We woke in Krakow on Friday and went about putting our lives back together in our packs. We knew we were leaving Saturday for Tarnow and since we had big plans for Friday we didn't want to deal with too much come morning. We ate the last of the food we bought for a late breakfast and headed into the city.
Our destination was a park just west of city center: Jordana Park. We arrived just after 3 pm when the gates to the Krakow Live Festival were officially opening. We saw a poster showing TV on the Radio playing and thought that it was a good purchase just for them as we'd been wanting to see them for a while. We were also going to get to see Kendrick Lamar, which is cool I guess.
We walked inside, got our wristbands, and sat down to wait with a beer. We were at a picnic table, trying to look friendly and invite some conversation from people nearby and those looking for seating but I guess we are just too intimidating. A few people even sat at the empty table, the one covered in bees, rather than approach us. The music was starting so we went to check out some shows we didn't know about, Bokka was cool and the Polish rap band we couldn't understand had good rhythm but we were getting hungry.
We found a BBQ stand and couldn't help but indulge in some pulled pork, and when we sat down we overheard some people speaking English, and American English at that. They were very friendly and from the west coast, and we made friends with them pretty quick. We lost some time in conversation and before we knew it, it was time to pile in to see TVotR.
They put on a great show that in true city-festival fashion ended too early. We had a great time jumping around and had enough time for 1 beer before we piled back in to see Kendrick Lamar. We left a bit early to refuel ourselves with pizza from a food truck at the festival. After meeting back up with our friends we prowled around the town in eager exploration. A few drinks later we decided it was time to go home in anticipation of our travels on Saturday that would lead us to Tarnow, Poland to visit Kryzstof's family.
Feeling an awful sort of hungover we trudged our way to the train station. Upon our arrival in Tarnow, Kryzstof and his dad Robert showed us around the station a little bit because it's very modern and ornamental in comparison to the other train stations we've seen thus far. Next we rode to their beautiful home where lunch was waiting on us already! We have never felt more honored as guests than we have in a Polish family's home.
With arched ceilings, beautiful moldings, and curved doorways - we were both in awe. On the way to their home Robert told us that during the week he worked in Warsaw Monday thru Friday and came home on the weekends. We did our best to keep the conversation going as we knew we were encroaching on some of the limited family time they get. It was hard though because after a delicious soup we were presented with grandma's homemade pierogi. They were absolutely delicious and needless to say we readily stuffed ourselves.
Feeling like it was bedtime, the clock showed it was barely into 3 pm and we only had a little time to see the city so we were off. On the way to the city we picked up a friend Bartic who had spent some few years in Ireland and had (according to the family) a better grasp of English (even though the family's was already very good.) We first went to see the foundations of Castle Tarnow and the closest "mountain top" overlooking the picturesque little city. The castle had been destroyed in a war between families over control of the original town.
After leaving there we headed to walk around the city center and old town. We got to see the church the parents married in, the school Krysztof attends and his mother teaches at, a number of monuments including those to the Jewish families who used to populate much of the town, we got ice cream at the store Krysztof's mother went to when she was a baby, and walked through a large park where the children used to play (and where many were currently busy playing.)
By then Karmen and I were well and truly exhausted so we headed back to the house for dinner. I can't remember what they called this wonderful & delicious dish but for them it was something easy to throw together and reminded me of something like gumbo. We had two helpings with some bread and began fervently looking to book our transportation to our next destination with the help of most of the family.
After running through a few hoops and weighing all of our options we decided to head to Vienna and organized a blablacar to leave at 3:30 sunday. For those of you that do not know what blablacar is, it's an app that allows you to see reviewed people that are traveling to the same place you are going by car. Similar to hitchhiking, but verifiable, this was quite an interesting experience...
We were supposed to be the last 2 seats to fill up this Polish mans car to trek the 7 hour ride from Tarnow to Vienna leaving at 3 o clock. Knowing that he doesn't speak any English we had the family we were with speak to and coordinate with him beforehand. As it turns out, he picked us up first and then 4 other ppl on the way turning it into more of a ten hour trip. Blegghhhh pretty much covers it. We arrived in Vienna around midnight, unable to get in touch with our host, and ended up finding a hotel nearby to book for the evening. The night clerk comped us our breakfast (probably out of pity) but Woohoo! Needless to say we don't know if we will blablacar again anytime soon and will take the bus from now on.
