Krakow Days

Sunday - Monday

The first day in Krakow consists of mostly recovering from getting there and hanging around in Mama's hostel. It's not until the following day I venture out properly to see the city. The weather is really mild, apparently it is usually around minus 15 at this time of year, and back home in the UK I'm told it's pretty nippy, ah well, hot or cold it can probably all be blamed on global warming.

Kazimierz, cakes and crepes

The Kazimierz is the old Jewish district which has a number of synagogue remaining, lots of art galleries and museums, and some very good small cafes. The film Schindler's List is based upon the experiences of the Kazimierz Jews who worked at Oscar Schindler's enamel factory. The High Synagogue contains and small but powerful exhibition of photos showing families who lived before and those who survived.

Afterwards I'm feeling like I need a lighter experience and find Kolanko No.6 just down the road, a small cafe which serves really, really good food for not very much. It's got a old-time quality to it, helped by the barely audible background jazz music. Having feasted on mexican crepes, mulled wine, and apple pie with vanilla sauce and ice-cream, I realise I've been immersed in reading 'this side of Paradise' as 2 hours have gone by and people have appeared all around me (see the before photo)

Tuesday - books, blogs & boglins

Massolit bookstore is great, though why it is in Krakow I don't know. There are thousands of English language books housed in this old curiosity shop that doubles as a cafe. I'm bad with books and I realise this is like putting a kid in a sweet store so I tell myself I'm only browsing. After 10 minutes I'm sat at the table with 8 titles piled in front of me and a coffee pawing over them one after the other. Why did it have to be a 50% off sale, why?! These people are serious papyrus pushers!! In the end I get a book on an Iraqi Blogger, Salam Pax, which is very funny and sad, but also prompts me to update my blog too. At night I think someone smuggled an some kind of troll into the bedroom, that or a bear, it's the only way i can describe the noise coming from one of the bunks, but for once a bit of forward-planning works, thank-you for earplugs Boots!!!

Wednesday - love is in the air...?

I don' t know how anyone else fared but this Valetine's Day I got hugged, kissed, and someone dived on top of me at a nightclub, Matt 3 Krakow 0, get in!... ok before we rename me Matt McCasanova I should admit they were all men, all were drunk, one only had three teeth, and one was definitely homeless. Matt 0 Krakow drunks 3, hmmm!! Over to Andy in the tactics truck...

The Hug - I give a few pennies to a homeless man because I'm pretty sure he won't let go of my arm if I don't, which earns me a warm embrace, what I'd like to think were some kind words in Polish. I walk away at a brisk pace wondering if my social capital is diminished because I declined the offer to share his bottle of what could of been wine but I reckon was 3oml wine, 10ml spit, and 5ml best not to consider.

The Kiss - I don't know if it's my recent encounter but as I'm wandering past a church I decide to take a quick look inside (remembering what happened in Prague). As I 'm entering an middle-aged scruffy looking man is leaving but he decides to stop and parle. After 5 minutes of him talking to me in Polish nodding and smiling and me smiling back and repeatedly saying "I'm sorry I don't understand you" he seems satisfied and also goes in for a hug, but in a nifty manoeuvre manages to plant a kiss on my forehead, obviously a player!

Getting dived on - this is nowhere near as fun as it sounds especially as I end up with damp pants... I decide that third time must be lucky so in the evening head for a local nightclub where some other people from the hostel said they'd be. Whilst there I manage to befriend (get stuck with) a trio of Polish guys, two of which seem energetic but after 30minutes are fading fast. On returning from the toilet one manages to fall over all of us spilling every drink on the table. If I'm being cynical I'd say he wasn't drunk but didn't want to look like the only one who'd wet himself.

Back to Gary in the studio (yeah that's right it's fantasy football pundits so I can mix my channels) "I guess he made a toilet trip they'd all want to forget!"... sod off big-ears!

Thursday

I decide to give the Ethnography Museum which I've walked past a couple of times a go, I'm glad I do. The exhibitions include reproductions of the interiors for buildings including small industries such as flax oil production. A very friendly woman curator explains how it worked with short sentences in Polish, and thanks to demostrating as well I think I got most of it. Upstairs is an extensive collection depicted all aspects of peasant life, childhood, marriage, agriculture and industry, crafts, hunting, rituals and celebrations.

In the afternoon I climb Krakus Mound and get a decent view of the city covered in gray cloud. To the right of the hill is the quarry where Spielberg shot the camp scenes for Schindler's List.

