July 3, Krakow.

The more time I spend in Krakow, the more I love it. It's definitely a touristy town, but such a good touristy town. I decided to spend the day in the main square and go to the Jewish quarter this evening for dinner. It gets light so early and stays light so long that it's making it difficult to judge what time it is, and I've learned not to take for granted that the sun is in the east or west - it's usually pretty far north. This morning I kept waking up and thinking it was noon because there was so much light, but it was more like 6 or 7 am. I've been out and about since around 11 (it's 1:30 now).

So far, the coolest things I've seen are the street performers. There were two women playing classical music, one on violin and one on cello, right outside the Wawel castle (which is beautiful, by the way). There was a guy in the street playing water glasses - he was great! It made me wish I'd brought a small tape recorder to go along with my camera. There was a traditional band playing in the main square. The best were these terrible, terrible breakdancers right outside St. Mary's cathedral. They were so bad! One guy would go into the circle, hop around a bit, do an unbalanced handstand, and leave. The rest of the guys would clap to the beat, but they were totally off-rhythm and couldn't keep time with each other. After being in Union Square in NYC for most of last summer, these guys just made me laugh, but I do admire their courage, I guess.

This is the first time I'm really traveling alone - I've been on planes alone, and stayed in cities alone, but always en route to a destination where I knew people and had a comfortable place to stay. Traveling here, even for only a day, by myself has made me pick up the traveling itch... I wish I didn't have to come back, that I could just take my backpack and explore the rest of Eastern Europe. It makes me wish I spoke more languages - just a few words, a few numbers, make even complicated things possible to communicate.

I'm tired of writing, and hungry. I think it's time for lunch.

Coming home Sunday!