I have arrived in Cracow after about a total of 24 hours travel (fairly long layovers). I must confess that my head is still spinning. Very disorienting with the time, date and language changes!
The trip was more or less uneventful. I did have some reactions that I was really not prepared for or expecting. As is my wont, I tend to smile at folks. So when I sat down at JFK to wait for my LOT flight to Warsaw there was this older woman sitting across from me. I was knitting and listening to my iPod, but I gave her a big smile. She looked back at me (clearly made eye contact) and did not respond at all. She just looked kind of "sour". However, someone sat down next to her and they began to speak in Polish and she seemed quite animated. Perhaps I am being paranoid, but I couldn't help but wonder if my Star of David had something to do with this. It was just very odd. I did find myself wondering a lot, as I encountered folks of my age or older, "So what were your parents doing during the War?"
Cracow is an interesting place. The airport reminded me a bit of the airport in Hefeii China where I went to get Sarah. Really tiny (one small room) -- no skycaps or anything like that. But the luggage carts (that they hit you for $5 in the States for) were free! You don't have to go very far outside of the city before you are really in the country. Little houses much like you would expect to see in the Polish countryside. Another strange -- and unexpected -- reaction of mine was to the road signs. I hadn't realized that the only time that I have really seen pictures of road signs in Polish before has been in Holocaust related pictures. It just felt a little "creepy" at first. Sort of reminded me of my first trip to Atlanta. Driving away from the airport I saw signs directing me to Birmingham, AL. Well, you can imagine what my associations are to Birmingham (being a child of the 60's). Somehow I didn't realize that I was really in the "deep" south before that.
I arrived at my hotel at around 5 PM. A big thank you to Rabbi Katz (and the rest of the Temple Sinai Eastern European tour group) for recommending it. I was feeling pretty "alone" by the time I got here and it is a very cosmopolitan place with warm, helpful staff who are quite comfortable conversing in English! Although I was curious to get out and go for a walk, I was really starving (didn't eat the dinner on the flight over -- even though I ordered a Kosher meal, I was unable to identify most of what it contained -- somehow I am just not comfortable eating food when I don't even know what it is!). So I decided to have dinner in the hotel's restaurant. They have a delightful restaurant with a lovely outdoor terrace. The only "negative" that occurred was that almost as soon as I sat down a police car came by with it's siren blaring. It was one of those high-low-high-low jobs that I associate with Ann Frank and the Gestapo! I know that they use them all over Europe (I think I have even heard one in Israel -- if I remember correctly) but the setting did make it a bit creepy. I sat there for about an hour and a half just taking in the sights. Despite the warnings I had received about Polish food, this dinner was superb! Not too "Polish" I'm afraid (pasta with chicken, fennel and walnuts in a great pesto sauce) but great nonetheless. It was really hot today and I was really in the mood for a bit (and I do mean a bit ) of ice cream, so I took a quick walk over to the mall which adjoins the hotel. I found this gelato place which actually knows the meaning of the word "small"! It was perfect and really hit the spot.
So now it's off to bed. I want to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (well, bright-eyed anyhow) by tomorrow. Have a full day of touring scheduled. Will try to post again tomorrow night. Perhaps I can even upload some pix -- no promises!!
Best,
Liz
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