Friday - Auschwitz-Birkenau

I'm prepared for a fairly grim day. It's hard to find appropriate words to describe the experience but it's best to talk about experience than anything relating to the content as, on reflection, i think it's what (sadly) had a big impact. Being part of a tour may be very valuable if part of a shared educational experience, but it felt more like being invited to consume horror in a disinterested way. At KL Auschwitz 1, with cameras flashing for photographs, grafitti on some of the walls, and one man even answering his mobile phone and having a conversation whilst walking through a the gas chamber and crematorium, my abiding feeling was numbness and guilt for being party to 'tourism'. At Birkenau, with bitterly cold winds and the tracks stretching into the distance there was some sense of the scale of terror.

Saturday - Checking out

I say goodbye to Mama's and will miss the balcony and courtyard (where the bar below was always playing good music). After filling up on a big vegetarian lunch at the Green Way cafe, I go and book my ticket to Budapestand feel a little peeved that the weather is so nice when I'm leaving, but nevertheless Krakow Days have been interesting!

Krakow - Mama's boy?

The tough traveller?

14 hours journey from the south of Czech Republic to Poland, yeah sure, I'm hardy enough, I mean a good book, some snacks, and a snooze on the train overnight should be fun, right...? Well not exactly. For a start I've finished reading Kafka and give the book to a couple at the hostel in Cesky Krumlov which seems a good deal as they made me breakfast and ginger tea. The bookstore I can find where I'm getting my train connection in Cesky Budejovice only has three English language titles and I've read Macbeth, so I buy D.H.Lawrence 'Apocalypse' and F.Scott Fitzgerald 'This side of Paradise' for about a Euro. The supermarket is nextdoor and I stock up on juice and biscuits convincing myself it's a reasonably healthy selection.

The train isn't for another hour, I've munched through a few of the cookies and started on 'Apocalypse' as it is only half as long as the other book, but I'm not really getting into it as essentially it seems to be an essay on the appropriation of pagan ritual and symbol into Christian revelation verses and how through time a shifting emphasis, from sensual expression attuned to nature's cycles to a monotheastic, individual and ascetic relationship with God, has created a bunch of narrow-minded, death and destruction obsessed people, with a smattering of anti-Semitism and a good crack at Bolshevism thrown in too. Ok, I'm cheating that's what on reflection I can waffle about, but at the time I was on a platform by a train-track, shivering, staring out at a deserted industrial landscape, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, wondering why I'd chosen to read about the end of the world, but for half a euro...

(Lawrence spends a fair bit of time going on about numbers in religion and when I eventually arrive in Krakow the hostel is playing the film 'Pi', odd coincidence)

The train is fairly comfortable but it's not a sleeper as I'd expected so trying to lie across the seats requires a certain expertise in yoga technique I don't think I've figured out. I'm alone in the cabin and after 5 hours it's gone midnight and there's still 6 hours to go so I attempt to fall asleep. I'm seriously tired by now and only eatting biscuits turns out to be not the best diet, I achieve that weird state of being half awake and a bit delerious so everything is a bit surreal, and during the night I'm visited by three ghosts...

the first is a well-dressed man who opens the door which wakes me and then apologises and performs a kind-of bow whilst scurrying away, the second looks like the Undertaker as he stoops to enter the cabin and I show him my passport which he opens but doesn't seem to look at (he may even have been a border guard) and grunts, finally I'm awaken by a gruff yet friendly voice, 'dobrey', and I swear Les Dawson is sitting opposite me... I must be dreaming!!!

6am and I arrive at Krakow station, dishevelled, tired but not sleepy the cold morning air is taking care of that, and I shuffle towards the main square to look for Mama's hostel whcih sounds like the nicest place from the guide. It doesn't disappoint. On the third floor, with a balcony overlooking the courtyard, Mama's is a very homely place with big chairs and settees with dated patterns. After wolfing down some free coffee and toast I collapse on the bed and gratefully sleep til mid-afternoon.

Cesky Krumlov - Kafka and the Castle

Saturday 8 February

Arriving in Cesky Krumlov mid-afternoon at the main bus-station it's immediately clear why other travellers have talked about this town. From the hill-top you can see the castle spire rising above myriad buildings of various shapes and pastel colours all hugging together in an arch which flows with the path of the Vlatva river bend.

Once crossed over the stone bridge you walk down cobbled stairways towards the main square. It feels this is the kind of place that only exists in storybooks or films about fairytale kingdoms. It is serene and I see few people as I wander in.

The hostel is nestled between a row of fascinating looking buildings and inside is all wooden beams and stone archways. I'm fortunate that the 6-bed dorm is empty so I have the place to myself for the first evening which befits that change of pace from Prague and Berlin.


The following day I head towards the castle grounds and discover that my intial impression that Cesky is like a film-set is perhaps not too far out. From a distance that spire appears as if build with ornate and intricate mosaic brickwork and as you get close you realise this is actually a composition of sculpture and painting on the stones, but this takes noting away from the overall effect.

