Wednesday, May 30, 2007

There has been so much to blog about these past few days...it's almost like we're in POLAND or something.

I woke up today from the most incredible nap up in the mountain town of Zakopane where the air is tingly with goodness and the scene is vibrant--and I thought to myself, "Man. Where do I even start in terms of discussing the sun of Krakow and the hazy mountain calm of the South of Poland OR how much we all love and miss the Marcins and our Marianna and Marek and the Magda's we met and that cool chick Monika OR how every single name that I just listed starts with an M (my dad's name is Miroslaw, too) AND how there are a ton of other awesome Polish names we come across--like Helena and Stanislaw and Jadwiga and Pawel. Note: we love these names so much that we name our favorite inatimate objects with them. Examples: Janusz the Seal (named after my father's sleazy old school friend) or Tadeusz the Fleece (very handy down here in the colder hills).
Since I last blogged: Poznan, Gdynia and Gdansk and Sopot, Warszawa y Krakow. Now, I write from Zakopane. What is most fascinating to me right now is the differences in international tourism and intranational tourism. AKA--my dad came here as a kid to ski--this is the winter capital of Poland! And the richness and the visitor atmosphere shows that clearly! But we also see a lot of English or German adaptations made. Our menu today at a little (expensive) restaurant off the main street was translated in to both English and German. So for whom has this city been developed--the tourists of northern, central, eastern and western Poland, or for abroad travelers?

But also---I got some rad video of breakdancing MONSTA'S rippin' up Krakow's Main Square! Needless to say, I'm in love with about 6 very Typical Polish Bad A$$ES. Video will be posted as soon as I have capabilities. You haven't seen stuff like this in the states. And these kids can draw CROWDS!
Talk about creating your own flavor of tourism.

OLIVIA! with utmost excitement!

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