Even if absolutely no one reads this, except maybe you mom, it's nice to FINALLY, after years of wanting to be a writer, be able to write every single day, both here and in my journal. I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something for once.

I had quite an adventurous day yesterday - and the Polish prove to be a fantastic change from the cold, all business manner of the Germans and especially the Czechs. At breakfast, I met a girl my age from a small town on the Welsh border and two middle aged chaps - one from Glasgow and the other from Liverpool. We ended up going on a free tour that started at 11pm and was supposed to end at 3pm, but due to our fun, excellent Polish guide, we didn't stop til one in the morning. Longest, best tour of the city ever (except for maybe the one planned for this evening). The weather was actually dreadful yesterday. I could see my breath! In the first week of October! It started to rain towards the end of our tour, so our guide suggested hot spiced wine at a pub in Kazimierz (the Jewish quarter of the city and the place to party). The entire rest of the people on the tour left after their first drink, but the three people from the UK I met this morning stayed and an American girl whom had met our tour guide previously came and joined us. We continued onto another pub, one boasting 100 different Polish beers, and I had, hands down, the best tasting beer ever. It was a honey beer, and it literally tasted like good honey. We only stayed there for one drink, but I think I would have fallen off the deep end if we stayed for more. That lovely beer hardly tasted like beer, or alcohol in general, but it had a 9% alcohol content, and even one made me feel quite light-headed. After that pub, we headed to dinner at an authentic Polish restaurant where I got pork and potato pancakes in this delicious sauce. I wish I could figure out how to download pictures, because I took a picture of the food, and it would be nice to show what it actually looked like. We continued on to a place that was simply called Wodka ("W" is pronounced "V" in Polish, so Krakow is actually Krakov). There, I got cherry vodka with banana juice (delicious) and honey vodka with sprite and cucumbers (interesting).

I want to point out that I got lunch, dinner, and four alcoholic drinks for a total of $17.55. How amazing is Poland? And to think that Romania and Bulgaria are even cheaper. The totals for these drinks and meals were about the same prices as you would see in America, except that it's three Zloties to the dollar, so you do the math and your jaw about drops. My huge Polish dinner, the most expensive item on the menu, came to a whopping 14 Zloties (not even $5)

We're doing another tour today at 2:30, this one of the Jewish ghetto and Schindler's factory (all of Schindler's List was filmed on site in Krakow - I haven't seen the movie since I was 15 - I'd really like to see it now) and already have plans to go out again tonight. I have a feeling that I won't have any problem staying in Krakow for another seven days. Especially since the hostel I'm changing to on Friday is across the street from "the place to be" in Kazimierz.

The guy from Liverpool is heading to Lviv next, and I was expressing to him a bit of disappointment at my decision to go south instead of farther east. Later, on the tour we met a guy from Switzerland who was driving that way on Thursday, so the guy from Liverpool is heading with him. It's tempting to go too, but I'd be throwing away a night at this hostel that I've already payed for, as well as my deposit at the second hostel, and my ticket to Budapest. It will be cold anyway. I thought about staying in Poland for a few more weeks, possibly heading north to the coast at Gdansk, but I checked the temps and crossed that idea off my list. I've constantly heard absolutely fantastic things about Romania so I think that's where I'll end up spending a few weeks.