I don't know even where to begin with writing this post, especially after so many great posts by other event participants, and I suppose I will repeat many things that they said! The whole event was very "spontaneous", and I bet that in the end, it was beyond anyone's expectations... So many people showed up, that whenever we went, we would "overcrowd" others... HIVE was assimilating Kraków while Hivians were there! Everything happened so fast, the event announcement happened less than a month before, and those who came didn't hesitate a lot to go or not... You WANT to have these people as friends as they are real action-takers!
One of my photos from the salt mine excursion on Saturday morning, October 7th
Like many others, I had the same problem with taking photos from the event... Immediately as I meet someone, we start to talk and everyone forgets about phones, cameras... So, I didn't take many photos at all! 😱 If you want to see group photos, check out the #HiveBeeCon big photo post and if you would like to take a 3D Tour around the HiveBeeCon Saturday meetup, check this out this post and follow the link inside the post!
One (or a couple) of photos that I HAD to take, were the photos of @mipiano playing piano "concert" for the audience... 😃
Some of them were afraid to sit in the front row, so they were standing behind...
I was lucky enough that I had a chance to come back to the place where we had a main event for another two days! On Sunday and Monday, we were invited to visit The Kingdom (Królestwo Bez Kresu, or KBK, @krolestwo), so I had a chance to take more photos of the place itself (as I missed doing so in the first place! 😃)... You will find photos in between these lines...
I have already written half of this post in the comments all around the #HiveBeeCon tag posts in the last couple of days, so if you read them all, please don't mind if I repeat myself... The general idea of going to this event was to meet a couple of Hivians, get to know them better, and have some fun... As the premise was that the group would be small, it would be perfect to meet everyone and talk with every single person... But, that didn't happen as there were over 40 participants at the event!!! Some of them were outside HIVE and were surprised to see so many people at KBK, but they have been "assimilated" easily among positive and friendly Hivians! 😃 HIVE POWER!!!
So, despite that idea of meeting them all, I haven't managed to do so... again... So, we will have to go again and meet the rest (what a great excuse for a new meeting!)... Some of the locals came to the event and stayed a short time which was another obstacle to enjoying their company... While others, like myself, @mipiano, and @edje were coming over and over again to the KBK for 3 days in a row... They couldn't get rid of us! 😂
I'm deep into the post and I didn't even start with it... 😃 So, we came to Kraków by plane on Friday morning, after getting up at 3:30 AM! Luckily, we were able to enter the apartment before the official check-in and that gave us an hour or two extra that we used to take a rest... The first person that we met in Kraków was @edje, the Dutch guy that @mipiano knew from HIVE for a long time and that I had just a few exchanged comments... The thing is that the guy "stuck" with us the whole time during our stay in Kraków, and in the end, we called him the "adopted son"! 😃
I remember that we had some different opinions about certain things in the past and we had plenty of time to go over all of them in real life... I enjoyed his company as I always enjoy having debates with others who have different views than me... That's the best way to learn new things, to get a different perspective, and to better know and understand others! It was such a pleasure meeting you, @edje!
We went for a walk around the town, the Wisla (Vistula) river, and the castle... After that, we went back to the town to meet @livinguktaiwan and her husband Simon! After meeting LUT in Amsterdam at last year's HiveFest, this was the second time that we met... Last year, we didn't have too much time to talk, and we had to make it up this time... You would never believe that there is so much energy in that tiny person! 😃 When you meet her on HIVE, you will notice how she is everywhere! Creating great content, engaging with others, showing others their good side, helping everyone... Well, she isn't different in real life either! It was a pleasure to meet her (again) and her husband!
The very next day, the plan was to go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine (the first photo of this post was taken there... I will create an additional post(s) in the future about that excursion!), and a couple of us arranged to meet at the train station in the morning and travel together! Great idea to get some additional time for a talk and meetings! So, the #HiveBeeCon wasn't just a meetup but rather a chain of meetups!!!
At the train station, we met @delishtreats and her husband Stefan... The same as with LUT, I met her in Amsterdam, but I think that we barely exchanged a couple of words there, so this was another great opportunity to fix that... :) We had a great talk on the train, but also later at the event and in our walks around the town... I was joking in one of the comments at the posts from #HiveBeeCon that I had more talks with "non-Hivians" as her husband isn't on HIVE... yet... 😃
I had a great time talking with Stefan and I can easily replace one of my childhood friends with him and I wouldn't even notice! It was just amazing how you can connect with some people in just a few hours... Both of them were great and I'm sure that we will meet again in the future!
At the train station, we met another person that I met in Amsterdam! Last year, I met @zirochka, but we didn't have time to talk as the time was very limited... Also, she was going through a very hard period in her life and I suppose that was a very "mixed feelings" event... Hivians were showing support, but she had her husband far away from her...
She is another "small person" (by height 😀), but such a big person by heart!!! Always has a nice word for everyone, despite the problems that she carries on her own back... It was a pleasure meeting you @zirochka and I know that we will meet again!
