Trains + Beer

Squirrel!

Train!

This was consistently my reaction the entire time we were at Vytopna, the restaurant in Prague that features train tracks covering the dining space and trains that deliver drinks to your table.

We had tried to make a reservation for 1pm today, but having made it late the night before, had not received a confirmation email by the time we left the hostel the next morning. So, upon arriving in downtown Prague, we thought we would check with them at opening time (11:00am) if they received our request. Response: We´ll take you now!

We promptly ordered beer, (it's 5pm somewhere....)as well as a delicious lunch. As we ate, the place filled up mostly with children and their families....the parents then ordered food and spent most of the time trying to get their kids to eat as the kids could not stay seated for more than a second. Who doesn't want to follow each and every train that comes by?!

I subsequently ordered a second drink just so the train would come back. (Read: this business plan is brilliant!)

Seriously, it was so much fun! It's actually a chain in the Czech Republic, so if you're in the area, go! -JM

Back to Day 5: Krakow

Ok, picking up where I stopped in my excitement over the Tatras...this was our day in Krakow.

Agenda:
Get up
See castle
Find dragon

Today is the day to explore Krakow. This is my favourite city so far - walkable, beautiful and affordable. As with seemingly every city we will visit, there is a castle - Wawel Castle. And rumour has it that somewhere around it is a dragon...
Our street seems quiet but as we near the castle, we find the hordes. We climb up the cobbled walkway that winds around the perimeter. From the top there are of course great views of they city. Wes, a frequent traveller of North American cities, marvels at how low European cities are compared to the skyscrapers at home. (His internal Radiant-City-compass has also been thrown for a loop in the winding streets and he is consistently surprised when he is sure things are  'just around the corner' and it turns out to be a completely different street.)
There are lineups everywhere so we don't buy tickets for the exhibitions though I did want to see some crypts - I mean, who doesn't?
After a full exploration of the fortress, we exit through the walkway by the river and wind our way down. There is a paved walkway along the river with statues and it is here we seek the dragon. Under some trees, around a bend, he stands. There is a legend in Krakow about a dragon who terrorized the city, eating young ladies. Some stories say that the king offered his daughter's hand in marriage (once she became the only lady left in town) to the young man who could best the dragon. Apparently it was a poor man's son (bless the consistency of fairy tales) who put some sort of explosive edible item outside the dragon's cave, it eats it and its throat gets so hot, it drinks all the water in the river to no avail and then dies. Yay happily ever after for the young man and princess. Now the dragon is immortalized in a statue at the base of the castle which, believe it or not, breathes fire every couple of minutes! On the other hand, any dread that it could strike into the hearts of passersby is significantly reduced by the many children crawling on it!
   With our day's agenda accomplished, we set off for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in the main square. Then it is off to the Jewish quarter for a bit of a wander. We pick a cafe with a patio beside a 16th c. church where we sit and have some pints in the sunshine (although here they are 'half litres', not pints.)
  We then head back to the hostel, grab our things and walk to the bus station for the 2 hour trip to Zakopane. Honestly, the bus trip was $6. Crazy. A quick note on Zakopane, which we got into late and didn't really explore - it kinda looks like Banff exploded. It is a hiking town in summer and skiing town in winter, so gone were the fashionable styles of Krakow, the heels and the dresses. Here were hikers, some outfitted to spend days or weeks in the park - packs, bedrolls, walking sticks. We were just happy with the cold, crisp mountain air.

More from Prague later. JM

Day 6: Nuts to you, heart condition....I saw a glacier!

**More on Day 5 Krakow later. No time. Today was too awesome, and I am way too tired. **

So, I did a crazy thing today, spurred on by my loyal partner-in-crime. As many of you know, I have a minor heart issue - no big deal - just some palpitations going up stairs and when I am hurrying. So what is an intelligent, health-conscious young woman to do? Climb 1583 metres above sea level, you say? Yep, exactly!
   Today we are in Zakopane and we headed to the Tatras mountains. After a harrowing mini bus ride to the entrance to the park, and waiting with the hordes of people to get in (this particular hike is the most popular with all Poles and other Europeans) we started on the 9km trek to Morskie Oko, the Eye of the Sea.
   At first this seemed like cheat-hiking.....paved walkway, people in nice clothes, strollers, older people just out for a walk. But, the slight grade uphill was enough to prove pretty tiring for me - again, this is the girl who gets tired on stairs. Wes was amazing and was happy to take breaks with me. We made it to the lake after a couple of hours along with hundreds of others, and it is incredible. It is a vibrant green and sits in a valley surrounded by the Tatras mountains. Also, beside the lake is a large chalet serving ice cream, drinks and BEER! These Poles have the right idea. You can hike with beer!!!

