The Adventures of Heidi and Amanda: Dresden

Posted on 30/05/2012 by

I have so many travel reports to catch up with!  That’s not really a terrible problem to have though, now is it?  I should also apologize for my general lack of posting over the past two weeks.  I left my computer cord in a hotel room and was powerless (See what I did there?) for a week.

If you remember from my last “Heidi and Amanda” post, we were Krakow, Poland.  You may also remember that I mixed up our travel dates and we had an extra day there, which neither of us regretted.  In any case, we had to get back to the Muzzahland.  I was super-clever and booked us a night train to Dresden.  We left Krakow around 11pm and had a six-hour ride to Breslau.  There was a two-hour wait in Breslau, and then at 7am, it was a three-hour trip to Dresden.  I love hanging around in train stations, and a morning layover would mean coffee and fresh baked goods.  I pictured us getting 6 hours of sleep, having a pleasant breakfast, and then a three-hour nap.  We would arrive in Dresden refreshed and ready for our one day there.

I was wrong.

When you book a train ticket to Breslau, someone at the ticket counter should ask, “Are you sure?”  Alternatively, there could be a warning printed on the ticket, something like “WARNING!  YOU ARE GOING TO BRESLAU.”  Maybe I am being unfair.  OK, I am absolutely being unfair.  I am sure that Breslau is a lovely city.  The train station, however, is not.  When we were there, it was undergoing renovations.  Not only was there no café, there were no seats.  No joke.  There wasn’t a single place to sit in the whole train station.  A dark cloud settled over both of us as we realized that we would spend the next two hours standing in a dark, unheated train station.

Worse than the lack of pastry was the fact that we both needed the bathroom.  We crossed the street to the bus station.  Seriously?  The train station will be really nice once it is finished, but the bus station was depressing, dark and mostly deserted.  It was 5am after all.  There were a few people sitting inside, who looked as upset as we were.  The bathroom doors were locked, but a sweet old Polish man explained to us with lots of hand motions that we could go around to the outside doors.  I am eternally grateful to that man.  Maybe commiseration is the key to bonding with strangers.  At any rate, we reset our expectations and were thrilled when the train to Dresden finally departed.

We arrived around 10am, ready for showers, coffees and a blitzschnell tour of Dresden.  Wrong again.  We could not check in early, so showers were out.  Expectation Reset # 2.  We left our luggage, got some coffee, and hit the town.

Since we were working with a truncated timetable, we had agreed to only one museum, the Grünes Gewölbe, or Green Vault.  We chose wisely.  The Grünes Gewölbe is a collection of objets d’art and curiosities from the treasure vault of August the Strong.  It is located in the Royal Palace.  There is the Historical Green Vault and the New Green Vault.  It was a tough decision, but we went with the New Green Vault.  It was incredible!  There were statues carved out of ivory, jewel encrusted boxes and cabinets, silverware with coral handles, and, what I think was the coolest item, a cherry pit with 185 faces carved on it!  Amazing!  The ticket also gave us access to the Turkish Chamber, which had armor, horse armor, old weaponry, and tents, all dating from between the 16th and 19th centuries.  We chose well.  Unfortunately, we could not take photos.

After the Grünes Gewölbe, we spent the day walking around.  We saw the Zwinger, which was the Dresden court palace.  Although it was under construction (see a theme?), it was still beautiful.  The Frauenkirche was striking.  It had destroyed in the firebombing during WWII, and the GDR government left the rubble pile as it was to serve as a memorial from the war.  After reunification, the church was rebuilt.  Again, we could not take photos, but trust me, it was lovely.  It had a lot of the typical murals and gilding one sees in the old German churches, but the pastel colors and light-colored bricks made it feel really huge.  After the church visit, it was more walking around, the Kaffee und Kuchen at Dresden 1900, a restaurant specializing in “museum gastronomy.”  I’ll admit that I don’t quite get the concept, but in this case it seemed to mean eating in a room that also house a tram car and having your cake served by a flaky French waitress.

