Happy 22 1/2 years old today! The itinerary goes:
Breakfast on your own,
Bus
Visit Bratislava old town/lunch had a bagel
The old town looks amazing as all of them seem to. The old town hall here has been around for quite awhile, but didn't really start being used fully until 1434.
Six year old Mozart played here in Pallfys Palace.
Next stop was a visit to Punkva Caves. These are the most popular in the Moravian Karst (whatever that means). They look beautiful. Visitors tour the caves by boat. The tour is billed as a "romantic water cruise" and even though you're with lots of other people, I think it would be.
There is also the Macocha Abyss. 138 meters deep.
MEANWHILE...on the 18th, Dave and I left for Poland! We got up at 5 a.m. and took the shuttle to the airport. We wanted to get there early because Dave had a problem with his ticket. On the ticket his name was Byd. We both tried on the phone to get it corrected. No luck. Happily, no problem at the airport. Very nice lady had us fixed up in five minutes. We had breakfast at the airport Market Street Grill. Best omlette I've ever eaten in my life. Dave's alas, was no so great.
But the important thing was that we got on that plane. We even had an extra cute passenger on the flight.
Not quite as long as a layover in Houston as we thought we'd have due to a weather detour. We grabbed some mediocre pizza at a place with terrible service and were first in line for our boarding group. I was consistently in group 3, but Dave, possibly being punished for having a name problem, was always in group 5. Here he is in the sad group 5 line.
Once on the plane we sat on the runway for over an hour, but once we finally got on our way there was no problem. Shout out to United airlines for actually having leg room! There was an amazing selection of movies. I watched one, read, slept and even learned a little French through the airline Berlitz program. Happily, once in Munich we discovered we hadn't missed our connection after all. As per protocal, our gate was at the extreme far end of the very large airport. When it was time to board, they put us all on a tram and we were driven 100 yards to the airplanelet. I wouldn't have minded a much longer flight. Despite having slept much of the flight, I was out.
June 19,2015 Poland
Hooray, we're all together in the same time zone at last. She visited Auschwitz with her group, to a bus to Krakow and had her study abroad farewell dinner at Restauracja Morskie Oko--which we found out more about when we got to Krakow ourselves. But that was still in the future. While she was doing all that, we were still just trying to get to Poland.
Our Day,
Sometime in the blur of airplanes it became June 19. To our relief, the airport in Wroclaw (pronounced wrote-suave) had English signs. Also large Gnomes. Wroclaw is famous for having cute little gnomes all over the city to entertain the tourists. The airport ones were huge. I guess they figure the tourists are all jet-lagged and need extra help.
I also liked this flying gnome.
We arrived with some Polish money, but thought we'd better get a whole lot more. To my amusement, the ATM's are called "bankomats."
We also found a very helpful lady at the info desk. We opted to take a taxi because we wanted to be sure of getting to the right place. The driver was lots of fun. He labored with very limited English, but he kept sprinkling in German words. Dave told him we spoke a little German, he lit up with joy, immediately assuming that we were fluent. And off he went--he told us everything about everything we passed.. I was proud of us. We understood pretty much everything, and dragged a respectable amount of petrified German out of our jet-lagged brains. I asked him how to say thank you in Polish. He did his best and also tried to teach us hello and goodbye. No luck. Clearly, the Poles think if a word isn't at least 15 letters long, it isn't worth saying. We're actually renting an apartment here rather than a standard hotel. He dropped us off at the place where we picked up the key. Which was a good 10/15 minute walk from the apartment IF you know where you are going. It took us one wrong turn with all of our luggage, but we made it in the end. SCARY outside. The apartment is an ugly yellow in a little alley complete with graffiti.
Up the ugly green stairwell to the first floor (three flights up) and into---a lovely spacious apartment. The bedrooms are easily twice the size of ours at home.
We freshened up a little, and went out to explore with the goal of staying awake until a reasonable hour. The old town was nearby and completely charming. We saw our first real gnomes. Just like the real Wroclaw, I'll be sprinkling the gnomes throughout the rest of our stay without explanation.
The old town had lovely buildings straight out of Disney.
and even a "beach."
We tried our first street food from the most interesting cart shaped like a train.
I had a huge kebab, a big scoop of little potatoes and some veggies. Dave had a huge sausage (excellent mustard), a traditional saurkrautish dish and veggies. We also got some overpriced lemonade from the stand next door. The weather was overcast and a little rainy. We looked at the stalls in the old town. They were selling things like cheese, pastries, wooden toys, dried fruits, clothes and purses.
The next day we were going to meet Catherine at the train station so we thought it would be a good idea to know where this was. We walked about 1/2 an hour in the wrong direction. Tried again and found it. Along the way we found the mall, the opera house, our first of many H &M stores,
A delicatessen thoughtfully named after my mother,
and these cool street statues.
Down on one side of the street,
Up on the other
We stopped for a rest by a beautiful river with trees--Wroclaw is the "Venice of Poland."
Pigeons, of course.
We didn't have time this trip to discover the full meaning of life, but I'm sure we could have found that answer here.
Passing a grocery store we bought bread, a string of small round bagel looking things,
jam, spreadable cheeses (laughing cow style, but in 4 different flavors), milk and woolite. Check out the cakes at this little store.
We also learned the most important Polish word, "Lody" it means italian ice-cream. Got some of that of course!
We went back to our apartment and slept until 2 a.m. when the slats gave way on Dave's side of the bed. We fixed it enough to get by and slept like the dead for 11 hours. Getting up at a respectable 9. a.m.
