Hostels in Krakow.

We were in Krakow for a week, and for the most part everyday was a blast. I met Bret's friends and we made some new ones as well. The first two nights we slept in a hostel which wouldn't be my first choice of sleeping arrangements but it was the best we could do. I didn't think it was too bad, the people working there were nice, the dorm-mates were polite and some were especially entertaining. The only problem was the location. It was right on the main Market Square, where everything goes on and the noise never stops, and when you are staying in a hot room with 8 backpackers, it is not a good idea to close the window. The most annoying thing was the sound check for some festival in the square the next day that went on until 2:30 am, then from 3-5 am the loud Australian and British tourists shouting, and singing, "Wodka, Wodka, ooohhh Wodka!" I'm not sure why this was the case, but every night there we heard this chant going on into the wee-hours of the night. So the hostel wasn't the best experience and you can imagine how Bret felt sleeping and being around a bunch of Backpacking Frat Guys and Sorority Girls that were literally saying, "Oh, yeah just like in Euro Trip...i love that movie." Ironically one of our Dorm-mates was from LAKE OSWEGO, OR. and is a tennis coach at Gonzaga now, he seemed to be about 27, but acted 17. Damn spoiled Lake Oswego kids, he went to LO by the way, not Lakeridge. 

The highlight of the hostel was this gnarly 44 year old British Rocker who essentially knew nothing about music bands, other than AC/DC and i am assuming Motorhead since he was wearing their t-shirt. Someone would mention a band to him, for example Pink Floyd and he would ponder the name and say," Yeah? Pink Floyd...i've 'Erd of 'em...but never rrreally got around to 'em." or Metallica, " Yeah, sure Metallica, 'Erd of 'em, but never rrreally got into 'em." This went on for over an hour, this kid would ask him about pretty much any band that has sold t-shirts at Target, i mean very popular and well-known bands and he would have the same response for all of them; The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, etc. Bret and i got a great laugh out of this, and have now developed a new character, which our British flat-mates rather enjoy as well. We are all constantly looking for times that we can use our new phrase. I asked Steve if he ended up going to the Club and he replied, "Yeah, i was meaning to, but never really got around to it." And the more we do it the more exaggerated the accent seems to get, it is quite funny. 

The next few nights we stayed with friends and had a more peaceful experience, but we were eventually forced into having to find a hostel for one night in between and through a recommendation of friends we ended up staying at the Stranger, Hostel and Bar. The moment we walked into our dorm room we knew we would hate it, first of all it was a total mess, everyones crap all over the place, it was 11 pm and no one was around meaning they would be showing up later and waking us up, and the worst part was there were several porno-magazines scattered throughout the hostel. Bret and i quickly returned to the front desk and requested are money back. We didn't want to live with Horny Frat Guys. The employees didn't understand why we wanted to leave, they are 20-something Polish girls, that loved the idea of Horny Australian and British Dudes. We explained to them that it was not at all our style and we were very uncomfortable. Rather then leaving they suggested we stay in a different dorm room that had only one older woman sleeping there, this turned out to be much nicer and quieter, so it wasn't so bad. We don't know why they try to put as many people in one room as they can, there were tons of empty rooms and they throw us in the Animal House. When we checked out i noticed the book exchange near the front desk, it was littered with sticky Men's Magazines, this place was guilty of supplying this stuff to there guests and they were proud of it. We were very happy to be out of there. 

So, maybe the Hostel wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, or the cleanest place (though, other than Montreal, we did have the best showers in the hostels)but in the end, it certainly was the most entertaining, and i am happy I finally "got around to it."