November 29-30: Because of the travel nonsense, I had missed the first day of the conference. Apparently a lot of people did. I had sent an email to the conference organizer. He had said only to call his cell phone if there was an emergency, and I didn’t really see my missing Wednesday afternoon’s sessions as an emergency. So I sent him an email, but I doubted he would get it. In any case, Jenn was there to tell everyone that I was on my way, taking the train through the Polish fog that was conspiring to keep sex researchers from reaching Krakow by plane.

When I got off the train into the waiting arms of the gypsy caravan (as Meghann dubbed our happy trio), I was very hungry. Meghann tried to take us to a basement-level restaurant, but we were denied, so we went to a similar restaurant that was not in a basement. We browsed the menu. I had decided on the variety bowl of pierogies when I saw the page of seasonal dishes and figured out that it was mushroom season. So Meghann and I ended up splitting the pierogies and a plate of mushrooms in a lovely sauce. And it came with lovely bread that had two spreads. And we drank beer. Afterward we went to Camelot for another beer. The bar in Krakow, as opposed to the congenial spot for happy-ever-aftering. Though it was rather a happily-ever-after occasion.

We took a cab back to Meghann’s digs in Polish student housing, and I was very sad when we got up to the room because I had forgotten my wonderful Monoprix gloves in the cab. It was very fun to stay in the dorm. Apparently Jenn and I were there illegally, which turned walking across the lobby past the registration desk into an adventure every night. My favorite part was walking down the long hallway once we got to Meghann’s floor, because there were makeshift ashtrays every ten feet or so. Sometimes we came across groups of students smoking and chatting in the hallway, but more often it was just the evidence of their having been there. As Meghann liked to say, “You can just feel the socialism.”

In the morning we took the tram to the Pugetow Hotel for the conference. Meghann facilitated that entire adventure, and she planned to pick us up at the end of the day. The conference was good. It was billed as an Interdisciplinary conference on Sex and Sexuality. Mostly the inter-disciplines were sociology and literary criticism. According to my participant-observation in this situation, sociologists and literary critics seem to have trouble talking to each other. Jenn’s paper was the highlight of the first day. She had enlisted me to help by unfurling a poster of an erotic painting at a strategic moment during her talk. Her presentation went over very well.

At 5:30, Meghann was waiting on the steps for us, doing her best street urchin impersonation. She took us to Wawel Castle and told us the story of the dragon whom no one could kill until some wily citizen filled a sheep with sulfur and set it out as a trap for the dragon. The dragon at the sheep, got a stomachache, drank some water, and exploded. Meghann tells the story much better, so I hope I haven’t ruined it for future visitors to Krakow. Then we walked through Rynek Glowny, the market square, which was all decorated for Christmas. There were a lot of angels. The angels that were facing left looked like Minnesota. Seriously, it was like someone had taken a cutout of Minnesota and stuck an angel head on the northwest corner, and the tips of the wings were the northeast and southeast corners.

Anyway, Meghann took us to this great bar, and she got a mischievous smile on her face as she went up to buy the first round of drinks. She came back with “tatanka”—buffalo grass vodka (zubrowka) and apple juice. They were tasty. We drank a lot of them during the course of our stay.

Thursday night was also our trip to “Cocks,” the Polish version of Hooters. There were leggy, voluptuous blond waitresses in skimpy outfits. Jenn claimed that she spied one brunette waitress. We had cheeseburgers. I had not had a cheeseburger in a long time, and I thoroughly enjoyed mine. There were a lot of televisions playing sports and Polish advertising.

And then back to Meghann’s. I think we were early enough for the tram that night.