Hail Poland

I might say Krakow, Poland is my favorite city yet. But maybe that's because we've had such an excellent tourguide.

At school in New York, Andrea's been seeing this Polish boy, Eryk. When he heard we were travelling around, he enthusiastically took up the task of hosting us. After three days with him, I think I can safely say there's not a prouder pole around...the kid is obsessed ("Do you like Poland?" he asked almost on the hour. "Do you?"). But, that was great for us because we could follow him blindly around the city, knowing he would spout an anecdote or bit of history every few blocks and take us some great local spots.

He took us around on bicycles. It was probably the best way to the see the city--its curling ancient architecture mixed with a funny streak of cold, bold communist-style stuff as well. I really liked the contrast. On our walking trips around Krakow, Eryk would flit in and out of restaurants jabbering about how we needed to try this or that typical Polish dish or beer (huzzah! this one's for Steve: my favorite was zywiec). Soooo, thanks to Eryk the crazed, I will probably roll home as one GIANT doughy pierogi, with baguettes for arms and maybe kielbasas for legs. And I will reek of cabbage, of course. Eeeeeeesh. But it's hard to resist the lovely starch when you're on a budget, and the BREAD IS SO GOOD!

On our last day in the city, we ventured out to visit Auschwitz.

It's hard to describe that sort of thing, isn't it? I thought about taking pictures, but it made me feel guilty and I suppose you can find that sort of thing online.

And. It was just sort of unbelievable: other tourists calmly threading between the brick barracks and peeping into the cramped basement cells...it's hard to know what to feel, if you should be sad or angry or appalled. It turns out, rather than the gas chambers, I was most sensitive to the rooms that contained the evidence of crimes: PILES of human hair, a room of dusty shoes, mounds of toothbrushes and eyeglasses, and lonely suitcases that never made it anywhere. What can you do but stare and try to remember some of the things you saw so that you can think about them later. If you want to.

I'm glad I went.