Destination: Poland

Nope, I didn't wait long in the new year for my adventures to start; you can't with only 5 months rapidly ticking down on the Italy clock.

By 1300 we were checked in and through security waiting at the gate for Katowice, Poland. In fact we, (Otte family + Felicia) all had priority boarding so we had our VIP section on the bus. "Had" as in this is still Italy so you really can't pay for personal space. The non Italians that boarded our section realized our "VIP status" and moved. The Italians? Ha. Ha. Really?

Temperatures didn't seem too cold when we arrived in Katowice and met Slawek holding a sign with my name on it. I told you- VIP status is Poland. Okay, maybe not really VIP status since it was a 8.5x11 piece of paper with my name written with a Sharpe, but he was there to be our driver to Krakow. The drive was just over an hour and what felt like on major back roads through country. At the first stop light when all the cars stopped we were in shock. As we explained it to the driver, he seemed to not believe that driving is how we described it in Naples...yet later on he ran a red light and I'm pretty sure that was because he was trying to welcome us to the country. (It was also way too late for him to stop given that the road temp was right around freezing.)

After a quick check in, we bundled up since the outside temp was 1C and still dropping. And yeah, it was feeling cold at this point as we headed towards the main square in search of dinner. Surprisingly most places were open as it is January 1st. I spotted a fabulously decorated places and we opted for pierogi for dinner. Unfortunately at the counter as we placed our orders we learned that they had very few of the types left (and no soup) after being open since 3am after a huge concert to ring in the new year. Having really no clue what we were getting (and wondering why these were the ones left) we ended up ordering a lot. As in too much. But as we sat and talked and kept passing the trays around, the number on the table shrunk. Okay, maybe I was the one eating all the cherry and poppy seed ones but they were yummy and totally worth the mess they left my teeth in.

With way too many pierogi in our bellies (man oh man do they stick on you) we had to walk. EVERYONE knows you can't go to sleep with a belly full of pierogi. And yes, this is part of the reason it's past 11 and I'm still awake. After an hour or so of walking (and feeling rather frozen) I can say I have these initial thoughts on Krakow: they like their chocolate shops almost as much as kebabs. Shops appear to be unique and in all the souvenir shops they're are a lot of dragons...I need to figure out why.

But not now.

I need to get to sleep because tomorrow is our half day at Auschwitz then the salt mine. I'm pretty sure that only under the ground (in the mines) will I be warm on this trip. Woohoo! I'm finally in Poland and have a ton of exploring to do in these few days.