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The same text appears in the diary as well.
I heard in the afternoon that the others are going to Poland for the weekend. Me too. We ({Finns}\{Janne P}) bought the tickets at Keleti in advance. Jarkko, Sarah, Nakki, J-P and I left today. Mikko, Anssi T, Becca and whoever will come later. We were in the train five minutes before departure. There were no empty compartments, so we seated ourselves in the first class. The conductor had nothing to say about it. The Slovakian conductor banished us back to second class though the train was practically empty.
![[Budapest-Cracow train ticket]](../pictures/polandtrain.jpg)
The passport controls on the borders were normal and frequent. The second class had sticky fake leather benches and 'twas too cold or hot all the time. There was plenty of room, however, only 2 people/compartment.
![[A Polish tram ticket]](../pictures/polandtram.jpg)
We were in Cracow at 10 a.m. about 2 hours late. The 540 km trip took 13 hours!
At the station a toothless B.S. in business snared us. He had rooms to let. We got accommodation about 2 km from the old town. Our room has five beds, some number of sheets plus a telly and phone that don't work. The way to take the garbage out is to throw it through the window. That seems to be an old tradition.
We ate in an expensive-looking Chinese restaurant and hanged around in the old town. We went to see Notting Hill. Too much syrup and too foreseeable plot, but the wheel chair patient was a looker.
We bought wine, which was unexpectedly difficult. They don't sell alcohol in every shop like at home in Hungary.
It was a bit hard to get in our "hotel". The hall was dead dark, the lamp was broken and our key didn't fit the lock. Jarkko climbed to another room through a window, but the door was locked from outside. It would have been easy to steal anything, though. We kicked the door open. Nothing broke since the door frame gave in. And the door would have opened with the key as well.
We played cards and drank the wine. Sannis and Tanja came from Warsaw. Nakki and me went to meet them at the station. They took their baggage to their hostel, after which we went to the old town. I was going to get some wine and go back to the others, but I forgot.
We went to a nice pub/club next to the main square. Dan was there with a couple of other Americans. We talked some hours. Roger and Steve are coming to Scandinavian tour next spring or summer.
Me and Nakki returned to our place on foot. The girls had had some difficulties getting in their hostel, since it's closed at night.
We were going to take a bus to Auswitz, but we couldn't find the bus. We took a train instead. On the station we met Mikko, Becca and Anssi who had just come. Becca made it to the same train with us but the others didn't.
They sold us normal tickets in student price. The conductor charged us some Express fee plus many additional fees he probably invented himself. From the Oświęcim station we took two cabs to the museum. It would have been close enough to go on foot. We were just in time for the guided tour at half past eleven.
First we saw a couple of hours of Auswitz I. It's a work and extermination camp, originally a military camp. The barracks were made for soldiers and so they were better than in other concentration camps. Shocking place anyway. They brought Jews to Auswitz from all over the Europe, even from Norway. In some countries people had to buy the train tickets themselves.
After a small break the tour continued in Birkenau (Auswitz II), which was a pure extermination camp. Most of the well known photos of Jewish being unloaded from trains are from here. (Schindler's list?). The wooden barracks were originally designed for horses. About 400 prisoners lived in a stable for 50 horses. In one part of the camp families were allowed to live together and the hard work was less hard. For the visitors, possible inspectors and propaganda.
A short distance away there's a third camp, but we didn't go there. The workers of the IG Farben chemical factory lived in Auswitz III. In addition there has been about 50 smaller camps in the neighborhood. The nazis deported all the inhabitants of the whole area before the camps began their work.
We saw a document that the Russians had filmed after getting there. Too bad it was in French.
We came back to Cracow by bus. Mikko and Anssi came later to Auswitz I and we met at he bus stop. At night we went to a Halloween disco on the main square. The music sucked and was 20dB too loud, so I left soon. I checked the departure time of our train at the station and walked to our "hotel".
Matches were wet => I couldn't light the gas => I took a cold shower. I forgot to turn of the light in the bathroom and the geezer came to complain. The same complaining continued all night as the others arrived.
We had breakfast in the old town, and left our luggage to the lockers at the railway station. After getting lost a couple of times, we found the castle. We visited the Dragon's cave, whose most impressing part was the concrete stairs.
We went to a church and Jarkko confessed his sins to J-P. We didn't see most of things worth seeing because of entrance fees, and walked back to the old town. We played with pigeons on the main square, and took a six person horse tour on two person carriage in the old town.
We tried to find a cinema, and found six or seven, but they all showed some Polish film (Tadeusz [1]). So we didn't go to movies. We went to play billiards near the main square, and met Adam and Ben (Americans, who study in Budapest and also stayed at toothie's). For a change J-P was drunk.
Somehow, somewhen Sarah's purse was stolen. There went her credit card, money and her and Jarkko's passport and train ticket. Jarkko, Sarah and Sannis went to the American Embassy to get it settled. The rest of us had dinner in a Mexican restaurant where we had reserver a table earlier. There's no Finnish embassy in Cracow and so Jarkko must travel to Warsaw to get a new passport. J-P was determined to stay and support Jarkko, but we got him in the train.
Jarkko and Sarah stayed at the same hostel as Tanja and Sannis. They'll go to Warsaw tomorrow. Our train left at ten and I could sleep surprisingly well. It's far too hot again.
We were in Budapest at 20 past 9. Breakfast would have been nice. Before leaving I had left my key in Mikko's room so as not to lose it, and couldn't get in. I took a shower but didn't have any clean underclothes with me. Fortunately it was warm enough to be without. I made it to the Hungarian lecture only a bit late. I was a bit lost but not much. I met Janne and got in my room to change and unpack. I rested the afternoon and evening.
(Jarkko and Sarah returned from Poland on Wednesday. Jarkko had got a new passport in Warsaw without problems in a couple of hours.)
[1] ^ Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish national hero and fighter for freedom. Got wounded and captured by Russians in 1794. ^
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