Entries about drunk

I had visited Krakow three years before, spending a day there between Warsaw and Lviv in Ukraine, however I had not had the chance to visit Auschwitz or the Salt Mine, and being with four friends too, I was not so bothered as this would be an altogether different trip.

Arriving at Krakow Airport and being collected by our apartment's owners we were taken to our place in the Jewish Quarter, where we settled in before walking to the Town Square to see our first views of the city.

By sheer coincidence, my Maltese friend Daniel, who I had met with on my Erasmus experience almost three years ago just happened to be in Krakow on the exact dates that we had arrived. We therefore arranged to meet on our free days in the city, including the afternoon that we arrived.

Unfortunately as it was Easter Sunday, a lot of places were shut - including the 4zl bar, and the vodka bar. However we did find a bar where we decided to have a drink - that quickly became many. Whilst my friends were drinking and singing, me and Daniel had some great catch ups and reminiscing conversations about our Erasmus memories - it felt like no time had passed!

After a long stay, realising that we were incredibly loud and had cleared the bar, we decided to leave and make our way to find something to eat back in the Jewish area near our apartment. By now it was already getting on for 10pm, and my friends had been drinking all day long. We then went back to the apartment to settle in for the night, as the following morning we would need to be up to take our train towards our first excursion - Auschwitz.

Although Krakow is famous for Auschwitz, the town of Oświęcim is actually over an hour away. Taking the train there for around £3 each we eventually arrived to take a look around.

As I had previously visited Sachsenhausen near Berlin, I already had expectations of what we would see, and unfortunately I was a little disappointed. As Auschwitz is so busy, it was difficult to see things - despite being on a (compulsory) guided tour. The regulations at the camp was also very petty, which did dampen my visit.

We were guided around by a lady we named "Pauline" who at first seemed very miserable - however as we were led around the camp it was easy to see why.

Gas Chamber

Ovens

As with all concentration camps, there are some very visual moments that show the horror of the camp. These included not only the gas chambers and crematoriums, but also collections of personal belongings and hair.

Suitcases

Auschwitz Model

There was also the original model that I had seen in Yad Vashem some months before, showing a reconstruction of the process of the gas chamber system, from entry to exit. Auschwitz is actually made up of two camps - the older one where the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign is located, and the larger newer one, where the railway line goes straight into the camp.

They are located around 15 minutes from each other, and after finishing looking around the first we boarded the shuttle bus to take us to the other camp. It was here that the industrial scale of the holocaust was clear - the camp was almost entirely made up of huts and crematorium buildings - we were told these could kill 7,000 a day, and even these were not enough that open air pits were later built.

The weather was particularly bad, on our arrival in Krakow it had begun to snow, and today there were even hail stones. As we walked into one of the huts, it had begun to hail and some of this came straight through the roof hitting us below. Despite being freezing and not really "enjoying" the visit, this was a very clear way to show just how horrendous life must have been.

Our visit at Auschwitz soon came to an end, with a last visit into the Observation Tower at the entrance to the camp. From here the views over the camp showed just how huge the place was. After taking the bus back to the first camp, we boarded a bus to take us back to Krakow where we decided tonight would be our party night to not only enjoy our holiday, but also cheer us up after a day of death.

70%

After taking another meal and 'enjoying' 70% shots in the Jewish area, on what was turning into a very Jewish holiday, we headed to Krakow's Karaoke Bar where my friends growled through some classic songs, before getting wasted.

Karaoke

Lauren in particular had not only smashed her phone from the ladder to reach the DJ, but also needed to be carried home after everyone else had walked off. Despite taking over an hour and needing the help of a local Pole, we were still the first back home.

The following day was a very lazy one, with us not even leaving until 2pm, and so we decided to stay in Krakow to see the sights there.

Cloth Hall

In the Main Square

Kristian and Lauren headed towards the shopping centre, whilst Matt, Jenna and I headed towards the castle, where there are views over the river, as well as John Paul II's church and the crypt containing the dead president Lech Kaczynski. We then headed towards the Krakow Ghetto walls, before waiting for the other guys at our apartment.

Wawel Castle

Ghetto Walls

Feeling very lazy/hungover we missed the start of the pub crawl and ended up going back to the Karaoke bar for more growling, 70% and dancing with the homeless man outside.

The following day was our last in the city, and after dropping our bags at the luggage storage in the station, we headed on the train to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

The Salt Mine is incredibly old and very impressive, and has now been turned into a kind of museum, with almost everything being made out of salt - the walls, the floor, the chandeliers and the statues - which we licked them to check. In the middle of the tour we found a salt lake which we were told used to be used for tourists arriving on a boat. However in the 1920s, one boat capsised, and become of the saltiness of the lake, those who were trapped beneath the boat couldn't dive below to escape and therefore drowned - just when we though stories of death on this trip were ever!

After making our way back to Krakow we ate our last meal together, took a look around the shopping centre, using our last "sharlotties" before heading towards the airport. As Daniel was also leaving today, an hour before us I caught him to say our last goodbyes, before we headed into the departure lounge to wait for our plane.

The other guys continued to drink their booze and when we got on the plane they were all rather tipsy. The cabin crew lady, who we quickly named "Audrey" proved to be very entertaining. At the fun end of the plane she joked along with us, and even ended up giving us a freebie for being so much fun!

A bit of light relief before landing at Stansted, saying my goodbyes to everyone and heading home for 5 hours sleep before work the next morning!

After flying over the snowy Alps, we eventually arrived in a chilly Rome, where we boarded our prebooked bus to the city. After stopping off for a Pizza, we eventually arrived at our apartment for the next 3 days, where we dropped our stuff and walked just 5 minutes down the road to the Colosseum.