After Kaffee und Kuchen, we decided that the showers couldn’t wait any longer.  We headed back to the hotel, showered, and enjoyed both the complimentary drink and the view from the hotel bar.  Despite not being able to check in early, I have to say that our hotel was great.  We went for Italian for dinner in a hip part of town called Neustadt.  We saw tons of bars and restaurants there, and our food was excellent.

So how did we like Dresden?  It’s hard to say.  Neither of us had ever been there, and it had been on my list of top destinations for the year after Hamburg and Bremen.  Dresden’s nickname is “Florence on the Elbe.”  Everyone says things like “Oh, you need at least a week to do Dresden.  It’s SO GREAT.”  Maybe I needed a break, maybe it was because we only had one day, or maybe it was because we hadn’t slept, but I have to say that I’m glad we had the extra day in Krakow instead of Dresden.  Dresden is gorgeous.  The firebombing had destroyed nearly everything within a 15 mile radius, so it all had to be rebuilt.  On the one hand, they took care to restore it well rather than just erecting buildings as quickly as possible.  On the other, it has an almost Disney-like artificial quality to it.  In the end, I guess my results are inconclusive.  There must be a second trial of the Dresden Experiment in store in my future.

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The German Public School System

Posted on 29/05/2012 by

I suppose some of you are probably wondering one thing when you read this blog: What are German schools like? I mean, come on, Heidi. You have been there nine months and we readers have no idea what you do all day. I have been putting it off, but I think the time has come. One reason I wanted to wait was to be sure that I had a decent grasp on the system so I could present it as clearly, fairly and honestly as possible. Another reason for waiting is that it is going to take a few entries to cover everything, and I wanted to have some idea of how I would divide it. To be perfectly honest, however, I have been sort of dreading this topic. Teachers already spend a lot of time thinking about the nature of teaching, learning and education in general. Being here has put that thought process into hyper-drive. I spend a large chunk of my day constantly observing and, whether I mean to or not, comparing. Still, isn’t that the whole point of my being here? (Yes, it is.)

I am going to start by explaining the system very generally. Because I am a visual learner, I also tend toward visual teaching methods.  Let me begin with a diagram of the American school system for comparison:

American School System I

Here’s another, which also includes the post-secondary options:

American School System II

Again, I said generally. Of course there are variations on this theme, but basically, this is it. For my non-American readers, let me explain a bit. All children within a geographically defined area belong to the same school district/system. The differences you see after elementary school are only different ways of dividing the different age-groups by building. There is essentially no difference between a junior high school and a middle school; the main question is do we have grades 6-8 in one building, or 7-9? This differs depending upon how many children and how many buildings a district has, and which system has traditionally been in place.

To recap: all American kids who live in an area attend the same school district/system, finish at the same time, and are divided by age into grades. Now that you’ve seen a visual for the American system, let’s have a look at the German system:

German School System I

And another:

German School System II

As with the diagrams of the American school system, the first diagram for the German system is a solid basic description.  Here is my explanation for the system:

  • Kindergarten: Most kids start with kindergarten
  • Grundschule: Elementary school, grades 1-4, all children.

After Grundschule, the teachers make a recommendation to each child’s parents about which school their child should attend.  Like in the US, the education system is not regulated by the federal government; control belongs to each state.  In some states, the parents have to follow the recommendation.  In others, like Niedersachsen, where I live, the parents can choose.  In most cases, there are three options:

