A tale involving 2x4's and The Red Hot Chili Peppers (sort of)

I have seen Maryla Rodowicz in concert.

She sang the opening song at the 1974  World Cup in Munich.

I know you're all jealous. I can feel the vibes coming through the computer. It's ok. She's still alive. You might be so lucky someday. But this story isn't about "Maryla" although it was a great concert. I had absolutely no idea what she was singing, and it was in the middle of the Błonia...

Sort of like Krakow's Central Park. Huge. Beautiful. Celine Dion has performed there as well.woo. hoo.

..., and it was dark, and there were a lot of people. But there were also fireworks and good food and good drinks, and good friends. A good time. But no, this story is about *after* the concert. The walk home.

Now, before we move on I would like to state one thing. I like walking. I don't like running much, really not at all, but I like walking. And, as with most European cities, you find yourself walking a lot in Krakow. It's great because it forces you to slow down and take in the sights and really see where you are going. I like that about Europe, and especially Krakow.

But, we were walking home, from the Błonia, all the way to to the Martin's family home in Nowa Huta...

A ---> B = Błonia (where we were) to Nowa Huta (where we slept)

Now, *that's* a long walk.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh you poor girl, never in the whole world did you have to walk all that way in the middle of the night after an entire day of food and fun!"

Never fear! There were taxi's!

But, we didn't take one. "Why not," you ask? "Because, taxi's cost money, yo. Not everybody got no platinum card." 

Ah ha, but what about the night trams and night buses? Yes! That was the answer. Cheap, quick and available... sort of. (I think we estimated that we could wait for the night bus, but it would come in about an hour from the time we were ready to leave and an hour back then was like 2 days...forget that)!

So, we hopped on the next tram that took us in the right direction and hoped for the best. It was a good decision.

On that night tram there were very few people. I suppose most people who had attended the concert had found other means by which to return home or saved some of their money for taxi's. We were the only ones on that tram, except for one other young gentleman, and his incredibly embarrassed girlfriend. To add to our enjoyment, he was singing, as loud as possible...

"Sometimes I feel like I dont have a partner,

sometimes I feel like my only friend is the beer that I'm drinking

the bee-eer of Zywiec

lonely as I am, together we're drunk."

Over, and over, and over. In English.

 Awesome.

 I can't imagine why his girlfriend looked so embarrassed. 

They got off the tram in a fairly respectable location, possibly looking to find some  food to sop up his beer and loneliness, at which point we found ourselves alone on the tram. Alone, because the tram ride was coming to the end of the line. And that is the big letter "C" up there on the map. See that letter C? See it down there, about 6.3km/3.8 miles from our destination?  That's where the tram stopped, the driver made us get off, and we walked. 

I remember some railroad tracks. Some very dark woods. I think we might have crossed paths with some other forlorn youths. An then we found some 2x4's. Long lengths of abandoned wood, which of course must be picked up, *named,* and dragged behind us (and by "us" I mean the males) for the rest of our trip. There were some photo ops. and lots of funny stuff said in Polish that I didn't catch. And eventually we made it back to our dwelling, completely safe and unharmed, some 2-3 hours later than when we started out.

I know that if we had driven our own car we could have avoided our long journey home. I'm pretty sure someone in our company had one they could drive. And nowadays, if you've been out and you've had a little too much to drink you can even hire someone to drive you home, in your own car, like this guy...

...but then we would have missed the "Red Hot Chili Peppers Guy." And we never would have gotten to take this picture...

So long ago, the world was still in black and white.  (2x4 and Zywiec!! RHCPG would have been proud)

...and I wouldn't be able to tell you this completely worthless story.

See. Everyone wins.