Despite it now being cold and dark on a January evening, there were still many people outside, and we of course took many group shots behind the illuminated building. Having left our selfie stick at home it was actually handy that there were Bangladeshis selling them. After walking around the building, it was already quite late, and so I made my way back to the apartment to get some sleep for the next day, which would prove to be our busiest of the trip.

The first full day was the day we had tickets to explore the Vatican. However these were for the afternoon, and so we first got up and walked around the other attractions of the city on the way there. Walking past the President's palace, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Just as the Colosseum had been the night before, this was covered in Scaffolding, which unfortunately meant the fountain wasn't very easy to see, and neither was there any water. However there was a temporary bridge over the fountain that gave us all views of the sculptures from close up.

After this we continued walking, and as Jenna exclaimed "Oh wow..." we had reached the Pantheon - the oldest Roman building still in use. However she then finished her statement with "...they sell crêpes", having missed the famous attraction by being overwhelmed by the shop next door. Nevertheless, we took a look inside before walking on the Piazza Navona, and eventually making it to the Ponte Umberto I bridge, where views over the river Tiber of the Vatican can be seen.

After touring around central Rome, we then headed to the Vatican itself where impressive views of St. Peter's Square awaited us. By now it was already lunch time and so we made a swift move round the corner to the Vatican Museums, where we walked past the 2 hour or so queue and went straight in thanks to our Pre Booked tickets. The museum was mostly just artefacts and paintings, however there were some nice views of the Vatican Gardens and the highlight of the museum, the Sistine Chapel.

The museums were absolutely full of tourists, and unfortunately the layout of the museum means that everyone is pushing through to see the Sistine Chapel - meaning that even if you wanted to look at the artefacts on the way there you couldn't. However to see the Creation of Adam painting by Michaelangelo is a real must when in Rome, and so it was worth it - even if it is surprisingly small.

After reuniting as a group we then headed back to St. Peter's Square, where we attempted to enter the Basilica itself. The queue was around 80 minutes long, but moved pretty quickly and again was worth waiting for to gain entry inside. Whilst the other guys joined mass, I went back outside to witness the changing of the Swiss Guard. After this we headed back towards our apartment for the rest of the evening, where like true Brits, we annoyed our neighbour who came down at the first point possible to shout in Italian about her frustration of our noisiness. Meanwhile we hid in the bedroom...

On the final full day of the trip we made our way back down the the Colosseum, where again we had walked past all the stupid tourists who hadn't pre booked tickets, feeling superior. We then latched on the the end of a tour to get some information about the building, before making our way around the huge complex and getting views of the Roman ruins on the other side of the square. After this, we headed off down the main street through the oldest area of the city, before popping back off at our apartment.

The final area for us to visit was the northern part of the city, where the Spanish steps are located, getting an ice cream on the way. The area around the Spanish steps was evidently the shopping district of the city, and the steps themselves were full of tourists, and again prime location for selfie stick selling by militant Bangladeshis.

Taking a walk around the steps themselves, and finding like most other places, much of the sites were covered in Scaffolding, Saman decided this would be the perfect place for her to bust out a tune. This then developed into a sales pitch with her singing "Umbrella" by Rihanna, just as the clouds opened and the Bangladeshis replaced selfie sticks with Umbrellas for sale. Walking back down the bottom of the steps, Saman burst into song again, despite no one else being willing to join her, as I read a sign stating that shouting and singing on the steps was in fact illegal. After this, we headed to the final spot on our itinerary, the Piazza del Popolo, where there was lots of street entertainment. After sitting for a coffee and grabbing some quick food, we then made our way back to the apartment where we finished off our leftover booze, and again annoyed our neighbour - hiding again in the cupboard in the bedroom.

The trip was very nice, and even though Rome was cold and covered in scaffolding, it is still a very interesting city with a lot of history, and it was nice to actually visit somewhere with others. Unlike most other places I had visited, being there felt much different to how I had expected - not better, not worse just different, and this has somewhat changed my perception of the city in a way I cannot explain how nor why. Despite the trip being a bit of a shock to the system by including a lot of faffing, and therefore being a lot busier than it would have been, had I done it alone, I'm glad we went.

So this week has been a lot of fun! On Friday night we had the first party of this semester, and it was really nice to see a lot of people from last semester as well as meeting some of the newbies...at the end there was about 30 of us in the tiny kitchen, before we made it to the club.

Whilst outside showing people in, the neighbours came back home so I thought I'd better tell them what was going on, which led to a funny conversation:

Me: Yeah, we are having a party here right now, but we will be leaving soon...it's not gonna be like it was last semester Neighbour: Oh, you heard about it last semester? Me: Err yeah, I heard about it.....

Luckily they didn't recognise me! haha. Although we later found out that one of our neighbours had complained to our landlady...which never happened last semester, when our parties were way worse...

The fun of Friday was soon crushed as I had all day class on Sunday...but on the brighter side, the weather all week has been gorgeous. Reaching 25˚C, and sunny by Tuesday, when it was a bank holiday. Together with ten others, we went on a "Bollerwagentour" (a Bremen tradition), where we took lots of alcohol around with us in a toytruck and drank some at every corner. We started off at Amalie from Denmark's house and went into the Bürgerpark, where we all became rather intoxicated by 2pm!

In the early evening we found a jetty onto the lake and spent a good hour subathing there. After we had finished many of us came back to the Party House where the fun continued. On Thursday we all decided to go for Sushi in the city for lunch, and later went up to the Waterfront shopping - in Primark I managed to find a lovely "DEUTSCHLAND" top, which I can add to my themed top collection. haha!

This weekend I have classes all day, and when not working I am getting some of my reports done for next month...It's not all fun and games I can assure you! I hope you are all having fun where you can, I know some of you have exams right now, so good luck!