  1. Gymnasium: The highest-achieving students attend Gymnasium.  The Gymnasium contains grades 5-12/13 (depending upon the state) and its curriculum is academically rigorous.  The purpose of the Gymnasium is to prepare its students (Gymnasiast and Gymnasiastin) for university study.  In grades 5-10, students take classes in a variety of subjects.  In grades 11-12/13, students focus on a track (social sciences, modern languages, etc.), which is like a major.  They take five, 2-year courses within their track, and fill the rest of their time with other subjects.  At the end of their time in Gymnasium, the students should be able to pass the Abitur exams in each of their 5 major areas.  The Abitur exams can be written or oral, and students can choose which type of exam for each course.  Only students who have passed the Abitur exams can attend a university.
  2. Realschule: The middle-achieving students spend grades 5-10 at the Realschule.  Realschule students take a wide variety of classes (including English!) that are less rigorous than those at the Gymnasium.  After the 10th grade, they finish school.  If they wish, they can go on to what one of the diagrams call “professional colleges,” or Fachhochschule.  For example, you can study musical performance at a Fachhochschule for music, or if you would like to be a Realschule teacher, you may attend a Fachhochschule for pedagogy.  These students will most likely have mid-level professional jobs.
  3. Hauptschule:  The Hauptschule is for the lowest-achieving students.  These students spend grades 5-9 taking an array of general education classes.  After completing their classes at the end of the 9th grade, they will go on to an apprenticeship in a skilled trade.
  4. There is another option, which has become the center of heated political debate: the Gesamtschule.  The Gesamtschule is like an American-style high school: anyone and everyone can go and you have some choice afterwards.
  5. If you are wondering about special education, look on the right side of the second diagram.  Students requiring accommodations attend the Sonderschule.

Whew.  That’s the most basic possible outline.  I should point out that I teach in a Gymnasium, so that is the system I know the most about.  Some of you may be chomping at the bit to share your own experiences and finer points of the German system, and I encourage you to do so in the comments section.  

As an American, I had a knee-jerk reaction to this system when I first learned about it.  Maybe you did too.  Below are some of my thoughts and opinions.  Again, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

  • Educational research tells me to strongly dislike the practice of splitting children by level of achievement.  Research shows that when two people of vastly different ability levels are engaged in a common task, both will achieve at a higher level than either could alone.  Pedagogy students in the US are taught to purposely group students based upon mixing ability levels.  We are, after all, social beings.
  • Despite what research has proven over and over, educational practice has shown me that having a a room of students with more similar ability levels makes it much easier to tailor lessons to best fit the needs of the students.  This is easier for the teacher and less frustrating for the students.
  • Although any students has the chance to go to any of the schools above, there are statistically significant class differences.  As you might imagine, a higher percentage of students in Gymnasiums come from high-income backgrounds than from low-income backgrounds.
  • In the United States, it has become increasingly difficult to make a living and support a family if you do not have a college degree.  You can point out to me all of the exceptional cases and friends of friends that you know who have made it, but the fact is, they are exceptional because they represent the exception, not the rule.  In the German system, almost everyone ends up with a profession that he or she can do very well and from which he or she earns enough to support his or her family.
  • Another point to keep in mind is that university study in Germany is essentially free.  Some colleges charge 500-750 Euros per semester, which from the American perspective is still free.  (I could have put my entire B.A. on my first credit card.)  The point is, if the government is going to pay for college, everyone cannot go.  Limiting the number of people allowed to go to college by dividing the school types makes economic sense.
  • If a system is to divide students based upon achievement level, I think that the 5th grade is far too young to decide.
  • I know I am going to take a lot of flack for this next point.  I also do not necessarily agree with the parent being able to ignore the school’s recommendation.  It is true that I am not a parent, but I am a teacher.  I have seen far too many students, both here and in the US, suffering needlessly because they have incredibly demanding parents.  I’m not talking about making sure that your typically lazy 15 year-old sits down and does his homework; if your child has an ulcer or doesn’t have time to see his or her friends a few times a week, you might be pushing too much.  Your child might be much happier and more successful in a Realschule than in the Gymnasium.  Teachers want happy and successful students.  We want to maximize your child’s potential.  None of us became teachers to ruin your child’s life.
  • In a system that divides students in such a way as Germany, I don’t like the lack of contact with other kinds of people.
  • You might be thinking that in American schools, we have equal opportunity. Everyone can take any course, and do whatever they want after!  If you think about it, that’s not entirely true.  For example, I knew that I wanted to go to college, so the guidance counselor sat down with me in 8th grade and made me a college preparatory schedule.  If I hadn’t taken Algebra I in 8th grade, I couldn’t have taken AP Calculus in 12th grade; I wouldn’t have completed the prerequisites in time.  Furthermore, if I had not done well in 7th grade math, the teacher never would have recommended me for 8th grade Algebra I.  Finally, who did I have classes with all throughout high school?  All of the other kids who wanted to go to college.  We all had the same classes!  Officially, we don’t track students, but in practice we do.

