Today we had the chance to pick what tour we wanted to go on. Some people chose to look at Polish wooden architecture while others had the option of going on a "Crazy Communist" tour. I figured that since I've already had the chance to see an abundance of beautiful architecture in the city that I would go on the Communist tour instead.
We had three different tour guides come to pick us up in crappy, old German-made Trabants. In all honesty, these cars were similar to a lawn mower with a car body. In fact, the fuel tank is located in the hood of the car (so there is potential that if you ever crashed in those things, your car would explode). The terrible interior and plastic car hood were only several of the tacky, terrible features of these cars. In all honesty, that's what made the tour really fun. We had the opportunity to drive the Trabant at an old airport landing strip, but I decided to pass on it. Since I don't know how to drive a stick shift (the Trabant requires changing gears) I figured that I didn't want to blow the car up. However, it was fun to watch a few of the others try it out.
Following that, we drove to the Communist city of Nowa Huta (which is located on Poland's previous best farmland). Joseph Stalin chose to establish Nowa Huta next to the former conservative Krakow (which has a TON of churches) purposely to contradict these aspects of the city. Nowa Huta was established only within a 10 year period (which is impressive considering that it was nothing more than farmland before)! We also had the chance to see a Communist-style apartment and it was absolutely awful. Haha, it had enough room for people to live with, but it certainly was far from luxury.
We concluded the tour by going to the first church in the city (referred to as the Arc). This church is constructed with different types of stones and took 10 years to establish. The reason for this is because materials could not be requested from the government to build the church and people had to collect necessities on their own.
Afterward, I had some down time in the hotel. We ended up going to a Polish-style restaurant again and the food was good. I had different types of pierogies and a broccoli soup. Following the meal, I had some EXCELLENT ice cream with whipped cream and fruit. Then, I went with a few people for a walk around the city (the walking never gets old...I love it!).
Sitting in the hotel and slowly getting sleepy...
Love you guys!