First Reactions

Well after a long day and a half of travel I am finally in Poland! It took three flights to get here but all went very smoothly and we had no trouble navigating through the different airports. I got to ride on the biggest airplane that I have ever been on, there were two isles and there were 8 seats across the plane. We were treated to both dinner and breakfast by Luftansa. The Munich airport was very different than the airports that I have been in before, it had a very luxurious feel to it and some of the more interesting aspects were smoking boxes for people to smoke in and the complementary coffee while you waited at your gate.

Unfortunately by the time that we arrived in Krakow it was dark and it was hard to get a good feel for the city. We took a short bus tour through the city to see a few key sites, such as St. Mary's church, the castle, and the Jewish Ghetto. We then got settled at our hotel and had some downtime before heading off to dinner. We walked through the winding streets to get to the restaurant and along the way we got to see the many store fronts, bakerys, and restaurants that line the streets. The city reminded me of my time in Paris, with the small cars, parking on the sidewalks, cobblestone roads, narrow streets lined by tall apartment style buildings and very interesting architecture. At dinner we were presented with a four course meal, starting with a delicious soup (similar to Ramen), next came the "salad" course that was more like coleslaw, the main dish was potatoes with some type of breaded meat stuffed with cheese and a pickle, and to finish out the meal was a delicious apple dessert. The restaurant was very quaint and resembled an enlarged dining room. It rained on our way back from the restaurant and we were all glad to get back to the hotel to dry off and get some sleep.

It has been an exciting start to the trip already and I am very excited for tomorrow and especially to see the city in daylight! Good night from Poland!