There you have it, the basic outline of the German school system and my impressions as an American.  In future posts, I will show you some typical Gymnasium student schedules, what life is life for a teacher in Germany, and some alternative post-secondary options that do not show up on the diagrams.  I would love to hear your comments and questions thus far.

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If you need to brush up on European history, by which I mean see how the borders have changed, watch this short video.  The music is slightly over the top, but it is still a very cool 3.5 minutes.

Posted on 18/05/2012 by | 3 Comments

German Products 5: Multicultural Cold Remedies

Posted on 17/05/2012 by

We have just left the realm of the so-called “Ice Saints.”  Those are the saints’ days in May when the weather turns cold again.  According to folklore, the weather cannot get really warm until these days have passed.  Unfortunately, wild weather changes often bring sickness.  I’m feeling like death warmed-over right now, so I thought I would take advantage of this decongestant-and-Advil-induced high and share some German medicinal practices with my readers.

Dealing with German medicine has been its own kind of adventure.  During my year in Freiburg, I had a wisdom tooth removed by a dentist who only wore one glove, and this winter I had a comically uncomfortable trip to the gynecologist.  (The verdict is still out on whether or not that will be the topic of a future blog post.)  If you have never had the pleasure of seeing a doctor in a foreign country, try to imagine some of these points: There’s a whole slew of medical and anatomical terms that you don’t realize you need until you’re sitting naked in an exam room without your dictionary.  You have no idea of what standard practices are.  Your doctor may ask you things like “How much do you weigh?” (Isn’t that why there’s a scale in the exam room?), or “What did your last doctor do last time you had a sinus infection?” (Isn’t it your job to diagnose me?).  Then there’s the medicine.  I realize that Germany is a modern, developed country.  From 1990-2011, they had the 4th largest economy in the world.  Furthermore, Germany is ranked 3rd in the world for the number of medical patents held.  Still, I’m wary of taking medicines that I’ve never heard of.  When German Dr. One-Glove handed me some pain pills, suddenly I was in a pit in Apocalypto and the hole in my mouth was being held together with bugs.

I came to Germany this time around with one health goal: do not get sick.  I have been sick an incredible 5 times.  What the hell!  I wash my hands, eat my vegetables, sleep a lot, exercise, take my vitamins… I just don’t get it.  What I really don’t understand is how every public bathroom only ever has cold water at the sink.  This means that everyone is washing their hands with cold water.  Hasn’t anyone here heard of the flu?  Why aren’t they all getting sick???  I suppose this isn’t the first time in history that European germs have attacked a friendly, peaceful American.

Never do I feel more American than when I’m sick here.  What do you do in Germany when you feel like ass, but haven’t been sick long enough to go to the doctor?  First of all, you rule out medication.  You can only purchase medication at the pharmacy (Apotheke), and to get it, you have to talk to the pharmacist.  This shouldn’t bother me, but I’m an American, so it does.  It’s like when you’re shopping and the sales people won’t leave you alone.  I don’t want to have that experience when I need cold medicine.  I am an adult, damn it, and if I want to take too much of the wrong medicine that I chose and purchased on my own, well, that’s my prerogative.  Actually, I’m not generally big on medication, but when I have a cold, I’m a slave to Vick’s Day-Quil and Ny-Quil.  Hey, a girl’s gotta work.  I did buy some Day-Quil (called Wick’s Day-Med here) in December.  To borrow from Stephen Colbert, they might as well call it “Jacksquatiphen” because that’s what it does.  So medication, out.

