 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
| More wonderful little nuggets of signage, these indicate addresses and are on most buildings. | I think I was trying to sneak a shot of a group of cute young girls, but wound up w/ this instead. I like the composition though. | Very "modern" and innovative bus stop. | Storefront signage, Wadowice (Pope's hometown). |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
| Photos of the Champions of Tomorrow, Wadowice. | Another striking bus stop. | More bus stop architecture, the creativity never stops. | This one was remarkable for it's interior grafitti: "Britney Spears." |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
 Tue, May 13, 2003 |
| Back in Krakow for two more nights. Grand Square as seen from Strefa "multimedia" bar place. | A view down the steps leading to Strefa multimedia bar. | Strefa exterior signage. Good, loud techno music drew me in from the square. | Jesus H. Christ. This was "falafel," which I ordered PLAIN from a kabob stand. This thing had more shit on it than I can even name, but including hot peppers, cabbage, onions, pickles, cheese, etc. I scraped it off and lost half the falafel in the act! |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
| More gems of signage at the Krak Motel where we stayed. | Wow. Believe it or not, this was the approach to our room at the Krak. Talk about "inviting!" | Me posing with the rental car "Little Shifty," outside the Krak Motel. We gave this car a hell of a beating and it did well for us. | This was the shot out our "front door" at the Krak, some sort of a green area which was patrolled by a very large, angry dog. |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
| Glass pane of the bathroom door, Krak Motel. | Beds at the Krak. We had to walk up a flight of steps to reach our room, easily the strangest motel I've every seen. | Exterior of part of the Krak complex. They also offered camping, I'm not sure if the dog is included in that package. | The "goodbye" shot, what a place. We had drinks in the bar the night before and breakfast (bread with jam and juice, of course!) at the Restarancja in the morning. |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
| We went to Auschwitz, the former concentration camp, for a day trip. What a horrible sight, I'm still shook up from it. This was a display filled with suitcases of the betrayed, who all thought they were just "relocating." | Map showing aggression against Poland in WWII, I think. I mostly took it for the colors and exemplary arrow-work. | Detail of more of those arrows that I liked so much. | Sorry. Main gate at Auschwitz. Seeing this photos sends a chill up my spine. It's hard to wrap your mind around the magnitude of what happened here. Very moving, very grim. |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Wed, May 14, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
| Another shot from the gate at Auschwitz. Electrified fence as far as the eye can see. Torture. Brutality. Murder. Unthinkable acts. | Didn't take that many photos at Auschwitz, on account of taking video most of the time. Also bought wonderful book and postcards there. This is the appetizers for my dinner of Indian food (best food I had all week). | My dish, spinach and potatoes with rice and bread. Bombaj something-or-other was the name. Great stuff, and so cheap that I wanted to order two entrees! | Inside a mall, outskirts of Krakow. Taken for the laughable rendering of chinese characters, looks like 3rd of 4h generation copy. Almost completely abstracted. |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
| Grandma with a set of pajamas that I should've bought, but I couldn't think of any deserving little kids at the time. I looked desperately for a larger size, but no dice. | Grandma and Ala posing with wagon in Krakow mall. | Absolutely gorgeous street sign, perfect in every way. Downtown Krakow. | Goofy, bread-y signage, downtown Krakow. |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
| Sorry for the sloppy, unkempt example here, but these recycling containers were a common sight and really cool. Reminded me of Japan. | Oooh, lookit the horses. Grandma wanted a picture of the horses and didn't have her camera, so here. | Look, pigeons, that's neat! More animal shots of questionable value, Great Square, Krakow. | Awesome sculptures paying tribute to working man, including Janitors! (right). |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
| I saw this billboard a couple hundred times. Meble means furniture, we found out after seeing that word in hundreds of incarnations around Wadowice. | Sadly, time to go. The hand dryer at Krakow airport. | Security, military-style at Balice Airport. I liked the pink signs (in Brush Script) saying "see You again!" | Another secret shot of the security personnel. Nowhere near as brutal and hardass as the American chaps, despite the camos and weapons. |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
 Thu, May 15, 2003 |
|
| The bird we flew home on, big'n. | Boeing 767, ten hours or so at about 5-600 mph. A really long afternoon (chased the sun home; left at 4pm Thursday, arrived in Chicago 7pm Thursday!). | Meal #1 on the ride home. Not bad, but plain. Not totally vegan, either. I guess it's the best they can do, seeing how vegan-unfriendly Poland is in general... |