June 23^rd, 2012

Day 35: Krakow, Poland

After a late night pub crawl yesterday, I let myself sleep in a bit this morning. I originally planned on making a day trip to Warsaw but woke up too late to make it worth it. It just means I have to come back, I guess! I had some breakfast at the hostel and relaxed for the morning. The group of Irish guys in my room had gone to the waterpark a bit outside the city earlier in the week and after about an hour of trying, I was convinced to go with them today.

I didn’t pack a bathing suit and was just waiting for an excuse to buy one, so I guess there was no time like the present! We piled into 2 taxis and headed to the water park, which took about 15 minutes. It’s completely indoors with tons of water slides, plenty of pools, volleyball nets, and best of all, Jacuzzis. I bought a bathing suit at the shop there and we spent about 2 hours in the park, recovering from the night before and just having a blast!

After our time was up, we went back to the hostel to relax and grab some snacks. Joe, one of the Irish guys, had his guitar with him and took it out to play in the common area. We spent a few hours relaxing/listening to him sing & play and then made moves to go to dinner at a nearby steakhouse. I got a delicious plate of salmon and vegetables and we watched the first half of the Eurocup match between Spain and France at the restaurant. Then, we went back to the hostel to finish up the game and stop spending money on drinks.

Spain emerged victorious in the end and then we spent the next few hours just hanging out and listening to music. It was a pretty relaxing day and it was spent with a great group of kids. All in all, a success J

I really really love Krakow. I don’t know what I was expecting, really, but I can say with confidence that I wasn’t expecting to feel so comfortable. The people here are all lovely and genuinely happy to meet and talk with you. The city itself has its arms wide open and is super laid back and fun. I can definitely see myself making more trips back to Poland- there’s just so much history and culture here!

Favorite part of the day: Waterpark!!