Perogie

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find duck's blood soup in Poland. So my new food in Poland was fairly tame.

Perogie are similar to Ravioli, but stuffed a bit more full and pan fried. They have a variety of fillings, my personal favorite was the Russian style with cottage cheese and potatoes inside. I also had perogi filled with bacon and potato, and mushroom and cabbage. There's also a sweet variety of perogi in Poland that have fruit fillings, but I never located any to try.

The other interesting thing I tried in Poland was warm, spiced wine. It was a wonderful treat on those bitterly cold days. It's sweeter than coffee but not as sweet as hot chocolate. The wine has been boiled, so there's nearly no alcohol in it. The tastes that are left are just the tartness of the grapes, the other fruits and the spices.

Krakow in Photos

I've thought about it, and I really don't have a narrative for Krakow. I have random stories and adventures, but nothing I can set into a sequential series of events. That's kind of how Krakow felt to me, however, so maybe that's the best way to write about it. Krakow is a very mellow and livable city. In some ways it's not unlike Western Europe, but it also has that unique flavor that's only found in Central and Eastern Europe.

Things are just a little off-center, just a little different. That's where Krakow's charm really lies. You walk through the streets and at first it feels like Anycity, Europe. There's good shopping, well- dressed people from every corner of the globe, and a mix of new and ancient buildings. And just as I get settled into the notion that this is a city like any other, I see something that makes me pause and smile.





*There's more pics from my first two days on the sidebar. There's also info in the captions of the photos in my album.

Processing Auschwitz

I've been struggling with how to describe my journey to Auschwitz. It's a hard one to tackle, there is of course the simple narrative, but there's also so many feelings I had before, during and after. It's a struggle for me to comprehend all I've seen and come to terms with what I did comprehend. I've also become fascinated with other people's experiences with Auschwitz. It seems like everyone takes something different away with them from the site, but there's also the universal "Oh my God" when the Holocaust stops being just something we read about.

The thing I most connected with were the stories of the people who did good and heroic things in spite of all the horror, for example, Oscar Schindler. This was a man who should have never cared; he was a Nazi, a war profiteer, a run-of-the-mill greedy bastard who only cared about himself. He should have been the last person on earth to look around and go "Hey, this isn't right. I need to help these people." That he went broke saving the lives of Jews astonishes me. A mind boggling number of people turned a blind eye to what was happening, yet the most unlikely of folks risked their lives, safety, family and friends to save fellow humans.

I think in some ways I know I can never comprehend the why's of the evil that happened. That this mass extermination of human beings happened at all is something I will never fully wrap my head around. No matter how many ways it's explained to me I always come back to the same question, "Yes, but why?" This wasn't just a few crazy people doing a few crazy things, this was insanity on an unimaginable scale. Well- organized insanity at that.

I'll be slowly working through my Auschwitz experience over the next few weeks. I hope I ultimately find a coherent way to tell the story.

Best Apartment Ever

At the risk of being borderline creepy and stalkery, I snuck around my CS host's apartment and took pictures of it. On my final day, I shamefully confessed my secret photography project to her. This is literally the most beautiful apartment I've ever been in. It looks like it came right off HGTV. My photos unfortunately don't do it justice, small areas are hard to photograph and the subtle coloring of the wood doesn't really come through.

That's the living room where I slept. My bed is just visible in the right-hand corner of the picture.

The bathroom was even beautiful.

I love this kitchen. The refrigerator and freezer are hidden inside those two long cabinets next to the sink. The drying rack is in the cabinet above the sink.

More pics are available in the photo album Best Apartment Ever on the sidebar.

Germans Ingenuity at its Finest

As Vince says, "You know the Germans always make good stuff." With that in mind, let me introduce you to the German Poop- Shelf Toilet.

I first ran across this invention in Budapest. It seems that Germans and some Soviets felt the need to inspect their feces before flushing it. My Internet research not only uncovered the technique you need to successfully flush your poop after you've inspected it, but also numerous people who vehemently defend the invention.

In case you ever find yourself in a situation that requires using the GPST, let me explain the maneuver know as the Magic Carpet. You lay several layers of toilet paper on the shelf, then do your business on the toilet paper. When you flush, the water will flow under the paper and move it off the shelf and into the water below. These toilets are notorious for their low water pressure, so no amount of flushing will remove the poop from the shelf unless you successfully pull a magic carpet.

The toilet paper left in the toilet is a testament to the lack of water-pressure. Before you get all grossed out, let me assure you that it was only paper I blew my nose with. Three flushes later it was still hanging out and silently mocking me.

For more information on this wonderful invention, visit: http://www.banterist.com. The article made me laugh until I had tears running down my face.