Perogies, Vodka and the Salt Mines in Kraków

On our first trip while living abroad, Aaron and I flew out of an airport called Stansted. It took forever to get to and wasn't the best experience, so we vowed never to fly out of that airport again. Then after our trip to New York last year when we had to go straight from the airport to work, we were exhausted and said we would never do that again.

Never say never because last weekend, we did both of those - fly out of Stansted on early Saturday morning, and then back to London early Monday morning only to go straight to work that day. But there are some things that make a trip like that worth it. And seeing the Bednarczyk's in Poland is one of them!

We had such a fun time in Kraków, and it was a really cool city. Marcin is Polish so it was refreshing having someone who spoke the language like a local. The trip also had a perfect start when we were greeted at the airport by our driver holding a "WHAM!" sign : ) I just had to document it, so there is a picture on the right.

We arrived mid-day and headed off to find perogies for lunch. They are delicious Polish dumplings stuffed with meat or cheese and potato - yum! Then we walked around the city - through the square, by the castle and in a park where we saw two hilarious things: the first was a cat on a leash (really?!) and the next was two Polish children who were terrorizing pigeons by literally picking them up and holding onto them by their tails while they tried to fly away. We could not stop laughing because we just kept thinking, is this really happening?! After we regained our composure, we headed to the Jewish quarter where we went to an outdoor beer garden. It helped that the beers were £2... everything in Poland is so cheap compared to London, which is another reason why we loved it!

Afterwards, we headed to a vodka tasting where we tried the following vodkas: 140 proof (aka rubbing alcohol), cherry-infused (tasted like cough syrup), Krupnik or honey vodka (delicious!), and lemon vodka (I could drink it all day... no chaser needed)!

We had dinner at this hole-in-the-wall restaurant that was a recommendation from Aaron's Polish coworker and was really hard to find: you walked through a museum and then went down a staircase that opened into a room with lots of long, wooden tables. The restaurant name is U Babci Maliny which translates to Grandma's Raspberries or something like that, but it felt like there was a little Polish grandma in the back cooking the food. We tapped off the night with a Tap house and some handstands (or attempts) before calling it a night.

The next morning, we headed out to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, about 30 minutes outside of the city. Discovered in the 13th century, the salt mines were one of the very first Unesco World Heritage Sites. It's referred to as "the underground salt cathedral" because the miners built statues, chapels, and chandelier's whose crystals are rock salt. You first go down 378 steps (210 feet) and then walk through different chambers with a guide. There's incredible artwork like a replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' that was carved in salt stone.

On our way back to the city, we got off a stop early and went to the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków which is housed in Oskar Schindler's enamel factory (made famous through Schindler's List). The museum was very informative, but we were a little disappointed by the lack of focus on the Schindler story itself. It was briefly mentioned, but the main focus of the museum was the city during and after the war. Still, it was well set-up and powerful.

We headed back to our flat, stopping to get some delicious street-food for dinner on the way: zapiekanka which is an open-faced baguette with grilled mushrooms, melted cheese, other toppings and ketchup. The Seahawks season opener was on, so we watched the unfortunate outcome, and then went to bed. After all, we had to get up at 5:00am the next day, but the trip was very much worth it! : )