Along the way; Kraków part 1 and just a Monday

On Saturday morning we bravely got up early in the morning, still the shadow of recent sickness floating above us to catch the 6:30 train, which I'm already familiar with from my earlier travels. I don't mind, because it's the best napping place I know, so early on a weekend it's empty and with the soothing sounds of the railway and perfectly balanced unbalance of the movement, I'd sleep there all the time if I could. And I'm not even kidding. We got off at Wrocław to change for a dirty cheap bus, 39 złoty straight to Kraków (about 3 hours). I continued napping (though it wasn't as comfortable as the train). So, we arrived around twelve.

 First things first; we found a city map at the bus station and started making our way towards the city centre, after we got out from the handicraft shop and Birgit had hoarded enough knotting strings (just kidding honey (it's true though)). So we got to the market square and grabbed some very expensive but very moderately good food. I just can't resist market food. And yes we got some cake too; my first gingerbread experience this winter, yay.

 The day was really windy and cold and grey. I think the city is so beautiful, but this time of year makes every place a little bit hard to enjoy. I had big expectations about Kraków, because it has been praised from every polish person I've talked about it with. It's the former capital of Poland and I think it's the best advance for it compared to Warsaw, which I haven't heard much good about. Even this time of year Kraków was full of tourists, especially in the old town.

We went to check out the Wawel Castle, one of the main attractions of the city. It was really cool, 
although it's up on a hill so it got really cold. The viewover the river was very beautiful, and maybe all the greyness and foggyness brought some kind of melancholic autumn spirit into the moment. Anyway we decided to go warm up over some hot wine afterwards, which I had been craving for all day, especially after I ate some gingerbread cake, I have got my christmas spirit on. Waiting for first snow! And now I'm also craving for gingerbread, which I couldn't find in our supermarket, people from Kłodzko area, I'd be happy to receive any hints around this subject (and no I can not bake).

The day was slowly turning into night and the darkness was crawling around us and making all the buildings around the square even more beautiful with the lights on them and I swear the temperature got warmer just because of that. Or the heatlamps in the terraces. Or the hot wine. 

This is the St. Mary's Church, where from the highest tower, the Hejnał Mariacki, also called the Kraków anthem, is played by trumpet every day, four times on the hour. It is played from four windows facing different directions, to where the four main gates of the city used to be. This photo was taken on the exact moment we witnessed this happening. 

Of course we had to check out the souvenir stuff and it was pretty much what I expected of Kraków souvenir stuff to see. The fact is that it is the same as anywhere in Poland, but what I hear, this is the origin of all the cultural peculiarity of the country. I can't know for sure. But I like the colours and wooden stuff. And the traditional clothing, which you can check from one of my earlier posts (click)

I love being an EVS -volunteer. We had the opportunity to sleep at a volunteer flat of two of the volunteers we met on our on-arrival training in Warsaw. It was really interesting to see how other volunteers live in other cities and this was also a great opportunity to get to know the night life with locals. As currently a small town girl I was fascinated about the fact that they lived only a 20 min walk from the centre and used trams to get around. There were actually six people living in their flat (sometimes I feel so blessed about our flat, even though when we arrived home yesterday and the heating was broken once again and I couldn't even take a shower. Well, it was fixed today and I still have my own room and a living room, and seperate toilet and shower rooms... today I'm getting a lot off subject..), and we went out together. We headed to their usual hangout part of town Kazimierz, the jewish district,which was absolutely beautiful and great atmosphere. Also the history of the area is very interesting, We had a great night and it felt so nice to get to experience city life once again and meet people.

So now I'm back home. This has been a monday of function, the heating was fixed and we bought some stuff for the block in the sink after two weeks from noticing it's not working (no, we didn't put it in yet, but we did buy it). Also I realized today that this month has been a very bad month of budgeting. I'm blaming Warsaw for being too expensive, and the fact that I had to get my month's pocket money one week early. Time to collect my bus tickets and glue them on a paper (oh the burocracy) so I can get some cash from the office tomorrow before I go to polish lesson. Finally back to lessons! I'm happy to be healthy. Life is treating me well.

P.s. äiti älä huoli mulla on kuitenkin jääkaappi täynnä ruokaa.