1) SHUTTLE BUSES! So - as you may have gathered from the previous post, THAT shuttle bus was not our travel friend. We actually had a few more shuttle bus encounters, once we arrived in Poland. I will highlight my favorite shuttle bus story from Poland.
So, we land in Krakow, and taxi up to the airport like normal. With RyanAir you 97.2% of the time exit the plane via stairs and then either walk or shuttle bus it to the airport building. This time, we unload off the plane and see a waiting shuttle bus. We climb aboard and (attempt to) patiently wait for it to fill up. Strollers are being unfolded, elderly people are being helped aboard, small children are being dragged on by the wrist etc. You can imagine. A good 1o mintues later, we're full, and the bus takes off. Literally TEN SECONDS, not min, SECONDS later, we arrive at the dropoff point. This dropoff point was 25 yards from where the plane sat. Not even. WHAT? The drove us farther then it would have taken to walk. And WAY more time. We were completely dumbfounded. I was laughing as we WAITED TO GET OFF the bus. The best part - when we flew home - we got to take the shuttle bus again, this time maybe about 27 yards (OH MY!) to our plane. The whole time the bus was being loaded up this second time, Carolyn and I were laughing. Loudly. Shuttle buses - just not the most efficient transportation. :) (Picture above left is us on the bus waiting to be driven to the plane, as we had to wait for the passengers to be unloaded and loaded onto THEIR bus. Can you even see the plane? It's so very far away, I know.)2) Lilies of the Valley. I already mentioned this - but we were such a lovely pair of tourists, that
a shop owner gave us each a stem of lilies of the valley. I carried mine around the whole day. So in all my pictures that day, you can see this little stem of flowers in my hand. I felt like a small child who carries around a dandelion she picked and wants to show it off. My the end of the day it was drooping and didn't smell all that nice. But - I needed a little flower to perk up my day. It worked. (see right) :)
3) Procession. We woke up on Sunday and opened our room's window to see sense the weather conditions - and heared church music and singing! It was beautiful, and we thought we were listening to an acutal church service. But, when we left that day and were walking around Krakow, we ran into this VERY LONG procession of priests and nuns of various levels in the church. They were all chanting and it was just a very cool thing to see. But, we had no idea WHAT the purpose was - and a bunch of the city was out, lining the streets, to watch. We HAD to watch because they were blocking one of the main streets. So - random but very cool thing to see! (see left)4) Charleroi Airport. As I mentioned - this airport is not our friend. Things always go wrong, etc. when we're there. We had to sleep in the airport on Sunday night - and it didn't work that well. For one - my phone was sitting next to me, as my alarm clock, and when I woke up - it was gone. Now my phone is the most BASIC phone there is, nothing fancy, and so I'm fairly certain no one took it. Plus - all my other stuff was safe, including items of higher value. So, we deemed that Charleroi had simply absorbed my phone into its walls. If you knew this airport - it sounds possible. Neither of us could really sleep, and I've come to the realization that airport chairs are a LOT more comfortable than the cold, tile floor. Anyone that thinks otherwise hasn't tried sleeping on the cold, tile floor. So Charleroi airport - not our friend. At ALL.
5) Small world. So, while at the Charleroi airport, and waiting for daylight, Carolyn and I found some open chairs to sit in (once we gave up on the floor. ) As we sat down, this guy next to us noticed Carolyn's U of M jacket, and asked if we were from MN. Turns out he goes to St. Thomas and was studying in Rome! We chit chatted and he then asked which HS I went to in Mankato (once I had told him where I was from) and that surprised me. Turns out, he was asking because he knew Paul Blaschko! WHAT!?! So random! Then we found out that, like Paul, Elliott is going through the seminary - and is studying in the perfect place. Can't get much better than Rome eh? It was so fun to run into someone that we could talk to, especially as we had time to kill until our 5:30AM SHUTTLE BUS arrived. Small world truly!
Poland had it's fun moments too, see? We tried to find the humor and beauty in the little things that weekend, as Auschwitz truly gives you the perspective that life is PRETTY GOOD right now. I must now get back to studying for finals...but will be blogging about Venice next - so stay tuned!!!!!!!!!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment