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Polish Roads
Vodka. Polish people drink a lot of vodka. Polish people are also incredibly friendly. I am not sure if these two observations are at all related, however, they both proved true during my time in Krakow. Within two nights of staying in the hostel, I had 3 polish friends. We sat in the kitchen of the hostel, teaching each other tongue twisters in our mother languages. They warned me that I would probably not be able to remember the little ditty in the morning. I taught them an English tongue twister and we laughed as we listened to each other trip over the words.
Krakow was gorgeous and each building held some story to be discovered. I walked around the town for hours, finding new little treasures and watching people interact.
I planned to go to Bratislava after Krakow and then onto Budapest. At the last minute, I was counseled against taking the bus because a Polish friend told me that their roads were terrible. As a result of last minute planning, I didn’t book a room in Bratislava, thinking that the capital of Slovakia would surely have rooms to rent.
I made it onto the bus fine but there were very few seats available. I sat behind an Australian guy and I believe we were the only English-speakers on the bus. As a result, we struck up a conversation and talked about our travels and plans. Before long, the French-speaking Polish man next to my Aussie friend piped up and started speaking to us in French. The Australian unsuccessfully explained to him that we didn’t speak French, but the torrent continued. Then Aussie made a critical mistake; he pulled out his little French phrase book and our Polish friend was off, looking up phrase after phrase and asking us every question in the book.
I love to get to know people and I love crossing language barriers, but about halfway through our conversation, after our French-speaking Polish friend had asked where I lived and whether I was married, I realized that he had finished off a half bottle of vodka at the last bus stop. He was talkative for a reason and it wasn’t curiosity about American and Australian travelers. Poor man had a 48-hour bus ride ahead, and he was knocking himself out for the long haul. I wouldn’t recommend this method.
We arrived in Bratislava without further delay. I decided to see if there was room at the hostel where Aussie was staying. No luck. The receptionist at the hostel called hostel after hostel for a room but there were none available. Who knew Bratislava was such a popular place? The receptionist offered to let me crash on the cushions on the floor of the bar downstairs. I laughed nervously and realized I had few other options. T The next morning I woke up, groggy and in a bit of a sour mood. I had pulled the cushions from the bar to the adjacent kitchen and blocked out the music enough to sleep for a few hours. The receptionist woke me at 6.
A sweet man from Milan was making his breakfast and offered to share his hot chocolate. I refused three times and still received a cup. I must have looked pretty terrible. That day I made a quick tour of Bratislava and headed onto Budapest. One thing I am learning about Europe is the mass effect of Communism. In Bratislava, there is a small pretty center and it is surrounded by horrible concrete buildings from the Communist era. Most of the cities in Eastern Europe have this same layout. One idea affected an entire continent, and indeed the entire world, in such a huge way.
There is nothing quite like standing in front of a castle, built in the era of kings and princesses, and looking out over the river to a sea of grey lego-like block Communist apartment buildings. History refuses to be forgotten.
As my Ukrainian friend says, the Iron Curtain was called thus for a reason. Nothing got out that the authorities didn’t want to get out. The USSR was a totalitarian dictatorship, much like that of the Nazi regime. Atrocities played out under both regimes. The USSR fell in 1991 and the truth of what happened during the years when it was in power is just now coming to be known.
I have true respect for the people of Slovakia, Hungary, and all other nations who were under the dominion of the Communist Party. They have a long road ahead of them. In many formerly Soviet countries, the same people are still in power, only the formal name ‘Soviet’ is gone and the people may come and go as they please. The economy is still in ruins. May we in the United States support them in their journey in whatever way we can and may we not take our freedom for granted.
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