The museums are all closed for the low-season but the weather is so good that staying outdoors is a preferable option. There's an elevated castle garden with cherry trees overlooking the town and it's here I sit for a few hours reading Kafka's 'The Castle' and wonder whether it could or should be compulsory reading for anyone who works for a local authority. The main castle gardens are closed but it'd possible to walk on the country lanes around the enclosure and climb up onto the ridge where I hoped to get a good view of the sunset but a persistent gray cloud over the hills ensured that at best it looked like oil-spill on a large pond, which in its own way was picturesque.

In the evening I had soup in bread for the first time. What a great idea, half hollowing out a loaf and filling it with broth, you get all the fun of mining the inside walls and it saves on washing up! The garlic soup tasted pretty good too!

Prague - lost and found

Sunday 4 Feb

Sitting on the train, half-listening to something that eases a sleep-deprived hangover and sorta absorbing the flitting landscapes of winding rivers and intermittent buildings, I wonder if I'm awake. Shower and sleep, shower and sleep!! Arriving in Prague at 6pm I´ve a pretty definite idea of what I want to do, so I head for the hostel straight away.

A lucky break...

The Nardoni (National) Museum in Prague is free on the first Monday of every month, another unplanned bonus, I'm obvious a natural at this flexible travellin malarky! I go with Maria, a medical student from Argentina who I met in Berlin. The exhibitions are pretty interesting, in particular the anthropological section where Maria explains about the bones and skeletal remains able to show which ones survived blows to the head based on the skulls had healed. Pretty handy really as the display guides are mostly in Czech!

Stepping out - A tale of two concerts

The museum closes at 5pm and by chance as we're leaving a friendly guy at a desk, looks in his 40s and is dressed as though he's preparing for an ice-age (fair enough with the main doors open it is chilly), asks us if we want tickets for the concert. It's a small orchestral performance in the Museum at 6pm. The tickets are 350kr each but when we return at 5.57pm we manage to haggle the price to 250 (about 8-9 Euros).

The concert takes place on the steps in the main hall of the Museum. It was once a palace and the atmosphere is something majestical. Two large stairways ascend to a middle level where the orchestra will perform (between the lights) and we sit on cushions on one of the four red-carpeted stairways that ascend either side.

The Praga Collegio Kormorni Smyccovy (chamber strings) orchestra, dressed in refined evening attire, includes piano, cello, double bass, and a trio of violins. From the first note it's obvious this was an inspired choice. They are excellent and the acoustics make the songs lift all around the hall so you can even hear the individual plucking of strings. They play Vivaldi, Mozart, and Gounod's Ave Maria which is probably the highlight of an unforgettable experience.

On Wednesday, nursing a hangover from Tuesday night, I'm determined to do something more than drinking in the hostel with friends (although it is tempting, see below). I decide to go and check out the Ungelt Jazz and Blues Club as I remember there's meant to be a blues band on that evening. The place is a small underground cavern, maybe no more than 7x7 metres including the stage which is situated on the left as you enter. immediately to the right is a wooden stairway up to what seems to be a makeshift scaffolding upper tier and as it is the only place with any room I sit on the steps halfway up with a great view of the stage.

Roman Pokorny and the Blues Box Heroes - fantastic name!! The first song is a straightforward slide guitar tune a little rough around the edges, it half reminds me of a supporting act I once saw for Alvin Lee - Tony McPhee, but I don't let that put me off. What follows is a brilliant performance of consummate musical talent from all four guys. Roman is a about 40 with short hair and a decent paunch constantly smiling, the keyboardist looks like Swampy, the drummer is clearly a student, and the Bassist I'm betting was once a Physics Professor for the Open University in the 1970s. Their version of 'Little Wing' by Hendrix is like nothing I'd ever expect, you would've had to be there!

George's Birthday!

More South Americans and Australians! I reckon, based on my limited experience, along with UK folk we must make up about 90% of all travellers in Europe. Tuesday night, having spent a good day exploring the streets of Prague and reading Kafka in the tea-shops, I find a big group of people in the dorm and join them for a few drinks. Turns out it's George's 22nd birthday, (that's him on the left catching some drunk bloke!) and a group of about 20 people are having a good time. He's from Mexico with his mate


(also a George), a rock fan (that's a Slipknot t-shirt he's wearing) , with a really excellent knowledge of world affairs and a fantastic beard of which I'm quite jealous!

