kracking up in kraków

..anddd I'm back!! So sorry about the delay in this post. I got my air shipment {complete with clothes, purses, scarves, and my dumbbells!} from the good ol' USofA yesterday finally and have been busy unpacking. Nick & I also bought a wardrobe, desk, and computer chair so we have been putting that together as well. Luckily we have managed to make everything fit in our apartment! I also started volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House yesterday. GREAT experience but everyone is speaking German to me...which gives me a bit of a headache by the end, haha. Okay, on to the bigger & better things... aka our weekend in Poland.

Wow, Nick & I had a fabulous time in Kraków I cannot say enough good things about Poland. The food was excellent [and cheap!], the people were so nice, and the sites were so cultural and enticing.
On Friday we headed out to Kraków..we landed and the nicest guy ever picked us up. He told us a lot about the area and the best places to go & see. We dropped our things off at our AirB&B and headed to a local Polish restaurant. We got pierogi (only the best dish ever FYI, see the first picture below) - it is dumplings and the traditional dish of Poland! I had potato & cheese and Nick had "meat"... still not sure what the meat was, haha. They were absolutely excellent. Afterwards, we walked around the city centre for awhile and saw the beautiful old town by night. We retired and prepared for Saturday as we knew it would be an extremely long and taxing day!

my potato & cheese pierogi!

On Saturday, the same guy that picked us up from the airport got us again. We headed to Auschwitz. If you know me (or knew me when I was in middle school haha) you would know that I have always been extremely interested in the history behind Holocaust and Nazi Germany. I would write a lot book reports on the subject as I knew it was so historically important. When I found out we were moving to Europe I knew I would want to go to Auschwitz as well as Anne Frank House. As you know if you read my Amsterdam post, we didn't get to do Anne Frank this time around so I was very interested in doing Auschwitz. There are no words to describe this site. We visited AuschwitzI and Birkenau. The entire experience was sobering and just "real" - I'm not really sure the rest can be put into words. I will never forget it though and a lot of things just really hit home with me. I appreciate the opportunity and experience to see this historical site. Please see all the pictures I took below - if you are thinking about doing this trip, message me and I'll give you more details. I'd like to respect the individuals affected by this historical event and not delve into details on this blog.

Rocking the Chaco's on July 4th

After leaving Auschwitz, we headed to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The salt mine in Kraków is one of the largest salt mines in the world. It was certainly a site to see! It was operated until 2007 and is now only open to tourists. We got to explore up to 140m underground. There is the most gorgeous cathedral IN the salt mine, pictures do not do it justice but please see below. The chandeliers in the cathedral were completely made of salt, which was truly spectacular. After we finished up at the salt mine we headed back to Kraków  Since it was July 4th, we really tried to search around for an "American" thing to do :) ... so of course... we ate mexican. I was blown away by how good the Mexican food was and if we go back to Kraków .. we'll be eating there again, haha [there is no good mexican in hamburg]!! After eating we walked around the city centre a bit more and headed back to the apartment.

nick taking pictures of me passed out.. thanks...

nick & i in the cathedral in the salt mine

chandeliers completely made of salt!

a coke zero with a Polish name :)

amazinggggg lake in the salt mine, so beautiful!

headed to dinner!

since it was the 4th, we had to eat Mexican!

nick being all smug with his nachos & margarita

On Sunday, we woke up and did an "all-you-can-eat" breakfast at a local hotel. It was very good and gave us a kickstart for the day :)! We then headed back to the city centre to do the free walking tour of old town Kraków. It was excellent. We had a fantastic guide who was very knowledgable about the old town Kraków and Poland in general. We got to see the main cathedrals, the university, and the Wawel castle. The castle was very interesting: a combination of all types of architecture due to several reasons. It was hot in Kraków (~90 degrees) and Nick probably got sick of me complaining about it. We finally found some AC in St. Mary's Basilica and it was one of the most beautiful churches I've EVER seen in my entire life. We loved the alter and just sat and stared at it for quite a long time trying to soak it all in. We stopped by a "antique" car show that was happening in the square. Afterwards, we walked around old town a bit more and then dropped by a local brewery before heading to the airport.

all the different architecture at Wawel Castle

selfie in the middle of Wawel Castle

St. Mary's Basilica alter... cannot put the beauty into words / pictures do not do it justice

old timey car show going on in Kraków city centre

local brewery in Kraków where we tried a flight of beer

gorgeous city centre of Kraków

selfie in front of St. Mary's Basilica

most random thing ever at the Kraków airport, haha

In conclusion, Poland is never somewhere I thought I would have the opportunity to get to go to considering it is not a "top" destination for foreigners. I would urge everyone to visit though - we had an absolute blast and hope to be able to go back before we move back to the States.

Nick & I will be staying in Hamburg this weekend [most likely playing some bocce ball since it came with my shipment] then headed to Edinburgh to watch the British Open next weekend at Royal St. Andrews! We are so excited about this trip. If you have any tips feel free to leave them in the comment section or email/message me. We will be there for three days.