end of a day in krakow
its past midnight so this is technically not two posts in one day
went out to the 700 year old salt mines this afternoon and was completely blown away at how interestnig everything was (let alone blown away by the actual things i was seeing). although these two things seem very closely related they are distinctly different and, again, my opinion on organised tours has been changed by an informed and funny tour-guide, and of course by the incredible destination. i have a tendency of being very sceptical of any commercially operated enterprise, and it is true that this place was uber-toursity, they practically had a price-tag on the air in that place *actually as an interesting aside there is a health spa down there where you can breath the heavily salted and clean air and bath in the maximum salt saturated baths... 320grams of salt per litre!* anyway the tourguide, who was incidentally a cute blonde pole, cracked several jokes about how touristy the place was which somehow made it ok. i think the fact that it wasn't that expenisve means that no-one has any qualms, and the history of the amazingly extensive mine (200km of tunnels of which you explore about 2.5 at approximately 130m deep... the second most upper chamber only). i think that this level is one of the most impressive, and houses the largest underground cathedral in the world - who would have thought there was a competition in this field - made comlpetely out of salt and full of incredibly skillful salt reliefs of religious composition. all made by ex-miner turned artists.
i have been complaining in an email this evening that i am overly skeptical of too obviously touristy destinations, particualarly of the tour to auschwitz: a place which everyone is equally horrified by and i am not sure if i am too keen to actually go and see it in the flesh. as yet i haven't quite worked out what i am supposed to get out of seeing somthing that i know so much about (and hate!). anyway i shall see how i feel about this in the morning after a good nights sleep. two nights of broken sleep; one on the train last night and one in gyor at the hands of the poor students who hang out in the carpark playing techno out of their car speakers all night becasue tehy don't have a good night club to go to. fair enough really, but didn't help my sleeping pattern. should have bloody well gone down and joined them, there were so many mozzies in the room that i may aswell have been outside anyway.
on this note i go home to bed on the incredibly efficient tram systems here. sometimes i wonder how the fuck communism ever was meant to work; so much to organise even in small cities. this is abstract, maybe i will flesh it out at a later date - i have a lucy standing over my shoulder
J
went out to the 700 year old salt mines this afternoon and was completely blown away at how interestnig everything was (let alone blown away by the actual things i was seeing). although these two things seem very closely related they are distinctly different and, again, my opinion on organised tours has been changed by an informed and funny tour-guide, and of course by the incredible destination. i have a tendency of being very sceptical of any commercially operated enterprise, and it is true that this place was uber-toursity, they practically had a price-tag on the air in that place *actually as an interesting aside there is a health spa down there where you can breath the heavily salted and clean air and bath in the maximum salt saturated baths... 320grams of salt per litre!* anyway the tourguide, who was incidentally a cute blonde pole, cracked several jokes about how touristy the place was which somehow made it ok. i think the fact that it wasn't that expenisve means that no-one has any qualms, and the history of the amazingly extensive mine (200km of tunnels of which you explore about 2.5 at approximately 130m deep... the second most upper chamber only). i think that this level is one of the most impressive, and houses the largest underground cathedral in the world - who would have thought there was a competition in this field - made comlpetely out of salt and full of incredibly skillful salt reliefs of religious composition. all made by ex-miner turned artists.
i have been complaining in an email this evening that i am overly skeptical of too obviously touristy destinations, particualarly of the tour to auschwitz: a place which everyone is equally horrified by and i am not sure if i am too keen to actually go and see it in the flesh. as yet i haven't quite worked out what i am supposed to get out of seeing somthing that i know so much about (and hate!). anyway i shall see how i feel about this in the morning after a good nights sleep. two nights of broken sleep; one on the train last night and one in gyor at the hands of the poor students who hang out in the carpark playing techno out of their car speakers all night becasue tehy don't have a good night club to go to. fair enough really, but didn't help my sleeping pattern. should have bloody well gone down and joined them, there were so many mozzies in the room that i may aswell have been outside anyway.
on this note i go home to bed on the incredibly efficient tram systems here. sometimes i wonder how the fuck communism ever was meant to work; so much to organise even in small cities. this is abstract, maybe i will flesh it out at a later date - i have a lucy standing over my shoulder
J
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