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I'll admit, moving from the big city lights and rich culture of Paris to the snowy capped hills and quaint small town characters of Poland was a bit of an adjustment. Even in a big city like Warsaw, I really felt like everyone else knew something that I didn't. And in retrospect, I suppose they did. They all knew how to speak Polish! Either way, after my adventures in France, I think this made me feel a litle more comfortable, after all, I live in the small tourist town of Evergreen and we look at toourists that way for fun. Well, at least, I do. Everyone else probably has better things to do. Either way, I was feeling good in Poland, that's the point. I got in yesterday at around one in the afternoon and spent the day in my hotel watching all my favorite TV shows on DVD. My hotel is beautiful. I haven't really appreciated any of my hotels so far. I've been too busy exploring, but this one, I spent time in. And I loved every second. I'm staying at is called the Hyatt Regency, and it is filled with warm brown colors and new age architectural monuments. Very fancy. Today is my day to explore. For breakfast, I had some leftover smoked salmon fom yesterday's dinner, cold, with some thin, Polish crackers that I found in my complimentary hotel room pantry. It was actually pretty good, and if you've never had a freshly (day old) smoked salmon I'd really reccomend it. After my quick breakfast, I went to Wawel Castle and Cathedral in Krakow. If you've ever seen Dark Shadows, (the newer movie with Johnny Depp) then you can imagine the ornate beauty of the architecture of the Cathedral. Now, this might sound slightly morbid, but since the place is literally stuffed with the tombs of dead Polish kings, you can understand a more despondent attitude. This place's tombs were possibly the best part. See, it sounded wierd. Doesn't matter. The tombs were beautiful and I don't care what you think. Anyway, I was wrong about them being the best part of the castle, that honor goes to the courtyard. Not the courtyard itself, that was just a really big lawn (and it kind of needed a trim), but from the coutyard, you can see a great example of the Castle's lavish statues and gargoyles that were perched on the sides of the building. I had one more stop before I left Wawel for lunch so I went up to the Royal Apartments. The first thing I noticed were the windows. They were ginormous! Outside, I could see other tourists milling about and snapping photos of one another. I also noticed that, apart frrom the slightly overgrown grass, the grounds were impeccably well kept. The surrounding fields and courtyard were both and impossible shade of bright green. These were rimmed with darker green bushes and hedges of all shapes and sizes. Somehow, this idn't look out of place or unkempt, they looked like art. The only other things that I could see were the sides of the castle that I was in and the Cathedral. The walls were a bright, clean off-white color and the roofing and accents were the color of terra cotta. Surprisingly, the most stunning thing about tthe windows weren't the views but the drapes. They were obviously old, but in good shape and they were colorful and filled with delicate designs that must have taken hours. In fact, now that I was looking around the room, I saw that the walls were all covered with similar designs. They were tapestries! I vaguely heard a red-headed teenager say that they were Flemish. The rooms were beautiful, but I was starving. It was a fierce battle, but in the end, my stomach won out and I left. I had my lunch in the Old Town. I aloso got some souvenirs for my family. After alll the souvenirs in each country, you'd think that I'd be broke by now. Especially with all the five star hotels and high class restaurants. I ate my lunch in one of the many outdoor cafes. THe setup of Old Town kind of reminded me of San Antonio's River Walk. If you've ever been there, then, you can really appreciate old town. The last place I stopped at before the hotel, was Lazienki Park. The scenery there was breathtaking. I felt a little homesick in that moment and as I went back to my hotel, I began to mentally compose the post card that I had bought in Old Town. Poland was fun, but now it was time to rest up. I was going to Macedonia!
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