Lost in Krakow

Today my mom said good-bye to me in Warsaw and in some ways this commenced my journey for real since I am now officially on my own. As soon as I boarded the train to Krakow, I lost my way. Plopping myself in a random car, I soon realized that there were assigned seats, I was in someone else's seat and I was in the second-class section even though I had a first class ticket.

Krakow will be my home base for the next month. It is the place where I will stay the longest for my journey, so I opted to rent a studio apartment, located 15-minute walking distance from the center of town. I immediately fell in love with my new space. Simple and clean, the apartment has everything I need: a bed, a tv, a closet, a bathroom, a mini-kitchen, internet connection and laundry on the premises--all for about $20 a day. I didn't even have to put down a deposit; I pay at the end of my stay.

For my first night in town, I decided to walk down to the Rynek Glowny for something to eat. I pulled on my rain coat, walked down to the square, then searched for a restaurant where I could sit down. Since it was Sunday evening and raining, the square was stunning but subdued--many stores already closed, restaurants open but mostly empty.

I finally came across a place called Sphinx that looked full of people. To the host I pointed one finger to single a table for one, and he immediately asked me in English if I wanted smoking or non-smoking. I opted for the non-smoking section. When I sat down and looked at my printed place mat, I realized that I was in the Polish equivalent of a Bennigan's. And being that I was in Rynek Glowny, I might as well been in the Bennigan's in Times Square.

The waiter gave me an English menu. While I would have loved to spend my first night in Krakow eating at an authentic Polish restaurant, I was hungry so I decided to stay.

I began to think, if someone was visiting America and wanted to get a true American dining experience, would it really be the out-of-the-way place in Louisiana that made Cajun gumbo or some random place in Maine that had the freshest lobster, or would it be Bennigan's--a restaurant where most Americans across the country go to eat on the weekends? Isn't the corporate restaurant the American way?

I looked around and everyone seemed to be speaking another language. Here I was, with Polish people, eating their corporate fast food!

I sat there smug with my little theory, when I realized that everyone was speaking to the waiter in English and speaking other foreign languages amongst myself. Who was I kidding? I was amongst tourists. Does any Pole sit in the non-smoking section?

I left the restaurant, feeling a little defeated, a little lonely, then managed to get a little lost finding my way back home.

My new home away from home.


Rynek Glowny during my first (rainy) night.


My meal at Sphinx. The restaurant's tagline: "A bigger portion of sensation."