Birthday in Auschwitz

Okay. So After Frankfurt I popped into Krakow for two days, nothing much occurred except exploration of the beautiful city centre and around. There is a huge main square and tons of cafes, restaurants and bars at the perimeter and in the surrounding streets. Outside of the main old town is a ring of trees, fountains and peaceful trails, a park full circle.

I met in Krakow a Canadian. We had a conversation that lasted for five days, from Krakow to Budapest... it spanned night, day, restaurants and streets, philosophy, art, life, emotion. Budapest was brilliant, we did a lot of pointless walking, and it seemed everywhere we went we did not find what we were looking for, or things were closed on the day we went. It kind of felt like a failed attempt at seeing the city, the best part was the vegetarian restaurants we found, and the CDs Christian bought me for my birthday. The hostels were great as well... in the first we had a Bob Marley themed room!

So I hit a train back to Krak, arriving yesterday morning sleepless. It was my birthday. I decided to visit Auschwitz, partly for purposeful irony, partly for lack of time to see it otherwise. What can I say, it was heavy. I found a relative in the book recording Poles in the camp. I took a bus back to the hostel, as soon as I stepped in the door, I was invited out by a hostel worker guy... anyways after drinking a bit and playing dirty jenga, we headed out to a few bars. Ended up spending most of the time at a Latino club celebrating the death day of Bob Marley... on my birthday?! CLEARLY I am the reincarnation of Marley Himself! Anyways the reggae was good and the vodka shots flowed. I came back to the hostel for a few drunken emails and hit the bunk.

Today is a huge festival for students... the square is PACKED, everyone is dressed up; there are communists, trees, old women, bagels, vikings, cavemen, ancient romans, hippies... everything in between. I am overlooking the fest from the window, debating whether or not to join the chaos... I walked with the parade from the university earlier... the 15 minute walk took over two hours! I love Polish people.