4. Krakow: Arrival and first day

Seven hours on a train. I can think of better things. But I was excited because my couchsurfing host, Christina, sounded super nice, was very accommodating, and even offered to go to the gym with me when I arrived.

The problem was that sometimes I still think in German and forget that punctuality is not as important everywhere as it is for us. When I arrived at her place, only her roommate Alvero was there and I didn't hear from her. Eventually, I decided to go ahead and just as I arrived at the gym, she messaged me saying that she was too tired and hungry. What a disappointment. But I let it out while swimming and when I came home, my frustration subsided and I just wanted to sleep.

The next day, we had breakfast together and I went on my first sightseeing tour towards the city. I visited the Wawel Castle on the Vistula River and watched the dragon statue that spewed fire whenever someone sent him an SMS.

Then I visited the very colorful Basilica of the Franciscans and the Turi Hotspot Rynek Glowny square with all its stalls, horse-drawn tours, and lots of pigeons.

After that, I returned to the Jewish Quarter where I was staying. There were wonderful little shops, lots of different snacks, and cozy bars. And many small second-hand shops. (Unfortunately, my backpack has become 2 kilograms heavier, but I really needed that sweater because it was really cold.)

In the middle of a square with various flea market stands was the former Jewish slaughterhouse, which has now been converted into snack stalls.

Crazy...

To pass the time until my host came home, I sat down in a cafe.

There, I overheard two German girls and I wondered if I should just approach them. At first, I didn't find the courage. (Although I didn't understand why, what did I have to lose?) But then I waited for them outside the cafe and we chatted a bit and they gave me the tip to visit the Jewish bookstore. I followed their advice and even found German literature, including a photo book from the times of the Jewish ghetto and a comic about the pharmacist who insisted on staying there at that time and did his best to help the people.

Then I headed home in the hope and caught Christina right at the door. I really felt like cooking and prepared a typical German dish: lentil soup, which she liked better than I did in my childhood 😂 After some nice and very deep (as far as my language skills allowed) conversations, I went back to my couch in the dreamland.