brings about another set of problems I am too tired to talk about now.) (Note to self: Wiki Nagy, Hungarian hero of the people. And they respect George Bush as well.)
Heading to a city tour tomorrow, and then heading off to Krakow at night. I hope this will become a meaningful and fun learning experience. That's what exchange is all about isn't it?
Eastern Europe, as of now, presents a face of Europe that is not all the glitz and glamour that people might assume it to be. Though, the women, surely, makes up for everything. The number of beautiful women I have seen in these past 6 days is just astonishing. I hope this continues for the rest of my life.
justin.
