Riga, Latvia to Krakow, Poland

After our 5 day time spent in St. Petersburg, we were off to Lativa. We had heard Riga, Lativa was a lovely city filled with cobblestone streets, beautiful canals and lots of night life....perfect for Michelle's 25th birthday! We celebrated with full style and even hit up the amazing sky bar that had an incredible view of the city. Happy 25 was done right with a full night out on the town including meeting so many new friends along the way. What a cute little European city to bring in a quarter of a century!!! We decided to stay a bit longer in this party city due to the bus to Krakow, Poland only left on certain days. However, we didn't seem to mind and spend our days by the canals, exploring the city sights and outside a bit, and of course hitting up the night life one more time before moving on. We stayed with a great host who was actually was free-lance stair designer and also was active in a band that played music similar to stomp. Quite an interesting guy with a carefree and loving life attitude....a great host!!! Thanks Kris! Poland here we come.....perhaps not the speedest way possible but we arrived in Krakow nevertheless. The bus took 21 hours....yikes!!!!!!!! We are still not quite sure what that bus driver was doing besides going round and round in circles. When we boarded the bus it was a full ride which left Michelle and I snuggling up to strangers....hope they liked our bobbing heads after a few sleeping pills! However, by the end the two of us and two Kiwi boys were the only ones left on the extremely long bus ride....I take it that everyone else just had enough and the crazy foreigners were the only stupid ones to actually consider this a travel option! But it does add to another travel story....trains, boats and buses! Krakow, Poland was a beautiful city with a nice town square where we stayed....even had a room with a view! Michelle and I made friends with our New Zealand guys to became a traveling foursome around the city. The greatest highlights were the excursion to Auschwitz, the concentration camp. It was certainly one of the hardest things to witness when the reality of the history stands you in the eye. At moments, there are times when your heart just aches for the people that had to suffer through this life occurrence. The camp was so large with remains from everything from shoes, eye glasses, suitcases, and wooden bunks from the people who died there. I could not describe the horrible conditions and the overall sense that comes over you when touring such a moment in history. A experience that will certainly not be forgotten.... On a lighter note, we found a wonderful bagel shop and I ate the most delicious perogies ever!! Yummmm....Polish food! Before heading out of the city we took a tour of the salt mines which to be honest wasn't anything to brag about. But loved the city and had a few wonderful nights out on the town. It is now off to Czech Republic (by train this time) and working our way to Oktoberfest!