For three consecutive New year eves, I have astutely stayed away from Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations where over 100000 people cram the streets of Edinburgh. However, on the shuttle bus to Edinburgh Airport on 1st Jan, I was shown why that decision to stay away is a smart one - four girls, still suffering from the previous night's bacchanalian excesses, were using plastic bags to catch their vomit. And then you wonder why 'drinking' is the only form of entertainment for these cretins.
Fortunately, these 4 cringeworthy lassies...
For three consecutive New year eves, I have astutely stayed away from Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations where over 100000 people cram the streets of Edinburgh. However, on the shuttle bus to Edinburgh Airport on 1st Jan, I was shown why that decision to stay away is a smart one - four girls, still suffering from the previous night's bacchanalian excesses, were using plastic bags to catch their vomit. And then you wonder why they 'drinking' is the only form of entertainment for these cretins.
Fortunately, these 4 cringeworthy lassies were not on my flight - otherwise in an ironic reversal of my extremely bad luck, I would have ended up being seated next to them. The flight itself was quite quiet despite the rather high proportion of sub-one-year-old kids. For in-flight entertainment, the couple next to me decided not to keep their hands (and other assorted parts of their anatomy) off each other - I'll spare you the details. People clapped when the flight landed in Krakow (just like they do in every flight in Italy!). The same happened on the way back - it is something I find endearing - we are entrusting the pilot with our lives and should thank him / her for getting us safely to our destination!
Throughout last week, when the trip was looming on my calendar, I was carefully looking at the temperatures in Krakow (something I normally don't do) but the -10C (around 15 in degrees Fahrenheit, for the temperature-scale challenged) was certainly keeping me nervous. But all those fears and apprehensions melted (froze?) away the moment I stepped off the plane at Krakow airport - it was snowing gently and was white all around. That certainly made me forget the -10C. But not for long.... my spirits were shattered at the Immigrations counter, when the 'nice lady', not having seen an Indian passport earlier, called a superior who also took his own sweet time in clearing my entry - not before he took all details - where I was staying, when I was leaving etc. Oh yes, I have the I've-come-to-settle-in-Krakow look on my face.
While looking for literature to keep myself company, I couldn't find any books set exclusively in Krakow. The closest I got to it was 'Schindlers Ark' (by Thomas Keneally) on the life of the gentleman who was portrayed by Liam Neeson in Spielberg's film adaption. Schindler was a war-time resident of Krakow - after considerable trudging and poring over the map, I did get to the house where he used to stay - what disappoined me was that there wasn't even a plaque. I am hoping, for the soul of good men like Schindler, that my guide book was wrong.
My first excursion was to 'Oswiecim' and 'Brzezinka' more notoriously known by their spine-tingling German names of 'Auschwitz-Birkenau' - the largest concentration / extermination camp-complex during WWII. Apparently, over 1.5 million were exterminated here. The camps are an hour-and-a-half long ride from Krakow - despite the destination, the journey was a pleasure, with a snow covered landscape as far as the eye could see. The bus itself was crammed both to and from Oswiecim, which is both heartening (because so many people want to see this place) and disheartening (because there is always the danger of it turning into a tourist trap). Auschwitz and Birkenau are about 3 kilometres apart and the former is better preserved because the retreating Nazis tried to destroy Birkenau (and the evidence).
The entrance to Auschwitz has an ironic inscription - 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (work makes free). Whilst seeing all the places one has read about or seen in movies - where the prisoners were separated, where the roll-call used to take place, the wall against which they would be executed for transgressions (or for no reason at all), the starvation cells without any ventilation, empty canisters of Zyklon B (the chemical used to gas the victims), personal effects of those killed / incarcerated there, the endless barbed wire fences, and the daunting-looking watchtowers - one is overcome by a sense of despair. Birkenau was much larger than Auschwitz and housed over 90k inmates and apparently, at one point, over 5000 people were being killed every day in its four gas chambers and their bodies burnt in the crematoria.
The guided tour lasted for 3 and a half hours and our guide spoke non-stop for that duration and i wondered if talking about the camps day-in-and-day-out desensitises people to the brutality that still permeats the atmosphere there. But for me the ironic part is that no one seems to learn from such places and experiences - the killing of the innocents in Gaza these days is a stark reminder of the Santayana quote that was displayed there "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
With that extremely moving visit behind, I set out to explore Krakow.
I love the snow and constantly complain that we don't get enough of it at Edinburgh (in fact we are treated only to token snowfalls). Fortunately, at Krakow my prayers were over-answered (as they say in Hindi 'Bhagwan deta hai, chappad phaad ke deta hai') - it was snowing (reasonably heavily) for the majority of the time I was there. The entire town was swept up in a carpet of white - of course having temperatures of around -10C did inconvenience things slightly but then to see a beautiful town covered with white was more than adequate compensation.
