Poland.

What can you say about Poland? The picture that many people have is that of a cold, hard, and unforgiving place existing only in shades of grey; a sad old black and white film that made it off the big screen and onto the map. The last thousand years haven't exactly been kind to Poland. They've been invaded, conquered, re-invaded, conquered, re-invaded, Nazi's, Holocaust, Soviet Bloc, and so on (and that's just the last 200 or so years). More recently their President was killed in a plane crash, but due to the rumblings of one aforementioned Icelandic Volcano a large majority of world leaders were prevented from attending. Now unseasonal rains have caused quite massive flooding in the south and west of the country. Does this place ever catch a break?

We arrived here a day late, and were greeted by what can best be described as weather resembling a typical wet Arkansas winter day. Rain, cold, wind - all the main players had tuned up a wonderful symphony intended to lower our spirits and dampen our plans. Sounds Polish right?

We left our hotel in Frankfurt this morning at 6:45 and headed to the airport. No need to check-in since we had boarding passes. About 5 min after we arrived, we were sitting at gate A2 waiting for our flight to Krakow. Boarding was pretty painless as well - a very short bus ride from the terminal to the plane, a Boeing 757-500. Turned out to be about the smoothest flight I've been on - zero turbulence, and a smooth landing at 10:30 in Krakow. Our bags made it, and after collecting them, it was off to the apartments.

This is where the biggest surprise of the day came in - These things are INCREDIBLE. They are each 2 bedroom apartments, newly furnished, absolutely wonderful in every way, and they have A WASHING MACHINE!!! NO HANDWASHING!!

We're on our way! We've made it to Little Rock National Airport, the best airport in the country IMHO. Cleared security without any issues (except for the student with all the zippers on their pants), and watching the chaos that is Southwest Airlines try to figure out how to board. I prefer airlines that actually allow you to pick your seat before hand....which is why we are flying Continental (or united or whatever you call them these days). A couple of students are trying to scarf down the only pizza they've known (pizza hut) and gulp their last Dr. Pepper (with ice mind you!) before we head for less humid pastures. Keep checking - more to follow.

Today was the best weather we've had the whole trip. Beautiful sunshine and about 80 with a light breeze. It was also the best pastrami sandwich I've ever eaten either. We went to the famous Carnegie Deli and ate way too much for lunch. The pastrami sandwich probably had at least 1.5lbs of fresh pastrami on it. Oh man....I also got some chopped liver which was, as they say, "to die for," and a Potato Knish, which was very tasty. Afterwards, we wandered around the area of Rockefeller Center, seeing all the sites there. We went back into Chelsea and just strolled the streets of that area for most of the rest of the day. Ended it off with a dinner at a very hip thai restaurant, and am now packing for the trip home. The day's pictures are here

The big apple was quite an interesting experience. It is similar to many large European cities I've visited, but at the same time had it's own charm and class. It hasn't stolen my heart away from Paris, but then again, I think that I've left a part of me here as well. Candy loved it. She's still in awe of the size of the buildings, the sheer number of people, and the overwhelming amount of taxi cabs...something tells me this won't be my last trip here....