Krakow, Poland, Part II: Pierogies, Wawel Castle, the Dragon and Friends!

After our busy first day, we decided to take it easy the second. So we wandered around Krakow looking for the sex machine. It seems the locals couldn't find it either. It says, "Wait! Where is the sex machine?" The sex machines are in Prague, apparently, but that's for a later post.

But we got cold and hungry, so we made pierogie stop number one. These were mushroom and cabbage pierogies. Mmmmm.

After filling our tummies, we went back to the hostel. Did I mention we stayed at the best hostel I've ever been to, possibly the best in existence? If you go to Krakow, stay at Greg & Tom's Junior Hostel. Anyway, we hungout in the living room with our other hostel mates for most of the night. Kt convinced this guy from Australia, Max, to stuff 16 Polish cheetos in his mouth. It didn't take much persuasion...

This is Steffen, not sure of the spelling. He was from Germany (Frankfurt?) and told me he knew how to cook vegan food. Nom. I'm still constantly embarrassed that everyone in our hostel (and in my life now in general) can speak on average 2-3 languages, while I still come in at about 1.4. I'm working on it!

The second bar we went to in the Kazimierz, the Old Jewish district of Krakow (a where all the chill, eclectic stuff was), was a indoor beach! I made a sand angel.

Bryan on the right was confused? He later came to visit us in Prague a few times as the next stop on his journey. Yay friends!

We're such hotties.

Craig, from New Zealand, and I. There was some deal where you get a free shot with a pint, so I partook in the free part. Craig came to visit us in Prague later and we took him out to Bukowski's. Traveling is awesome.

This Aussie was out for the count. There's Kt in the background with this dude we picked up on the street whose an English teacher in Krakow from the UK. Those English teachers are everywhere!


This is the Wawel (pronounced Vah-vel) Castle. Much more modern-looking than a lot of the castles I've seen in Europe, but still pretty! Like Kt said, it looks like it's actually still in use rather than just existing to be pretty.


This is the dragon! It used to eat sheep and young virgins, until some dude named Krakus or Krac got some sheep and mixed a thick, yellow paste from sulfur to smear all over them. Then fed them to the dragon who got really thirsty and drank so much water from the river that he exploded! Dragon-problem solved.

Then we ate more pierogies at a Polisn Milk Bar that was super cheap. Everything on the menu was Polish, so the only words I could read were "onion, soup, meat, cheese, borscht and beverage" thanks to my Czech. Somehow it worked out. I got pierogies, some breaded, fried eggroll and borscht. Kt got some type of meat dumpling.

That night, we went on the hostel pu crawl. The first stop was a vodka bar, where we sampled 4 different shots of vodka. There was also this gem of a photograph behind Kt. Boobies!

This is Marek. He worked at our hostel and led the pub-crawl. He was really nice and pretty awesome. Also one of the ones that put up with one of my 5000 "How do you say *word* in *insert language here*?" questions. I probably should stop quizzing native speakers of any language other than my own incessantly, but I want to know how to say everything! Especially the dirty words.

Here are some other hostel-mates on the crawl and a French guy we met off couchsurfing.com named Aziz whose living in Krakow (2nd from the right).

The morning before we left, we had another wander (and got more pierogies at a 24-hour pierogie joint....rock on Poland!). These are a lot of really cold pidgeons, cuddling. You'll get the theme in a minute...

In the train station, I made the mistake of feeding one pidgeon part of a chip. Which made all of them ATTACK MY FACE. Inside! I have hereby learned my lesson, let it be stated.

My nemesis.

After our first train brought us from Krakow to Bohumim, back in the Czech Republic. We went on a quick wander for some food. I thought this sign was funny because I'm a 5 year old boy. Guess why.

On the second train Kt was trying to demonstrate something to me. I'm not sure what it was, but it sort of looks like she's brushing her teeth while jump-roping. Yes!

That's all there is for Krakow! It was such a freaking amazing trip and we met so many amazing people and partook in lots of shenanigans. Pictures on Facebook eventually, but my internet may be limited from here on out. Currently in Hamburg and heading to the first farm today!