mmm..pierogi

Yes, I have hit the pierogi mecca. Yesterday I went out with some folks who had never even HEARD of pierogis and we each got a different kind, and pigged out. They had ones filled with meat, mushrooms and cabbage, potatoes and cheese, and cottage cheese. SOOOO good. I'm going for a second try after I'm done on the computer.

Yesterday was a very chilled out day. After an hour or so wandering around Wawel castle (which was gorgeous), a few of us were having McDonald's cravings. I have never had such a good Quarter Pounder with Cheese (a McRoyal here) in my life. Apparently people never order them here, so they had to make me one fresh. And I swear, the patty was like an inch thick, and SOOO tasty.

Yes, this is why you're reading my blog, to hear about the McDonald's food I've been eating. Sorry.

After returning to the hostel for a quick (2 hour) nap, we headed out to an Irish pub to watch Real Madrid play the Kracow football team. (I quickly learned it was NOT a soccer game, but a football match). Unfortunately Kracow lost, but I learned lots of fake football lingo to say so people think you know what you're talking about.

Then we headed to the coolest nightclub I have ever been in. Faust is the name, and it is right off the main square here (and like a 2 second walk from the hostel). From the outside it looks pretty un-exiting, but then you go down the stairs and it's the coolest place ever. The cellars are something like 500 years old, with huge wooden tables and all these crazy passages, archways, and little rooms. The only problem is, they apparently didn't have air conditioning 500 years ago, because it was sweltering on the dance floor!

Around 2 in the morning all these people dressed up in traditional Polish outfits came into the bar. They were sponsered by the big local brewery. They came in, did some crazy folk dancing, and then started playing all these hilarious games. They had a dancing competition, and other more debaucherous games that I won't detail here. Very cool place, and I wouldn't mind heading back there tonight. Only problem is, you have to pay to go to the bathroom. In a club! You had to give half a Zloty (about 15 cents canadian) to this old man standing by the door. The first time I went there I didn't have any money, but this really nice Polish girl payed my fee. Don't worry, I bought her a beer later.

This morning I got up (painfully) early and went to see the Wieliczka, the salt mines. It was about a half hour out of town, so we had to catch a little bus to get there. It was truly breathtaking. I think we were something like 150 m underground at the lowest point. It took about an hour to complete the tour through tons of different chapels and rooms, and the tourguide said we were only seeing 1% of what was actually in the mine.

They had an entire HUGE cathedral carved entirely out of salt. The floor and walls and statues and everything. Even the crystals on the chandeleirs were carved from very high-quality salt. There was a saltwater lake there too, with a salt concentration of 33%, about twice the concentration of the dead sea (the guide said you could almost literally walk on the water). All the timbres used in the mineshafts and steps and everything were original, some from the 16th century. Apparently the salt preserves the wood so well, they'll almost never need replacing. They had the company orchestra playing in one of the caves, trying to raise money because the salt was so hard on their instruments and they needed to buy special ones. Very cool little day trip, I'm glad I did it.

I'm still having a difficult time tearing myself away from this amazing city. I'm staying until Saturday, when I'll head to Poprad. Although honestly, I wouldn't mind just staying put for the rest of the month. I like it here that much. But, everyone says that Budapest is one of the most wonderful cities in Europe, so I wouldn't want to miss out on that. Argh, I need a longer time to travel. I don't REALLY need to go back to school in the fall, do I?