At the drug store (Drogerie), you can buy herbal medicine and supplements.  Since Germans are fans of the fizzy drinks, you can buy vitamin supplements in tablets that you add to a glass of water, sort of like Alka-Seltzer.  I found a vitamin C and zinc tablet that’s pineapple flavored.  Since zinc is the active ingredient in Cold-Eeze and Zicam, I figured they would help.  Another popular option is heißer Holunder, or hot elderberry juice.  You can buy it in powder or liquid form .  When my landlady told me to get some, I thanked her for the recommendation, but thought to myself  Please.  Haven’t these people heard of orange juice?  Then I looked it up: elderberries have WAY more vitamin C than oranges.  Humbled, I got some elderberry juice.

Elderberry juice

The problem with elderberry juice is that it is not sweet.  You can just stir in some sugar or honey, but here is what I came up with:  Add one pineapple fizzy tablet to half a glass of elderberry juice and fill the rest of the way with hot water.  Delicious!  If I were really going Euro-style, I would add a shot of some kind of liquor to the mix, but since I’m not European, I don’t believe in the magical medicinal properties of schnapps.  To each his own.

.4 liters of cold-busting goodness

Another big hit in the world of German medicine is tea.  Stomachache?  Chamomile.  Trouble sleeping?  Lavender.  Living in the Northwest?  East Frisian blend.  The Drogerie has a tea for everything, so I picked up some tea for colds that is supposed to reduce fevers  and relieve body aches.  I don’t know if it worked, but it was tasty, herbal and pleasant.  I definitely recommend it.

Tea for Colds

Tea for Colds: elderflower, thyme, willow bark, anis, blackberry leaves, fennel, rose hips, some other kind of thyme and licorice root

The moral of the story is bring your own cold medicine with you if you come live in Germany.  Now that the Cold Sophie, kalte Sophie, or May 15th, has passed, I’m looking forward to warmer weather.  On another note, it seems that sick Heidi might be kind of a thick-headed jerk.  Maybe these are karma colds.

an article about the medical benefits of elderberry from May 15th, kalte Sophie. The couple I rent from gave me this; aren’t they the cutest?

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The Adventures of Heidi and Amanda: Krakow, Poland

Posted on 04/05/2012 by

If there is only one thing to learn from my blog, let it be this: Go. To. Krakow.  Right now.  Stop whatever you’re doing, book a ticket and get to Poland immediately.

To be honest, I never would have chosen Poland as a vacation destination.  I have nothing against Poland, but it just didn’t top my list.  A bunch of my friends even went during my year in Freiburg, and I passed.  When Amanda and I were planning our trip, though, she had only one demand.  ”The only thing I have to do is visit Auschwitz,” she said, so after Berlin, it was off to Krakow.  When I told people in Germany that I was going to Krakow, they all swooned and talked about how much they had loved their time there.  I was intrigued.  Now I get it.  In Krakow, our hostel was kind of awful, it rained, hailed and snowed the whole time, and we had a snafu with our train tickets.  We still had the best time ever and fell madly in love with Krakow.  Get a drink, grab a snack, and saddle up; this post is going to be a long one.