 Now, on the map, it said we could walk round to the other side of the lake (and could see people doing so...) and take a trail to another lake, Czarny Staw pod Rysami. Sure, let's go. It's beautiful and sunny and not too hot. Ok, so we set out with many others on a path of large rocks so there was lots of scrambling and balancing along the way. Half an hour later we get to the base of this path that leads to the next lake. We stop for a break. We look up. The 'trail' is another path of huge stones leading 600m higher than we already are....it consists of many switchbacks because the incline is so steep. Ummmm.....
  After much discussion about my endurance and Wes' achilles, we were still iffy. And then I noticed some things:
a. Children
b. 50 year old men with cigarettes
c. Fathers with infants in packs on their backs.
And no one seemed to break a sweat. It would be pretty lame if I couldn't do this!
So we gave it a shot! It took a lot of breaks, let's not pretend. It was hard work, but we kept each other going by saying, 'We're this close....'
   And at the top, on the other side of the lake, was a small glacier. It is clear that there used to be far more of them years ago as well.
   After, I felt like a million bucks. I've had some disappointing attempts this year with my fear of heights - a disastrous attempt at downhill skiing and a failed attempt at flying trapeze - plus this heart thing, so I have been feeling kinda low and wondering what happened to my previous adventurous self. This made up for all of it. And the pictures are incredible. Besides that fact, I'm sure be burned about 7 million calories today, so I won't feel guilty about eating anything and everything I can find tonight.

Till next time,
JM

 

Day 5: Krakow

So, I should explain that our 14 hour  train trip across the European countryside was not a complete loss. (It sounded rather bitter upon re-reading.) We met a nice couple on the Berlin-Warsaw section - he was German and she was Polish. They were really helpful for advice about Poland, and we also shared travelling advice about Canada and gained info about Polish weddings (where they were heading). We had about an hour in Warsaw due to a late train - ran through the high end shopping mall to the food court to grab food and negotiate the zloty (Polish currency) before running back to the station for our connection. Warsaw also features a huge, hulking building - the Palace of Culture and Science - just outside the train station, a facetious gift from the Soviets, and hard to miss - defining, almost obscuring, the Warsaw skyline.

In addition, we met a mother and her well-spoken son on the Warsaw - Krakow train - a relief that they spoke English as most cars were compartments and the station hadn't given us seat numbers. Compartments are squishy but the hallways leading to them are squishier, and for those of us carting packs on our backs, it means only one person can fit abreast in the passage. I apologize to those few people whom we had to squeeze by, and whom we most definitely flattened in the process. The woman was Polish-born but had married and lived in Florida for the past decade or so. Her son was the precocious one - welcomed us to the compartment with a "Come on in" (9 years old) and proceeded to tell us about his matter-of-fact look on life, his wish for a dog, and then settled back for a nap listening to Kenny G on his iPod.

Yesterday, we visited Auschwitz. I'm going to refrain from talking about it here, as I eventually stopped taking pictures while I was there. Some experiences aren't meant for idle chat on blogs and social media or photo-sharing on Instagram. Some things are meant to be experienced. If you want to go, go. There are thousands that flock everyday, so take a tour as the lines are overwhelming. That is all.


Shoot, it is midnight already. I must head to bed. We are in Zakopane, Poland and tomorrow we hike in the Tatras mountains. Time for sleep. More later. J.

Day 4: Krakow

Small details can make a world of difference when one is travelling. Take exhibit A: We have made it to Poland after a day of trains - making the journey from Kiel, Germany. If one of the four - yup, four - trains we took yesterday arrived at the station 7 minutes earlier, we would have made it here by dinnertime. As it was, we got here at midnight. And let me tell you, some cities roll up their streets after dinner and this be one of them. The schedule was not a surprise, as train schedules are pretty organized online, but alas, connections are what they are.

Exhibit B: In Kiel, we (after some misleading directions and misplaced signs) made it to the cemetary where Wes' great uncle is buried, shot down over Germany in 1942 at 20 years old. The cemetary is a beautiful spot, and I have included a picture (albeit from Google images, as my cord for the camera is four floors up - 70+wide stone steps - inside this old rambling building in downtown Krakow.) The flowers and bushes are now in full bloom and the colours are vibrant.

When we arrived in Kiel, we took a bus to the hostel, which dropped us off on a large highway in the middle of seemingly nowhere. We thought we could
a. walk straight along the highway since our hostel claimed to be on htis road, but how far? Or
b. ask at a nearby hotel. We chose hotel - nice girl, drew directions on our map, followed these till we saw a sign. Followed said sign (we thought) till we wandered past many cozy houses (think of Keeping Up Appearances/Privet Drive in Harry Potter) and then less exciting alleyways and a Saab dealership. Alas, not the right way. Google helped us figure it out, and we realized we were closer now to the cemetary than to the hostel. So, with packs on, we hiked it there, spent some time and then hiked to the hostel. We arrive at the hostel, only to look at the intersection beside it with recognition: the hostel was a stone's throw from aforementioned intersection where we made the unfortunate choice to ask at the hotel. Wes assured me it was so close that even I could have thrown the stone.

That night, after shedding our packs, we walked back up to the funky street of restaurants we had discovered (its presence explained by the nearby university) and had dinner at a - wait for it - burger place with vegan and vegetarian options! I also asked a nice young dude outside which of the two adjacent restaurants to choose and he pointed to the burger place and said it was "how do you say in English - biologique?" Yes! Organic food! Amazing!

This was followed by a full-stomach-induced sleepy trudge back to the hostel and an amazing sleep before that long, long train ride.