Leaving

All my bags were packed, I was ready to go...standing there outside my door:

Sorry about that - I couldn't resist saying those lines after I went through my camera and saw this picture. In case you were wondering - yes, those are my bags, and yes, this was taken right before I rode the cab to the airport. The cheesiness is appropriate.

Here is what my street looks like at 4am in the morning - I took this short video just moments before boarding the taxi:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2340484869796767171

A quick disclaimer before I continue - yes, I am home - I've been here for 3 days, and I am writing this from my apartment in Manila. I will continue to update this space with some of the other stuff I saw while I was in Poland - haven't had time to write about everything yet. So keep checking back for updates.

Anyway, on with the post. My flight was an early one - departure was at 6:20am. It was freezing outside - 0 degrees C, with lots and lots of wind.

You couldn't exactly see the wind in the picture, but trust me, it was there. You can hear some of it in the video I posted above. When I saw this thermometer, I started debating in my mind whether to wear 5 layers of clothes (since it was so freaking cold), or only 3 layers (since I was headed to a place where it was 29 deg C). I wore 4 layers - hehehe.

Guess what I did the moment I landed in Manila?



I met up with Mr. Sisig and Mr. Lechon Kawali. Mr. San Mig Light was also very happy to join us. Sarap!

Sorry for turning this again into a food post at the very last minute - I guess its now clear why I gained 10 lbs in the last 30 days.

See you guys around!

Going home

Travel agent calls my cellphone at 8am today:

TA: "Sir Pope, I finally found you a flight after 2 weeks of looking!"
Me: "Wow thats great - kelan ang alis ko?"
TA: "Tomorrow."
Me: "Nyeh!"

See you guys in Manila - will be there Wednesday morning! Gimmick tayo!

Krakow Videos

I uploaded some videos I took in Krakow - the background music wasn't artificially inserted, there are musicians literally everywhere.

Here are the links:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5345911134007370

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-623559656019933488

Enjoy!

Krakow

Krakow is probably the most popular Polish city in the world for tourists - and for good reason. I mentioned in my previous post that we went there last weekend - since we were too cheap to spend the night (and thus pay extra for a hostel), we decided to turn it into a day trip.

We left Warsaw at 6:05am, it was a good 3 hours by train.



When we got there, guess what greeted us - SNOW!

There wasn't any falling from the sky, but there was a thin layer of the stuff everywhere. We are tropical people, and the sight of snow gets us excited very quickly hehehe.

Since we went on a Sunday, it meant that museum tickets were free (we were so cheap that we didn't even want to pay the 10 zloty - p180 - entrance fee). We decided to go straight to Wawel Castle, so that we'll be among the first el cheapos lining up in front of the ticket counter.

Wawel Castle was great - really really beautiful. Here are some pics to show you what I am talking about:

After going around and exhausting ourselves, we stopped for lunch at a local kebab place. And then started walking again.


We found ourselves at the Krakow Old Town - really really nice as well.





The best thing about Krakow is that all the interesting (i.e. "touristy") places are concentrated in one small area - and there are no cars/buses/trams - you really have to walk around a lot. A map is very useful here.


Next time I visit Krakow, I'll definitely stay longer. They say that there are 100 pubs per square km here - and that night is often more interesting than day.

Wine, cheese and sausage

There's nothing more European than wine, cheese and sausage. And there's nothing more Polish than warm wine, Kielbasa, and Oscypki.

We went to Krakow last Sunday, and we were blessed with very good weather. After the usual Wawel castle and Old Town tour (courtesy of my p72 Lonely Planet guidebook), we came across the city main square, which was absolutely filled with people:

Apparently, Poland had this championship volleyball game with Brazil, and the streets were packed with people watching it on a big screen they setup in the main square:

Unfortunately, Poland lost - by a big margin.

Anyway, after wandering around for a while, I noticed people lining up in front of this particular barrel-shaped stall:

I had no idea what they were buying, but having a long queue in front of some "mysterious" barrel-shaped shop is always a good sign in my book. I decided to line up - and after some sign language and lots of finger pointing, I finally ended up with a plastic cup full of warm wine.

It was very, very good - perfect for the not-so-cold (around 6 deg. C) weather. Alcohol content was quite high though - I am not sure if that is good or bad. Also, unlike "normal" wine, the buzz did not go away after my visit to the bathroom.

After walking around a bit more, I came across this:

Initially I thought they were grilling sharksfin siomai - the kind we get at the local Hen Lin stall back at home. There was also a fair-sized queue, and since I was feeling a bit adventurous after drinking some of the warm wine, I decided to line up again.

It turned out to be grilled cheese - called Oscypki - a specialty of the mountain towns south of Poland. They were very good, and also very salty. A perfect snack, reminded me of the grilled cheese sandwiches (made of Ques-O) I used to eat back home.

Now this next picture needs no explanation:

Foot-long Kielbasa!!! Ang sarap!!!