Yesterday I attended the HiveBeeCon meetup in Krakow along with over 30 40 Hivers. Our day started off with a visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mine in the morning. 19 of us went, but that shall be for another post.
The Kingdom
After Wieliczka we went to The Kingdom for our gathering.
I think the best way to describe The Kingdom is a community. It's run by 
Hive account@hallman
Hive account@hallmann and personally I think the ethos behind it runs deeper than the physical venue, which itself is a ultra awesome place. I wish I took more photos of the place because it's so cool. Hopefully the few I did manage to take will give you an idea of the vibe. We even got to read the latest edition of the HiQ Magazine hot from Hivefest Rosarito thanks to 
Hive account@m31 and 
Hive account@lemony-cricket.
My favourite part of the venue is this big wardrobe by the kitchen on the left and toilet on the right. It's a logical place for people to hang their coats and bags. Or so I thought.
Except I couldn't be more wrong!! I opened the wardrobe door and it took me into another world. And I'm not joking!!!
The wardrobe door is a secret passage to another room where you can chill out, have a drink, chat and read or play a game of novuss.
Novuss is a board game like billiards and is a national sport of Estonia and Lativa. I shall be visiting both countries soon. I played a game of novuss with Mr 
Hive account@delishtreats (the guy in black) and we made up the rules as we went along because we had no idea how to play. Later on in the evening, Laurence, the guy in white (I know I spelt his name wrong) Lorenzo came and taught us how to play it properly. Laurence Lorenzo is an Italian working in Krakow, he's 
Hive account@lpa on Hive (I forgot his username) but not active. and I was told he has some really good insight into finance and economics, a much needed view from the real professionals on Hive instead of those who generate AI posts to milk upvotes. I think it's great that people who aren't necessarily active in chain are still very much part of the community off chain.
Meeting old and new friends
The best part of meetups are of course meeting people. I was so happy to see two of my dear friends again, 
Hive account@zirochka and Hive account@delishtreats whom I met at HF in Amsterdam last year
Along with 
Hive account@gandalf. None of this would have happened had it not been for him.
Hive account@priyanarc I also met last year in Amsterdam, and 
Hive account@mipiano, I'm so happy to meet her at last.
Last year I met Mr Hive account@mipiano 
Hive account@ph1102, it's great to see both of them together this year.
When we arrived, there were some other people that I didn't know or recognise, but turns out we have crossed paths on the chain before. For example, 
Hive account@jocieprosza. Initially I didn't recognise the name, until he mentioned my postcard exchange. Then I remembered! He was the user who collected stamps and we had exchanged postcards earlier this year. He was there with his wife and his adorable two year old son who's English is better than my Polish 😂. I had a great time playing with the kid. Turns out his wife (the dad not the kid) is also on Hive as 
Hive account@asia-pl. I have seen the username in the past and always wondered why a Polish person uses Asia in their username because for me, Asia is a continent. Turns out Asia is a nickname for Joanna in Polish! I would have never guessed that!
One person I recognised was 
Hive account@evelynchacin who is from Venezuela and I have curated her content from Pinmapple in the past. Then she went quiet for a while (at least on Pinmapple) and some months later she appeared in Poland with her partner and a baby bump. Evelyn is so sweet, and is due to give birth at the end of the month. You can see her baby bump is quite large already. Can't wait to hear of the good news.
Another prospective parent I met is 
Hive account@phortun, he caught an 8 hour train from Prague to attend HiveBeeCon leaving again the next day. I'm so glad he made it as I've been communicating with him on chain for a while, it's always very nice to meet friends in real life.
Evening entertainment
HiveBeeCon doesn't have any presentation, it's more of a get together. I think that's a lot more valuable as we never have enough time to mingle with people.
The highlight of the evening is a piano performance by Hive account@mipiano. But before that 
Hive account@growandbow (right below)found a guitar and soon he was jamming away with someone else who I didn't get a chance to meet. I'm guessing they haven't met before either, so I think it's just amazing how two strangers can just get together and start play music together. So much talent on Hive.
Finally it was Hive account@mipiano's turn. I'm surprised she said she was nervous as I know she often performs in public. The difference she says, is when she performs in public she doesn't know the people so there's no pressure. But here we all know each other. Ok, I get her point, but she really didn't have to worry at all. It was a superb performance.
For an hoc event, I think we had a very good turnout, in total over 30 40 people attended. You can see the full list in the post below as well as a group photo. Hopefully we will get to see more meetups on Hive.
@krolestwo/7-pazdziernika-ad-2023