Inside the train to Wieliczka, we met another two Hivians, @priyanarc, and @blind-spot! I have a very "dear memory" of these two guys... When I went to Amsterdam last year, they were the first HIVE people that I saw there, in front of the venue, with those red HIVE bags! I will never forget that! Also, they were one of the first people that I met on HIVE when I joined the chain... How great is that?! What is further interesting (what I have commented to @blind-spot at the lunch in Wieliczka) is that I clearly remember one of his posts that he wrote in Ukraine, before this ugly war...
They both are such dear people, with so different perspectives, but still so connected and bonded with each other, and the whole HIVE! We were talking about some hard topics, but we also had a lot of fun and laughs together... Meeting you for the second time was great and somehow, I know that we will get together for the third time, and fourth, and more...
We arrived at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, where we met with the rest of the group... Not everyone was able to get there, but a lot of us did, which was another great meetup, 130 meters under the ground! We met there @gtg, the "big boss" and the person who organized all this! I can't say enough THANKS for doing that; this may be a small act (as he always likes to say) but it made such a big impact on everyone involved in #HiveBeeCon... I would say not just for the participants who were physically there, but also for many people who were reading these posts in the past few days!!!
At the entrance of the mine, we met another two Hivians who came there directly from Berlin... The direction on their GPS was the Wieliczka Salt Mine as the final destination of the trip! At the same time, that was the starting point of their "HiveBeeCon experience tour"! We were lucky that we had time to hang out with @growandbow and @llunasoul in the next two days as it was a real pleasure! Two free spirits that are always positive, with such peculiar views of things and the world itself! We had so many laughs, even when I was joking with my new Catalan friend! 😃
We had another Hive couple at the event and the excursion to the mine... While I didn't have a talk with @lemony-cricket and @m31 at the event itself, we had a nice talk during the launch on Sunday... They are one of those "invisible" people who are working so much in the background for the whole HIVE blockchain and the community! Without them, HIVE wouldn't be what it is! I'm so glad that I was sitting close to them at the launch as I was able to grasp some valuable opinions and wisdom about crypto in general, curation, and many other things... Btw, these two guys were at HiveFest in Mexico and directly from there, came to this meetup in Kraków!!!
There were some other people at the salt mine excursion, but like I said before, not have enough time to talk with them there, so I did it at the HiveBeeCon main event, which happened on the same day, but in the afternoon hours... There I met @deepresearch, who explained the "second version" of the rules for playing the Latvian game Novuss (you will find the photo of the table below)... I have to admit that his rules had a lot more sense than those that Stefan (@delishtreats' husband) invented said... 😂
Speaking of Novuss, the person who saved the day was Lorenzo (@helicoptermoney or @lpa) who told us the REAL-REAL rules of the game... Until that point, everyone was adding their rules to the game and it was easier to win by inventing rules... So, in some way, Lorenzo "killed" the fun of the game... (just kidding! 😂) He came to the event later in the evening so we didn't have too much time for a talk, but on our last day in Kraków, we came back to the KBK and had an awesome talk with him about different topics starting with crypto, through banking, finances, CBDCs, horses, and imaginary countries around the world...
Back to the Novuss... The game united me with another interesting person at the event @evelynchacin, who was my partner in the game when I replaced @lemony-cricket who flew away to have a beer probably... 🍻 Or he escaped to be humiliated by the professional opponents in the game... 😂 Anyways, @evelynchacin and I took a loss with pride! We did our best, but someone had to lose and it was our turn... 😂
Btw. I have mentioned excuses for not coming to the meetup... Do you know that @evelynchacin came to the event being pregnant? And it's a matter of a day when her Olivia will come to the world! She was already knocking and waving at the #HiveBeeCon!
Did you know that you can pay with HBD in The Kingdom?
Maybe the image above is the perfect one to say a couple of words about the creator, the owner, and the host of this beautiful and magical place where we had #HiveBeeCon, The Kingdom! @hallmann is something really special... I have no idea from where he is getting all the energy, but besides having a regular job, he is coming to KBK every single day, cleaning the place, decorating, and hosting guests from all around the world... Helping them with integration into the local society, giving Polish lessons for free, offering shelter for the most needed, and having a nice word for everyone, every time...
Huge, huge hugs and big thanks to @hallmann for hosting this and for inviting us the next 2 days too for a cup of delicious tea and a lot of nice talks! You made this event special to everyone who participated!
Somewhere at the end of the event, late in the evening, I had a chance to exchange a couple of words with @phortun! It's a pity that we didn't have more time to talk, but he had his pregnant wife waiting for him at home, so it's understandable why he had to leave the next day... I hope we will have more time at some of the next events!
After the Sunday lunch, a couple of us took a short walk around the town
This was a moment when we had to say farewell to some Hivians
The last photo contains the most stubborn (foreign) Havians that stayed the longest in Kraków... We had a pizza that day and took a hot cocoa before leaving the city...
I have probably missed someone to mention, but there were so many people, and again, just a short time to meet and talk with everyone...
I didn't tag anyone in the photos as some of the participants would maybe mind that... But, you can easily connect the dots who is who... :)
Until the next meetup!
Thank you for your time and sorry for the long post 😃,
~ph~
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