Getting There: There is a great bus company that has routes leaving from Berlin and going all over Europe.  Amanda and I snagged tickets to Krakow for only 49 Euros each!  The only problem was that the trip took 9 hours.  Still, it was only slightly longer than the train trip and much, much cheaper.  I also think that our bus experience made for a better travel story that a ride on the railroad would have.  For example, travelers leaving Germany are forced to readjust their notions of concepts like punctuality and formality.  The bus left 45 minutes late.  In fact, it had not even arrived by the time it was scheduled to leave.  No one at the information desk knew why.  I should also point out that the only people who seemed bothered by disregard for time were Amanda and I.  Here are some notable highlights from our bus trip:

In addition already starting late, we stopped constantly so that the driver could and his assistant could chain smoke for 10 minutes before continuing on.  The border crossing was slightly scary, since a bunch of armed border patrolmen boarded the bus and took a random sampling of passports; they took mine, but not Amanda’s.  Then they got off of the bus, disappeared into a building for about 15 minutes and returned our passports without a stamp or ceremony.  The bus trip had two highlights.  The first one happened when they turned on the televisions and started a movie.  Although I was still buried in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, my neck needed a break from reading.  I was happy to see an American movie start, but that happiness disappeared when the sound began and dubbed-over Polish voices blared from the bus’s speakers.  Amanda and I exchanged glances and burst our laughing.  Still, my favorite part of the trip was when we pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot in Breslau.  The driver got out of the bus with no explanation, grabbed a black garbage bag from the luggage compartment and placed it in the back seat of the a woman’s car in the parking lot. (The woman was presumably his girlfriend.) Then he kissed her, got back on the bus, and we kept going.  I would love to know what was in that bag.

There:  Somehow, 10 hours later, we made it to Krakow.  After withdrawing some zlotys (Polish currency), we set out to find our hostel, Butik Hostel.  In Berlin, Amanda had been pleasantly surprised to learn that hostels aren’t necessarily horrible.  Any confidence in my hostel choosing abilities were quickly dashed by the Butik Hostel.  The staff was incredibly helpful, friendly and proud of their city.  We could book our trips to Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mines with the See Krakow Company at the reception desk, and there was free Wi-Fi in all of the rooms.  However, the rooms were sort of grimy, the walls were paper-thin and the shower head kept crashing down mid-shower. The hostel also sits atop a bar, a bar that apparently has karaoke night on Thursdays.  Breakfast the first morning was scary, but it was better on the other days.  Although the first night was god-awful, the others were merely mediocre.  We survived.

Amanda and I had three full days in Krakow.  We spent our first day at the concentration camps Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had never been to a concentration camp, nor did I ever intend to go, but I am glad that I went.  It is a difficult thing to visit a camp and try to comprehend what happened there.  It is also difficult to try to comprehend why we visit, what we hope the gain from the experience and how we discuss it.  I think that the topic is important enough to warrant its own space, so I will deal with it in my next post.  I did not take many photos, which I will also discuss in the next post, but the ones I did are here.  That afternoon and evening, we ate, wandered, shopped and took photos.  There is so much to see, so much to taste, so much to take in.  We ended up at this hotel bar that was old-world fancy with a friendly bartender.  He told us about the local beverage (Krupnick Honey Vodka) and let us sneak into the swing dancing party in the ballroom to have a look.

On our second day, we went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines.  When some colleagues suggested, nay, insisted, we visit the salt mines, I thought they must be very boring people.  Still, we didn’t know of anything else to do, so we booked a tour and went.  It was SO cool!  I don’t mean to sound like a pre-teen girl, but there’s no other word for it.  The mines were in operation from the 13th century until 2007.  That fact alone is completely insane.  The ingenuity and skills that the people developed to get the salt out of the ground is so impressive.  And the scale.  It’s huge!  I can’t describe it; it’s just massive.  Then there’s the artistry.  Because the workers spent so much time there, they built chapels, halls and churches in the mine, all made entirely of salt.  Some of the things added after tours started are a little too far in the Disney direction, but it is still damn impressive.  Our tour guide, Beate, was excellent, and Amanda and I are convinced that the mine elevator is safer than the one in the hostel.  After the mines, we set out for another afternoon and evening of aimless wandering.  We happened to run into a British couple we had met on the tour of Auschwitz and spent the night tearing up the town with them.

