It's now the end of a very long, but very fun day! I finally has my first night of fairly decent sleep. I think it probably takes this many days (5?) to start to get rid of your jet lag perhaps. Every morning we have gone down to the hotel restaurant where we are given breakfast (included in our hotel stay). It is a nice time of day where the people who had the procedure all meet -- I always enjoy the fellowship (and the strong coffee doesn't hurt!). One of the patients here was a doctor (Ron), and he kindly did my first injection for me. Oddly enough, I didn't even feel it at all! In the hospital, the nurses here basically jabbed it into my stomach, and it was quite painful. Shows how when someone takes care to do it kindly, it makes a world of difference! I hope to find Ron at breakfast again tomorrow!!! :)
After breakfast, we decided to take a trip to Krakow as we heard it was a very beautiful city. Getting directions isn't always the easiest in a country where many people do not speak English. However, we did manage to find our way to the train station and find the ticket counter. We only had a few minutes to catch the next train and we were next in line to get tickets. However, a lady walked up and stood so close beside the person buying a ticket at the counter (in front of us) .. so close they were almost touching. Apparently, she felt she could just walk up and butt in line and buy a ticket before us. This is something that happens all the time here. If you are in line, anyone can just come and butt in front of you.. just because they want to, perhaps they are in a hurry. I was told by someone who lives here, is your choice is to either let them do it, or argue with them, except you might end up arguing for 15 minutes about it! Very bizarre custom.
Anyway, we ended up missing the train and had to wait another hour for the next train. We thought the train would take under an hour to get to Krakow, but once on the train, someone told us that it would take almost 2 hours! It was a long ride, but very beautiful to see different parts of Poland. We finally arrived around 1pm. What a beautiful city Krakow is .. absolutely stunning in architecture! We walked around the city for a bit until it started to rain and we ran into a little covered courtyard to have lunch, followed by a little more exploring before we had to get back to the train home at 5:35pm. That really isn't a lot of time to explore such a grand city! I hear there are castles and other places around that would have been wonderful to see, but we only had a few hours. We realized a bit into our walking journey that I wasn't limping anymore. In fact, I didn't even feel weak or tired! I haven't felt like that in over 2 months! It was wonderful to be able to walk around, without limping, without saying "I'm too tired". It was a true blessing! In the train station to return home, we weren't sure if we were on the right platform, and asked a young man sitting beside us if we were waiting for the train to Katowice. He ended up being a teacher of English at the university in Krakow, and was heading home for awhile (a 5 hour journey by train for him!). We had wonderful conversations with him all the way back to Katowice, about Poland, its people and culture and many other topics. It made our 2 hours feel like 20 minutes. It truly was enjoyable.
Upon arriving home just after 7:30, we realized that the city had already shut down for the night, so apparently on Saturdays everything closes down early. We decided to head back to our hotel and have some conversations with some of our group here, spending a few hours just talking about nothing in general. It was a glorious day, loved the travel, the sights, and the conversations. I really don't want to leave and tomorrow is our last day. I don't think we'll be able to see Auschwitz as the flooding is just too extensive out there. I probably shouldn't be overdoing it anyway. I would have loved to see the Salt Mines as well, there is just too much to see and we have so little time.
We'll have to be up at 3am on Monday morning to head towards home, so truly tomorrow is our last day here. I think we'll just walk around and see what's here, and see what other people may want to do and spend time with people rather than just sightseeing by ourselves.
Overall, a wonderful day.. I'll post some pictures later. I want to get to bed so I can get up early to have breakfast with some of those that are leaving tomorrow before 8am.
I won't be able to update anything once we leave on Monday morning, as Frankfurt airport doesn't seem to have any free internet .. so we are stuck on a 6 hour layover with nothing to do :(
So elated I was walking well today.. I hope that tomorrow brings more improvements!
After breakfast, we decided to take a trip to Krakow as we heard it was a very beautiful city. Getting directions isn't always the easiest in a country where many people do not speak English. However, we did manage to find our way to the train station and find the ticket counter. We only had a few minutes to catch the next train and we were next in line to get tickets. However, a lady walked up and stood so close beside the person buying a ticket at the counter (in front of us) .. so close they were almost touching. Apparently, she felt she could just walk up and butt in line and buy a ticket before us. This is something that happens all the time here. If you are in line, anyone can just come and butt in front of you.. just because they want to, perhaps they are in a hurry. I was told by someone who lives here, is your choice is to either let them do it, or argue with them, except you might end up arguing for 15 minutes about it! Very bizarre custom.
Anyway, we ended up missing the train and had to wait another hour for the next train. We thought the train would take under an hour to get to Krakow, but once on the train, someone told us that it would take almost 2 hours! It was a long ride, but very beautiful to see different parts of Poland. We finally arrived around 1pm. What a beautiful city Krakow is .. absolutely stunning in architecture! We walked around the city for a bit until it started to rain and we ran into a little covered courtyard to have lunch, followed by a little more exploring before we had to get back to the train home at 5:35pm. That really isn't a lot of time to explore such a grand city! I hear there are castles and other places around that would have been wonderful to see, but we only had a few hours. We realized a bit into our walking journey that I wasn't limping anymore. In fact, I didn't even feel weak or tired! I haven't felt like that in over 2 months! It was wonderful to be able to walk around, without limping, without saying "I'm too tired". It was a true blessing! In the train station to return home, we weren't sure if we were on the right platform, and asked a young man sitting beside us if we were waiting for the train to Katowice. He ended up being a teacher of English at the university in Krakow, and was heading home for awhile (a 5 hour journey by train for him!). We had wonderful conversations with him all the way back to Katowice, about Poland, its people and culture and many other topics. It made our 2 hours feel like 20 minutes. It truly was enjoyable.
Upon arriving home just after 7:30, we realized that the city had already shut down for the night, so apparently on Saturdays everything closes down early. We decided to head back to our hotel and have some conversations with some of our group here, spending a few hours just talking about nothing in general. It was a glorious day, loved the travel, the sights, and the conversations. I really don't want to leave and tomorrow is our last day. I don't think we'll be able to see Auschwitz as the flooding is just too extensive out there. I probably shouldn't be overdoing it anyway. I would have loved to see the Salt Mines as well, there is just too much to see and we have so little time.
We'll have to be up at 3am on Monday morning to head towards home, so truly tomorrow is our last day here. I think we'll just walk around and see what's here, and see what other people may want to do and spend time with people rather than just sightseeing by ourselves.
Overall, a wonderful day.. I'll post some pictures later. I want to get to bed so I can get up early to have breakfast with some of those that are leaving tomorrow before 8am.
I won't be able to update anything once we leave on Monday morning, as Frankfurt airport doesn't seem to have any free internet .. so we are stuck on a 6 hour layover with nothing to do :(
So elated I was walking well today.. I hope that tomorrow brings more improvements!
