November 13, 2006

How to cook pierogi

Don't worry, this won't be a recipe for great Polish food: pierogi. But, I will be trying to reproduce those as soon as I have written this.

I am heading into a winter of no travel - for once there are no trips planned - but Krakow was definitely a good end to this very good travelling year.

Poland, and Krakow, has never really been a place I have been eager to go to but things change when you suddenly find yourself with friends from far away places. This weekend to Krakow had been in the books since a close friend moved from her home there to Amsterdam. So, after three or so years we finally made it.

Highlights were being amazed at the enormous amount of highly impressive churches (I think I've seen enough for a while...), trying out all kinds of yummy Polish food, bar hopping across town and bumping into friends of my friend, but also contemplating the Easyjet-syndrome which is now hitting Krakow.

Unexpectedly it was also a weekend of confrontation with everything that's going on in the world. On Saturday we visited the World Press Photo exhibition (amazing pictures, go see it if it's anywhere close to you!).
And on Sunday we spent the afternoon wandering around Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I never realized that Auschwitz was actually a complex of camps. And, although this will sound harsh, after walking through Auschwitz-1 and then arriving at Auschwitz-2 (Birkenau) you got the impression that the Germans had thought 'Hey, this works! [after using Auschwitz-1]. Let's make it bigger and better!' The rows of barracks at Birkenau are endless.... It really is a must-see place for everyone.

Pictures will be up soon, am off to try out cooking original home-made pierogi!

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