Today was a light day, both in our itinerary and in content.  We only had one official place to visit, the National Museum in Warsaw, which had very little content concerning the Holocaust. (The one exception to this was the piece “Lego Concentration Camp” by Zbigniew Libera.)

Lego Concentration Camp

The rest of the artwork in the National Museum was either very medieval Christian or very VERY modern. (I’m talking about you inflatable chair.)

An Inflatable Chair

We left the museum after about 2 hours, and since we had another 2 hours to go before our train to Krakow was due to depart, went on a “stadtbummel.” Our greatest discovery on this stadtbummel was Charlie’s Café, the Charlie being non-other than Charlie Chaplin. Their Modern Times themed bathroom now holds a very special place in my heart.

After eating here, and later at a pizza place, it was time to leave Warsaw and head by train to Krakow.  While this train ride smashed my romantic notions of European trains, upon arrival in Krakow, I found it to be even more beautiful than my old, romantically stained memories of it. Everyplace I knew 5 years ago is still here, and just as magnificent. I wanted to just walk around for hours, but sadly my stomach wouldn’t allow it.

Most of our group, at dinner in the Red Paino, a restaurant whose aesthetic was a lot of red, a lot of glitter, and a lot of really cheap food.  (These words fail to do it any sort of justice. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures here.  Afterwards, a few of us found a hole in the wall pub, and just existed there for an hour or two.

It was in this pub, that I realized I was probably coming as close as to experiencing Poland as culturally possible. Today wasn’t about Poland in the history books or Poland and the Holocaust. Today was about just simply being in Poland. It was spectacular.