KRAKOW

Krakow is fantastic. I spent yesterday wandering around the Stare Miasto (Old Town) soaking up all the gorgeous old buildings and cobblestoned streets. The Rynek Glowny is a huge square in the middle of the old town and is apparently the largest medieval town square in Europe. Walking into the square and seeing the huge church, town hall tower and cloth hall opened out before me was just so amazing. I love the look of medieval cities, especialy walled cities. Krakow's old wall has been mostly pulled down and replaced with a 'green belt' which is pleasant to stroll along, but they've kept the main city gate and part of the wall as well as a very cool barbican out the front.

I also explored Wawel Castle, wandered along the river Wisla, had a snooze in the park until I was woken by an old man speaking Polish at me, then headed into Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter, where they have some very cool bars (as well as more historical stuff of course!).

I decided to be cultural last night, and started the evening by dragging some friends from my hostel along to a chamber music performance held in the 17th century baroque Church of St Peter and St Paul. It was so lovely. The program was perfect for my attention span - ie short - and consisted of 'popular', recognisable classics by Chopin, Bach and Pachelbel. It was very atmospheric, and not at all bad for the 4 pound ticket price.

After that we went into Kazimeirz and sampled some Polish cocktails in one of the cool bars I'd spotted earlier in the day. My favourite was Zubrowka vodka (which is infused with Bison grass) mixed with apple juice and cinnamon. Yum. I'm really enjoying the Polish food as well. I've had loads of dumplings, which I expected to be like Asian dumplings but are actually more like ravioli, and I've also had a delicious wild mushroom soup twice now. The last time it was served in a carved out cob loaf - mmmm.

Last night after a few drinks we decided to try a zapiekanka which appears to be the Polish equivalent of a kebab in that it is served out of tiny holes in the wall and eaten by young people in the wee hours. It's half a long bread roll with tomato, mushroom, cheese and other toppings with some very addictive sauces added to the mix. Part of me is hoping the food in the rest of the countries I'm visiting won't be as delicious, otherwise I'll head back to the UK looking like a dumpling.

I still have two days left here, but I'll spend most of tomorrow at Auschwitz. Can't say I'm really looking forward to that, but I feel like I have to go.

I'm very excited because I booked my overnight train trip to Prague yesterday by speaking phrasebook Polish. And from what I can understand on the ticket, I may even have got what I was trying to ask for. Ooh, hope I didn't just jinx myself. Will let you know in my next entry!