Krakow was the capital of Poland till 1596 and the life of the town centres around Rynek Glowny (Market Square) which, at 200m by 200m, is the largest town square in Europe. This square has a large 'Cloth Hall' (Sukiennice) in the middle which makes it seem smaller than what it actually is. This Cloth Market has tourist / trinket stalls on the ground floor and on the floor above there is a gallery of Polish paintings. The square itself is dominated by St. Mary's Church which has two towers of uneven height which is the most photographed monument of Krakow. Inside this gothic Basicila there is a large 'Slacker Crucifix' which seems surreal against the turquoise blue ceiling with stars.
The river running through Krakow is Vistula (which originates in the south of Poland and empties into the Baltic Sea). Krakow, like any other European city, has a castle atop a hillock - Wawell castle - i've seen quite a few recently - Prague, Budapest, Bratislava but this was by far the best. One reason is that they haven't given in to crass commercialism and limit the number of visitors inside which keeps the crowds low - plus they also seem to care about what they have inside - they make everyone wear protective polythene covering on their shoes. There were the usual state rooms and the richly ornamented private apartments - but the most impressive part of the castle-complex is the Krakow Cathedral which was built to house the relics of St. Stanislaw. The audio-guide said that only those in 'reasonably good health' should climb the steep and narrow stairs upto the bell tower (which houses the famous Zygmunt bell). My optimism about the state of my health seemed to be misplaced as I huffed and puffed my way up those (really) narraw stairs - but the views of snow-covered Krakow from atop the tower were, to use a cliche, breath-taking and worth every huffed breath.
Coming to cuisine - heavy and full of meat, as is customary in this part of the world. The Chaczapini Z Adzapsandalems (cheese pie) and Lawasz (Cracker Bread) more then made up for the calories I lost treading carefully in the snow-covered cobbled streets of Krakow. The most common form of street food are Pretzels which are sold off small stalls every few metres - these pretzels with poppy seeds are extremely good for keeping the body engine topped up with fuel - but to be very honest, they seemed a trifle tastless to my used-to-spices Indian palate. So I decided to visit an Indian restaurant (oh yes!) - the person running the place (Indian, naturallement) asked me if I would like my dish spicy or mild.'Spicy', I confidently told him - proud of my heritage and my consequent ability to handle spices. Or so I thought. I had smoke coming out of my ears for the next couple of hours. Now where are the pretzels when you need them.
Krakow has a surfeit of churches - there is one on every street. And trust me, the house of God comes in really handy when it is -10 degrees outside and one's hands, feet, and brain have frozen. But the best part of having so many churches (no, I haven't converted) is that on the hour, every hour, the town comes alive with bells and chimes. However, the most interesting bells are from St. Mary's church in the main square - Every hour, a bugle call (bejnal) is played - which ends abruptly - as it commemorates a soldier who played the bugle to warn the city of invaders - and he was shot in the neck while making this warning call. This tradition dates back from the 14th century and the noon-time bugle call is even relayed on the radio.Continuing on the ecclesiastical topic, another famous son of Krakow was Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul the IInd. Many churches and buildings proudly market their links with him. And it is hard to walk for long in Krakow without seeing a statue of his.
On the street one day, I was approached by a reasonably good looking girl (not something that happens often!) and she hugged me and said 'I want to get drunk and need some money to do it. Will you be kind enough to give me some (money).' I did my convincing 'poor third world tourist' impression and she said 'thank you, have a nice day' and moved to the next unsuspecting victim. I'm sure someone would have foot her boozy bills just for her honesty!
Having recently been to places where I didn't know the language at all apart from a few politesses, I'm beginning to feel bad for not even trying to make an attempt. At the hotel I was staying during breakfast I asked the person helping there for a bowl to eat the cornflakes in. Something was lost in translation as he promptly brought me milk. Then when I used my best dumb charades skills to gesture what I thought was a bowl, he took away the milk and brought it back after heating it. When I, for the second time, shook my head and again gestured 'bowl', he nodded vigourously and came back with a spoon. When he looked for the bowl to keep the spoon next to, he finally realised what I was asking for. I guess I need to work on my 'bowl' impressions! The next morning when he saw me, he astutely avoided me and sent a colleague to deal with that crazy-Indian-tourist-who-speaks-no-polish.
The Poles are, naturally, proud of Chopin and the majority of pieces in every concert here are by him. The one I went for in a church was excellent but the architects of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul had obviously designed it for multitudes of teeming faithful and not for a few crazy concert-goers, I nearly froze to death - it was heartening to see that I was not alone in my misery. The musicians were also rubbing their hands together after every piece.
PS: Reasons why I should get an award
1. I lost a glove three times and each time I retraced my steps and found the errant item - once I had to walk for about ten minutes - someone had picked it up from the ground and put it on the bench :)
2. I diligently watched Hollywood on Polish TV - these are neither dubbed nor subtitled - there is a single voice over that translates every word said - so Julia Roberts might be shouting at Albert Finney while a Polish male voice would dispassionately be repeating her swear words!
2. It was freezing and I had to take my hands out of my gloves to take photographs. So when you get the photos appreciate the fact that I risked frost bite just that you guys could see Krakow from my eyes. That, and point 1 above
(Jan, 2009)
