Just got back in from Krakow, Poland...

and I can confidently say that this past weekend was one of the best weekends of my life and was just what I needed. I was starting to get a feeling of "cabin fever" here in Vienna so it was amazing to get out and experience a new city and culture for a couple of days.

I will be posting some details about the trip and lots of pictures in the coming days, but will list some of the highlights from this past weekend below:

• We arrived on Friday, November 11th, 2011, in Krakow which just so happens to be Poland's 93rd Independence Day. This could have been a bummer because most of the town center and tourist areas were closed, but we made do as we were able to visit...
• Auschwitz. Wow, there really are no words to describe this experience but being able to set my eyes on a place that I have heard so much about in my life was something I never thought I would ever do in my lifetime. I felt just about every emotion humanly possible during our 3 1/2 tour of Auschwitz and it is something I will never forget.
• Experiencing Polish cuisine and loving every single bite of it. My favorite meal was their dumplings which is basically pot stickers that have a really soft exterior and stuffed with either meat, potato, or cheese. 
• Walking around the town center looking at shops and watching all the street performers. We saw drummers, guitarists, Captain Jack Sparrow, an Army Man, and many other weird characters that I am not quite sure what they were. 
• SOUL HOSTEL: the hostel where we stayed. This place was so much nicer than my first hostel experience while in Salzburg, Austria. It was small, cozy, everything was brand new and modern, centrally located without having to deal with the noise from the city, and the hostel even had FIFA 2011 for us to play. 
• Carpe Diem I and Carpe Diem II
• walking around the Castle and seeing a bird's eye view of the Old City and the Jewish Quarters
• the currency conversion rate. Currently, 1 USD gets you about 3.3 Poliskis (Polish Dollars). This meant that everything we purchased was roughly about half as cheap as it is here in Vienna and also purchasing a delicious dinner for 50 Poliskis makes you feel like a baller even though in reality it is only about 15 USD.
• drank my first Christmas themed beverage, a chocolate gingerbread latte from COFFEE HEAVEN.