Salt Mines

In front of the Fireplace

The train ride to Krakow was pretty much uneventful. I had the compartment to myself nearly the entire time and was able to listen to music, read and watch movies to pass the time. Once inside Poland immigration officials got on the train and asked for my passport. I presented it to the two officials who kept looking through it and looking at me. Then they called over two more officers and they all looked through my passport. Finally they asked me where my stamp for Europe was and I explained that I didn’t have one. When I went from Morocco to Spain I got an exit stamp from Morocco but not an entry stamp into Europe. I think they were worried that I had been in Europe since 2001 without a visa because that is the only stamp I have from Europe in my passport. They believed me and moved on to the other passengers.

My hostel in Krakow is nearly empty and the people that are here are teenage groups who don’t speak English. The first night here m room was full of teenagers with laser pointers, lucky me. I have only found a couple of people who actually speak English out of those who are here. I’m not sure why the types of people I am used to seeing everywhere namely Australians and Canadians are not here maybe because the Eurorail pass doesn’t work here or maybe because it’s too cold.

This is the first European country that I have encountered where it’s not safe to drink the tap water. I guess I will just have to have beer with my breakfast and lunch instead of my usual tap water.

Tuesday I went to the nearby salt mines and took a tour. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting but it wasn’t what I got. The tour takes you down three hundred plus stairs underground and then you walk around in rooms that have religious carvings made out of rock salt. My tour guide was polish and had the demeanor of a Russian from the movies, very serious even while telling jokes. I was the only one who laughed at them, at first because of the way she delivered them wrong and then because of what she was saying. Her delivery reminded me of Borat learning how to tell jokes…………NOT. An example was when we went to an underground lake and she was telling us how much salt was in there and if we were to go swimming we would float. Then she said “There is no fishing please”. The tour also took us to this dark room where we were told we would see a “Light and music show, where a lake is mysteriously lit up”. When the show started it was spot and rope lights, I’m not sure where the mystery was but I was not mystified.

On the bus ride back I overheard a couple speaking in English and asked them where they are from and found out they are from Canada. The couple is traveling around the world helping children and their families with disabilities. We were having a good time talking and went to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant had waiters, menus’ that you can hold and a fireplace. It has been a while since I was in some place so fancy. The couple paid for my lunch, which I thought was extremely generous of them.

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10_20_09 Krakow small