Polska, Pierogies, and Piwo, part 3

Above, from top to bottom: Out for a walk on the path to the Kosciuszko Mound just outside of Krakow on the afternoon of September 27th; Precariously taking pictures while riding a bike on our way back down from the mound, Sept. 27th; Amanda and I, lacking bike locks, capitalize on our location by hiding our bicycles under a tree in the forest surrounding the Mound, but later realize that everyone saw the bikes anyway. I had only given my Marquette ID as insurance, so we were willing to take the chance; a group of rollerbladers race around the Rynek Glowny at breakneck speed on a beautiful Sunday afternoon; and a bicyclist on Friday night outside Wawel(Va-vel) Castle. 

Having been to Krakow four times, I was most surprised this time by the changes and prosperity in the city. As Amanda said, the poles "seem content and happy with their quality of life. Krakow has not been completely secularized like England has and it seems like people stick to their values here," as she said on her blog. And she's right, they are happy. Happier than ever before. 

Amanda and I experience the happy arm of the law while sitting on a park bench drinking beer and eating a spicy kebab. The kebab, might I add, was made by an egyptian lawyer who studied at Jagiellonian University but couldn't practice due to polish law. So he made spicy kebabs(pita bread filled with meat, lettuce, tomato, onion, sauces and spice). They were delicious.

Anyway, I was under the impression that it was legal to drink in public as it is everywhere in Europe(especially in the east). It's not. Eyes watering and fanning our mouths, we guzzled our smooth Dog in the Fog piwos(beers) as two police officers approached us and kindly asked if that beer was made with alcohol. A variety of smart-ass answers in polish flashed through my mind, including "moze . . "(maybe . . . ) or "oczywyscie, ja zawsze pije piwo w niedziele potem kosciola"(of course, I always drink beer on sundays after church), but I told him the truth. 

Being the nice guy that he was, he smiled and wagged a finger at us as he raised his bushy eyebrows and said "ah, but there is no drinking in public." To which we said "oh, really? I had no idea." We waited till he walked away and guzzled the rest of our beer from our empty kebab sleeves before running away.