KRAKÓW, POLAND 2/9-2/12

We went to Kraków, Poland this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised with how totally awesome and fantastic it was! The amount of beautiful buildings inside and out were really amazing and they were all FREE. We arrived Friday night and went to one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to in my life called Miód Malina. I got dumplings with veil which were amazing, but I will forever regret not getting the steak that David got because that was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. GO TO THAT RESTAURANT IF YOU GO TO POLAND EVER. After dinner a few of us went to an underground jazz club, played cards, talked to some foreign people, and decided to go out with them after! I didn’t catch the name of the club but it was cool and they were super fun.

The next day we got up and visited Auschwitz and Birkenau which was sad but necessary for all of us to see. Walking on the soil of where so many tragedies occurred was a very surreal experience. The camp itself was shocking, but the exhibits inside were what really got me. There was so much more detail about the actual victims that you would never think of. They had piles and piles of shoes, plates, and even hair of the victims. It felt so much more real and personal as opposed to just learning about it in school. Seeing all of that made me reflect back on my own life and remind myself that I am so lucky and have so much to be grateful for. I have absolutely nothing to complain about! It was so sad but gave me a much deeper appreciation of everything around me. Being exposed to things like that really gives people a different perspective, and that is so necessary in order to be intentional–express your gratitude for everything!

Later that night the ladies and I went to a very fancy restaurant called Fiorentina, which had good Polish food but nowhere near as good as the night before. After dinner we went back to the airbnb and played fun games before we went out and I dominated in cards (obviously). Once we went out we went to U Kacpra–GO THERE. It was a karaoke bar with a pool table and a ton of old foreign people. My friend David and I absolutely belted out Umbrella which was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Then we sang with people from Sunderland, UK–all at least 20 years older than me. It was totally awesome. Later Brennan and I tried to go to McDonalds but both our cards kept getting declined so these British people kept messing with us and yelling things like “You’re Americans you should know McDonalds!” or something I don’t know but we were all laughing it was silly. We ended up finding a kabob place which was insane and way better than McDonalds so that ended the night on a wonderful note. 

Our last day Robbie and I got up and really explored Kraków. The best part was that we didn’t plug anything into the map, we just wandered around and actually found some really awesome places. We went to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul that had statues outside of it and an underground section with graves of influential people dating all the way back to AD something. It was like a little maze. Next we went to the Wawel Royal Castle which had a beautiful view and a beige courtyard. We went to a few others including the Church of the Conversion of St. Paul, and all were spectacular. The stained glass and painted ceilings are crazy!! I couldn’t get enough. We got some street food and then a group of us went to the salt mine in Wieliczka. We went down I wanna say like 135 meters but the saltmine goes all the way down to over 1,000 meters. We learned about the history of salt mining, but the coolest part was all of the statues (made out of salt) that were down in the mines. After work the miners would voluntarily create these huge statues of people and religious symbols. The best part was you could literally eat the salt off the walls, which seems gross but it was actually wonderful. People get married and go to church in the mines and that is something I would totally consider. Maybe that will get me to start going to church! It was epic. Later we all got food and drinks and stayed up to watch the superbowl (12:30AM kickoff). What a way to wrap up the trip! It was too perfect.

Maya Kollme 2/12/24