Day 12 – Poland and Propaganda.

We wake around midday, starving and wanting to see more of our new city, but before that, let me wrap up yesterday.

Firstly, our passports were not checked between Berlin and Krakow. Whether this isn't done, they do random spot checks or we successfully avoided a more thorough examination, I don't know, but we did. Secondly, the hostel we are in has a massive thick wooden door. Through this door, you have a broad tiled hallway, leading to a second wooden door. Through this door is a small courtyard, with a door in the opposite side leading to the hostel reception and rooms. Our room is on the fourth floor, and the reception staff are nice. (he looks a bit like a guy I went to high school with) Thirdly, my cold is getting worse, and I'm sick to the back teeth of it.

I wake to find D and J have headed off for food. Only having one key, and not knowing where they are, I send an SMS telling them I'm out and about, and will meet them back shortly. I am yet to get any currency, so my first port of call is an ATM, where I find out quite quickly, I have NO money. NONE. Panic enters, stage left.

Racing back to the hostel I jump on the computer and check my accounts, the resulting information calming me completely, and allowing me to form a new understanding of ATM's overseas. I use a credit card for all my banking, having all my accounts linked through it. My new info now shows that unless you get a choice of account on an ATM, they use the card type as a default (ie: credit), and draw the funds directly from there. So, I'm not out of money, rather my credit card is dead broke. A simple remedy of funds transfer applied once sees me happier with the state. J and D return shortly after, and we talk about what they saw. The exchange rate has really impressed them, and means we'll be eating like kings for our stay (plus, the size of the dishes is GINORMOUS).

Having regrouped, we head out for another walk around the city, and dinner. We traipse around the Old Town, and see some of the sights. Krakow as a city, is built around Vavel Castle, in two areas. The first area, is Old Town, which inhabits the space the original city would have (most buildings are fairly new, only a few hundred years old). The middle of Old Town is dominated by an open air market, that seems to run almost all hours of the day. Here you can by crafts, souvenirs, and a wide range of foods. We walk the square, and head down a street to walk by the castle itself. Sitting on the peak of a large hill, Vavel Castle overlooks all of Krakow, in remarkably good condition. After sighting a human sized beer tankard heading our way on it's own two legs, we continue our way out of Old Town.

J noted with some irony, that Old Town looks better and newer than the rest of Krakow, This can only be explained by the cycle of tourist money that is required to make an area more enticing, so as to make more money itself. Krakow itself is quite grey. There are tram lines, running an assortment of models, one that is the spitting image of the current 'new' trams in Melbourne. We head on and finally find a burrito bar for dinner. The burritos we order are massive, and leave us worried that we won't be able to finish the order. We make it through, feeling swollen, and head down the street for a drink. Finding a rather ramshackle looking place called “Propaganda”, we head in to find a liberally decorated bar, full of communist-era relics, posters and very very dim lighting. We drink, enjoy the gloom, and then head into the night again (D says the wine is atrocious). I head back to the hostel, my head feeling heavy and sore with cold symptoms again, the other two hunt down a jazz bar. Sleep shouldn't be a problem, tomorrow it might be as we are aiming to visit Auschwitz.

New Thing Learnt Today – Mexican food outside of Mexico is a varying affair.