Kraków, part VIII - Rynek Główny and more Sukiennice

Another day, another night. I went out with Javiera and the Parisians out for another night of drinking, but had to plead out for an early return as I had a morning bus to catch to Brno on the morrow. Victor walked me back, which I thought was very nice of him, and then I went to the hostel, where one of the hostel girls, Kasia, was smoking with a friend of hers. Kasia was one of the best looking girls I'd ever seen in Poland, and actually most of Europe - everything about her looked so right. She was blonde and regal and imposing, and bore a strong resemblance to Kate Winslet, but I hadn't really spoken to her before this. I smiled and said hi to them, and Kasia said to me - "I think you are the prettiest Asian girl I have ever seen." And it all started from there. We laughed, and we went upstairs, where Adam and some of the others were mixing cocktails. Adam whooped when he saw me and ran up to hug me, and we spun around dizzily, and then he got me coke and rum and we all drank and drank ourselves into oblivion, and knocked over an astounding amount of drinks, then we all slumped onto the sofa in the living room and slept till daybreak.

And more hungover photos from the Rynek.

The one thing I disliked about Krakow was the sheer over-abundance of tourists left right centre. People everywhere. ARGH.

Kraków, part VII - More Milkbar Tomasza and Rynek Główny

More hungover morning. I got up at around 7, nonetheless, and washed and had a coffee, and sat in the hostel living room. I'm pondering how much of this I want to write out here. Non linear it is, then.

Last night I'd gotten back, exhausted, and thrown myself on the comfy sofa to use my phone, and peddle my thoughts. A boy was sitting across from me eating microwaved potatoes, and we started talking. It turned out his name was Maks, and he was from Kyiv. The conversation picked up even more, and then a Portuguese guy called Ed joined us, and then a Polish girl called Kinga, and we spent the entire night sitting there and chatting. I can't even remember what we talked about, anymore. I remember snippets, but I'll keep that in my own diary, thank you very much.

One of us decided we should go out, and we did. We saw a patisserie store, and Maks turned to me, and said - point at any cake, and I'll tell you how much cheaper it is in Ukraine. I was deeply amused.

The next morning, back to me and my coffee, and everyone was queuing for the showers, which I'd managed to avoid as I'd gotten up a bit earlier than everyone else. I saw M again and said hi to him, and then met a Polish guy, called Adam, who was a dentist my age. He was in his boxers and waiting for the shower, and he sat next to me, and we started talking about gums and tooth decay, and that was all I wrote.

I went out and did some more walking around, and all of a sudden it was lunchtime again, so off it was to my favourite Milkbar Tomasza.

Of course it's this, it's always this.

Kraków, part VI - Rynek Główny, Sukiennice and Barbakan Krakowski

Here's a better view of the Sukiennice/Kraków Cloth Hall, which is ostensibly the most significant building in the Rynek Główny.

I did some more drinking that night with the French, and the next day had another terrific hangover, so most of my time in Krakow was spent nursing a bad hangover, whilst roaming the city dazedly. Not the worst way to travel or experience a new city. I did an unbelievable amount of drinking on this trip and spent a lot of the time buzzed. I've never done this in my past trips. OK, there was that one night in Wroclaw, the Will and Jake one, where the Polish guy - from Krakow, actually - missed his bus but booked a new one, and bought us all drinks, and we spent the night in the hostel room floor, where we spread out blankets and sat on them and used an upturned crate as a table, and drank and talked and laughed and it was one of those Vonnegut-esque nights where everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

In the shadow of the Sukiennice

Sukiennice corridor

Inside the Sukiennice