Kim, a Korean guy (left), drinks like no-one I've ever known, literally everything is consumed! His party-piece involves mixing any drinks he can get in a bowl together with tomato sauce and wasabi (insane!!), then balancing a shot glass of some spirit on two crossed knives above the bowl, nutting the table so the shot glass falls into the bowl then downing the entire contents. This he did about 5 times before turning green! That's the other George at the back, next to Meg (Melbournean) and Alex (Argentina) who is a massive Smiths fan.

Churches inside and out

On Tuesday, I set out just to wander around for a while, maybe find a bookshop to buy a Kafka novel and get an authentic Prague experience in a teashop! Only 5 minutes from the hostel I find a shop and browse for a while without really finding anything and on my way out notice a church opposite so decide to take a look. It is breathtaking (quite literally as it is freezing inside!). The inside is faintly lit and there is a strong musk of incense. It is like nothing I've ever seen, a brooding medieval awe-inspiring place. Either side of the hall vast oil paintings of the stages of the cross are guarded by towering sculptures of saints, both magnificent and faintly terrifying! The sanctuary is adorned with candles and looming wooden choir seats, the altar set at the back, and rising maybe 60-70 feet behind is a relief of Jesus on the cross surrounded by carvings of angels and demons. It's not hard to imagine how people would believe in fire and brimstone if this was their local parish church! Maybe out of respect for the 'no cameras' signs or a vague sense of dread I decide not to take any pictures. This is St James Roman Catholic basilica, pretty famous, fits with my experience so far that I'd find it accidentally!


On Wednesday I visit Prague Castle. It's a good walk across the Vlatva and up through Letenske Sady (the municipal park) where I have fun jumping in large remnants of snowfall, unfortunately nobody's about to chuck a snowball at so I aim at a tree, and miss. The castle exterior is pretty impressive and as I've forgotten to bring my wallet and only have about 80krona on me I make do with looking at that, besides after St James I'm not sure I could be more impressed by a church. The gargoyles are pretty though! On my way back I decide to go and look at the Fred and Ginger dancing building and feeling bold attempt to navigate my way back to the hostel via a shorter more direct route and get lost for 50 minutes in the new town in an area that's not on my map in the rain - i suppose to find things by accident it's only fair you get lost a few times too!

Berlin - culture, art and parties

30 January - arriving

Getting off the plane at Shoenberg airport it is drizzly and cold so immediately I feel at home. After pottering about aimlessly for 15minutes or so I decide to keep it simple and follow the symbols for the train. It takes me to the heart of Berlin and 5 minutes from my hostel, though it takes me 10 because I take a a few wrong turns!

The hostel is warm and the staff are really friendly. In the evening I head out with a few people to a recommended bar a few hundred yards away from the hostel which turns out to be a warehouse and bizarre art gallery. I later find out this is the Tacheles , a famous hippy squat - art institution which emerged from the Free Art Movement in the early 1990s.

Inside the stairwells are covered in graffiti and the 5th floor bar itself looks like it was designed for a Kraftwork video. Across the square a giant screen is projected onto the building showing animation and art videos. It all seems a bit surreal!

Museums and monuments

Berlin has lots! I decide to head east towards the Volkspark Friedrichshain to see the various communist monuments including the Marx and Engels Forum, the Spanish Civil War monument and the graveyard for those killed in the 1848 uprising. The Forum is large and somewhat barren but it is amusing to see how many people come and have their picture taken sitting on his lap!

The 1848 graveyard is tucked away in the corner of the park and doesn´t seem to be visited by many people. The statué of the Red Sailor is almost buried amongst the overgrowing bushes.

Standing in the pathways of the Holocaust memorial square is an unique experience. Whilst it has a somber feel it is also in a strange way very peaceful. The sounds of the city are dimmed, and the plinths rising above you are not quite straight vertical but seem to lean gently and all the time you can see a way towards the outside. I´m not sure if this is what is intended but it is certainly a place where you can reflect.

Hostel People

It probably goes without saying that whilst travelling you expect to meet some unusual folk. But sitting in the Helter Skelter hostel with a mid-30s, well-dressed Swedish man of Ukranian-Jewish origin, listening to him tell me about his work as middleman oil-trader and explaining the real global politik going on in the Middle East was a surprise!

A leaving party...

On Saturday, the hostel staff are buzzing about preparing a party for Jorgi, a colleague who is leaving after one year of working there. Naturally all of the hostel guests are invited to join the fun. Drinks, cocktails, dancing, pass 10 hours and it is morning, butthe party only moves itself into one corner to allow for guests to take their breakfast, which seems like a good cue to go to sleep. 3 hours later I´m regretting not being a little more disciplined as it is noon and my train to Prague leaves in 40 minutes!! I make it with 2 minutes to spare and sitting on the train, still in the clothes I had on the night before, wondering if I left anything important behind, I´m able to fall asleep for a while at least...