Enter the Great Train Mix-Up of 2012: When I booked everything, I did it all at one time so that I didn’t mix up any dates.  Everything went through, except for the hostel in Krakow.  The one we wanted was booked solid, so I had to find another.  I did the booking a few days later and got confused.  I had booked us a night train to Dresden that left at 11pm, so the date changed while we were on the train. (See how that works?)  I mixed it all up and we accidentally were double-booked for hostels on the night of April 1.  Luckily, I was able to cancel one of the nights at our Dresden hostel and change the train tickets without much drama or expense.  The end result was one more day in Krakow, and one fewer day in Dresden.  I think we both agree that the situation turned out for the best, and we spent our extra day seeing everything we had not already seen: Kazimierz (the Jewish quarter), the Wawel castle, the fire-breathing dragon statue and a brief glimmer of sunshine.  We also went into St. Mary’s Basilica, the main church in town.  Unfortunately, photos are prohibited, but I have never been so awestruck in my life.  It was the most colorful, wonderful building I have ever seen.  These people know how to worship.

Of everything we did, I can confidently say that our favorite parts of Krakow were the food and the marketplace.  We went to the market at least twice every day.  It is fantastic!  There is pottery, jewelry, art, forged iron, handmade candles, crafts, etc.  Because of the exchange rate benefits those of us earning dollars (3:1) and Euros (nearly 4:1), we can afford everything at the market.  (Keep in mind that for Poles earning zlotys, Krakow is an expensive city.  Just don’t go around yelling about how cheap everything is and you won’t be an ugly American.)  In addition to stuff to buy, there is stuff to eat, and it is all GOOD.  Pierogies, pork knuckles, sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes, cheese, waffles, sugared nuts, grilled veggies, kebab, candy, cake, beer, coffee, hot chocolate, the list goes on and on.  In fact, the entire city is filled with delicious places to eat.  We got the tip on the pizza-like fast food favorite called zapiekanki from Micha, who worked at our hostel.

The only word of warning I can offer is this: due to cheap flights from the UK and Ireland and an excellent exchange rate from euros and pounds to zlotys, Krakow has become something of a European Las Vegas for stag parties (bachelor parties).  A lot of the hostel booking website specifically list “no stag parties.”  While Amanda and I didn’t mind seeing 15 drunken, kilted Scotsmen singing and drinking at breakfast in our hostel because we were already awake, I’ve heard some horror stories from friends involving a 10-person room and vomit.  Just something to keep in mind.

To recap: Whether you’d like to just visit Europe, or if you’ve done the whole 10 countries in 10 days style tour of Europe and need something new, go to Krakow.  Immediately.  The city is gorgeous, there is a lot to do, it’s an inexpensive European trip and the Poles are really friendly.  You won’t be disappointed.

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Tips

  • Get a phrase book.  Most people know a little English, but it’s nice to at least learn “thank you,” “please,” and “cheers.”
  • Guidebooks are nice, but you don’t need one for Krakow.  Most of what the city has to offer is available to be seen.  Do some research before you go, get a map, and just walk around.
  • Don’t get tickets for public transportation.  Krakow is small, walkable, and you can see so much just by wandering.  You cannot get lost.
  • The folks at our hostel told us about this town in the mountains near-ish Krakow called Zakopane.  In the winter, there’s skiing, and in the warmer months, there’s hiking and horseback riding.  Zakopane also produces its own EU licensed cheese.  Just like how you can only call it “champagne” if it’s from France, this cheese can only be made in Zakopane.  The photos are gorgeous.  To go there, spend some time, and come back to Krakow is a whole day affair.  Had we known in advance, and had it not been so bitter cold and damp, we would have gone.  The insider tip is to skip the booked tour and just get the bus at the train station.  It’s cheaper and just as easy.
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