At the end of our trip we headed back to Krakow because that's where we were flying out of to go home. So we got to have an extra day there! This was day 8 of our trip and we were all pretty exhausted with blistered feet from walking all over. So, when golf cart tours of the city full of people kept riding past us, instead of laughing at them, this time we said, "oh heck yeah."
We go some ice cream and negotiated a decent price with the driver and off we went. And it was the best decision we made all week. Even though I know people were laughing at us suckers in a golf cart... its hard to care when I'm sipping on a milkshake being driven around.
They have this tour of the Jewish district so that's what we chose to do. During the war, jewish people weren't allowed to be in the city center of most bigger cities. They had designated districts outside of the city where they had to stay and live, so that's the tour that we had.
Our driver was in a hurry to get us through the loop, probably since I gave him the price that we would pay for the tour (which was a really low). So we had to hold on tight because he was not slowing down for anyone. When you mix cobblestone streets with an extended golf cart and no seat belts, its not the best mixture. I almost fell out of the cart taking this really important video.
He took us to this church and there was a wedding party gathered, taking their photos where we needed to drive by. Instead of going another direction....he took us straight. through. the. wedding. party. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't make eye contact with anyone that we kicked out of our way. They were lining up to enter the church and go down the aisle and he's honking at them to get out of our way.
And once we got past everyone, he just parked... So that we could get out and walk through the church. You know, the church where they're trying to have a wedding. Yep, we're here to ruin your magical day.
Part of the tour to us to Schindler's Factory. I bought this book while I was there. I'm only part way through but I would recommend it. Its written by a man named Joseph Bau who lived in the jewish district that I was able to see in Krakow. Its his personal story describing how his entire family was killed, how he was sent to a concentration camp, how he met and married his wife secretly in the camp, how she was sent to Auschwitz and how he was saved by Schindler's list. Its pretty amazing if you like that kind of thing. The accounting of horrific treatment kind of thing. But its a got a good ending.
On the very last day, heading home was a whole thing. Long story short: I got up around 4 am, got screwed over by my taxi driver and so I YELLED at him (if you've never heard me yell......well its possible), waited in the tiniest airport you've ever imagined (there is only one gate and the security leads right to it...its just in the next room from the check in counter) until about 11.....with no internet and ALONE. I about went crazy. All that for the 30 minute flight to Warsaw, Poland where I had a 10 hour layover and then a 45 minute flight back to Vilnius. I met up with Holly in Warsaw (we had different flights) and we had planned to spend the long layover exploring Warsaw. We only made it about 2 hours before I lost all interest. No offense to you Warsaw, you're beautiful and have amazing buildings like the one above......I just was done mentally and my wallet was empty and I was exhausted.
I did enjoy this man enough to wanna take a photo. So this is basically the only photo that I'm keeping of Warsaw.
Finally...after the long day in the airport I made it home around 2 am. But that trip...was the best. I'm a lucky girl.
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