Only one thing that can follow lashings of booze and debauchery the night before, a hangover. I rolled around my bed for what I thought was hours (actually 15min) trying to decide if I should get up, stay in bed, get up, empty my stomach contents or just plain old die.
Eventually dragging my sorry excuse for a body out of bed I prepared for a stroll into town hoping to improve my situation with either fresh air or food, both of which at the time made me feel like I should be heading for the porcelain instead.
Passing the english lads from the night before, we swapped jumbled stories before I set off for the Old Town Square and something that resembled hangover food. Luckily for me and every other poor chap that’s ever got a hangover you can always find a greasy old McDonalds in your time of need. Once refuelled I slowly rolled back to the hostel and slept off the rest of my hangover before waking and returning to the scene of the carnage last night (the hostel bar not the strip club geez what do you take me for).
I’m also pretty bad at learning from experiences as this is the part of the evening that I begin to throw back vodka shots like my life depends on them. Not just any vodka but the good stuff you only keep in a freezer and brings your mouth and throat to life with joy and all that cutesy stuff.
Thankfully my friend arrived from Germany before I could reproduce last nights drinking efforts and after a final drink it was lights out time.
The next day I woke to no hangover and the realisation that my first 36 hours or so in Krakow was spent in some form of intoxication. With that thought in my mind we headed into Old Town and chowed down on some breakfast in the Old Town Square. While eating I swear we watched approximately 10 different horse and carriages roll past as well as a tour guide in a golf cart get pulled over by the police…. true fact.
With a lap around Old Town to work off breakfast the next stop was the Jewish Quarter. Thanks to me we might have got a little lost attempting to find the Old Synagogue but it was worth it. I’ve never really had much of a clue on the Jewish religion so taking the time to explore here was a great experience for me. I had hoped to visit Schindler’s Factory afterwards but was told it had been closed down for some restoration work.
The last stop for the day before we were to head back to the Jewish Quarter for a meal that wasn’t cooked in a hostel kitchen was Wawel Castle. Towering up next to the Vistula River it does give a view out across part of Krakow. While there wasn’t a lot we could see for free, I did spot a sign mentioning the late Pope John Paul II and later found out he conducted his first mass as a priest at the cathedral there.
As the exploring was finally done for the day it was off to the hostel to dump the backpacks and camera’s etc before heading back to the Jewish Quarter to a nice looking restaurant we had spotted earlier. It’s got to be said taking time out to have a nice meal now and then even when your on a budget does wonders for your taste buds.
And what do you do when your full up and nice and relaxed you ask, well you hit up the hostel bar for a couple of nightcaps or three.
Only 3, was it a Monday…
Actually Ayngelina it was a Tuesday but I did have the hangover on the Monday 🙂
cannot wait to get to Poland — thanks for the guide
Poland was awesome mate. I’d like to go back this summer for a little bit and finish seeing the sights I missed so fingers crossed that happens.
Great post! But really don’t lie, you know you went back to the strip club… haha kidding of course!
I’m glad you got to explore Krakow! Sounds like a great city!
haha Annie. I had fun there but my love for cities with Old Town’s was dragging by then. It helped fuel my change of plan to head to Italy.
there are no great hangover cures in Poland? i would love to visit Schindler’s Factory, there is too much history there
Well there was one great hangover cure I found later Zablon. I’ve got a picture coming up of me chowing down on it soon.
I get a real kick out of reading your blogs about nights after hangovers. It’s pretty much how I imagine many of my blogs starting in 2011 >_>
haha Chris, it seemed the longer I travelled the more I got into having big nights out. I started off rather tame to be honest, partly due to having no clue how long my money would last I think.
Sometimes people just have better things to do than drinking :).
Krakow was great!
haha Joke so very true. Krakow was a lot of fun glad you came to visit me there.
You must be really a party lover… believe it or not but I never take a sip of any wine or even beer during travel because I pass out so easily and I don’t want to mess up and get this terrible headache the following day. That for sure will totally ruin future plans.