June 20, 2015 Poland
This is the official last day of the study abroad. The group will tour the old town and Jewish quarter in Krakow, but Catherine left he group in the morning and took the train to meet us in Wroclaw.
We, meanwhile, were discovering a few quirks in the apartment. Very few plugs, and none in the bathroom or near any of the mirrors. There was a big flat screen TV, but it only got one channel--The Polish people's court. I tried the mini bagels on a string--hard and dry, but still quite good. They would be wonderful for baby-teething and had a taste like zwieback cookies. I had bread and cheese and GAAAACK!!!!! That is NOT milk.
After some serious tooth-brushing. We walked to the train station (about a 45 min walk), seeing some interesting sights along the way.
Of course we saw H and M. H and M's are everywhere. I had no idea.
We found Catherine.
as usual, was carrying a seriously heavy load--an overstuffed backpack and several bags, none of them light. We had planned to take home some of her stuff with us, but still.... I don't know how she managed to lug all of that to the train station in Krakow, about a 45 minute walk on her end as well. We weren't nearly so hardy and got a taxi. This taxi driver, alas, did not speak either English or German, and also had no clue where the apartment was (can't really blame him, it was in a little alley). He got us sort of somewhere close and pointed. Then, with all of her stuff---heavy even with all three of us, we wandered around lost until we found the old town and then the hotel. She showed us the wonderful treasures she had collected on her travels and then demanded to be fed (some things never change). With umbrellas in hand (it was cool and rainy the whole time we were there. We took her to the old town, which had this little Alice in Wonderland section.
We had a rather expensive lunch in the beautiful town hall. Alas, we did not get the Goethe table.
First Pierogi!
Portions for everything were huge. Catherine was a little baffled as to how to approach half a duck.
That is, except for what we needed most. Water. Apparently Europe doesn't believe in water. They also don't seem to believe in bathrooms, so I guess that all works out. You can order your water either still or sparkling, and you pay big Zlottys for it.
Also, at the restaurant there were beggars who kept trying to get in. This was a little surprising, as this was a very nice place. The waitress, had to keep shooing them out.
After lunch we lazily explored the street stalls, and the flower market
The cutest gnomes I've ever seen...
the rest of the town hall. Town Hall was sort of an odd collection of fantastic furniture and commemorative tributes, some very old, like this king and queen from the 1200's.
We got some gelatos---the most important word in Polish is "Lody"--it means ice-cream.
Lody Barton. The first Lody place we found and it remained a favorite.
Then we went back to the hotel for a nap. It was much harder to wake up from the nap than it was to wake up in the morning. After we woke up, Dave did some work and I did some trip planning. We went back to the old town and tried to see the biggest church there, St. Elizabeth Cathedral. We weren't allowed to go in because mass was in progress, but we were allowed to climb to the top. These things always seem like a good idea when one is on the ground. Not so much 10 minutes later.
But we made it and were rewarded with a terrific view.
Can't go any higher.
Still unable to get inside after we came down, we hunted for "Stale Jitski" a tiny little street that used to be used as the slaughtering area, but is now full of trendy little shops and some great cast iron statues in honor of the animals.
After this we were hungry again so we went back to the train food cart. There are actually quite a few beggars in Wroclaw. One nice looking gentleman cam asking for money saying that he was hungry. We didn't give him any money, but the portions we got were huge, and there was no way we could finish. We called him over to our table, and motioned that he could have the leftovers if he wanted to. He seemed very happy about that. By this time it was about 8 at night. We didn't expect much to be open, but we found the river.
and University (not the one where Dave was having his conference), and looked around the grounds.
We also picked up some paper towels at the grocery store. After that, we came home by way of the friendly neighborhood alligator
and ate Catherine's stroop wafflen and chocolate (of which she had brought a ton), and relaxed.
June 21, 2015 Wroclaw Happy Birthday Dave!
LOUD drunken people under our window all night. But once we got up for real, it was time to wish Dave Happy Birthday AND Happy Father's Day. At our house pancakes are a requirement for Sundays, and we had a found a great looking place, so Dave opened presents and then we headed out for pancakes, but when we went there it wasn't open yet. So we went back home, had breakfast and then changed into nice clothes to go to mass at St. Elizabeth's.
They weren't thrilled about letting us in, even though we were clearly dressed for church, since we were also clearly tourists, but they gave in in the end. The cathedral was standard European mind-blowing, and mass was interesting even though we're not Catholic and we couldn't understand a word. Across the way from the church was the extremely helpful tourist information place. We stopped in and they helped me and Catherine book a tour of lower Silesia. She wanted to go back to Stale Jitske to look at the shops. Shops were closed, but we got better pictures of the animals. Including this golden goat doot.
This was all very near our place so we went back, changed then headed back out to really explore. We found the river again, which was having a random book give away this time.
I found a learn German book written in Polish that I thought Dad would like. Also interesting was this statue. The first time we saw her she was wearing a t-shirt.
Across the river we could see a tall building that had the Harry Potter icon. We were sure it was a hotel, but Catherine couldn't resist looking. It was a hotel of course, not in the least romantic.
After our nap we went back to the old town to get a "chimney cake" from one of the cute stalls. Catherine loved it, I thought it was kind of blah. For Dave's birthday I had snuck a "cake candelabra" to Poland. We tried to put it in the chimney cake and light it. Massive fail, but I think the candelabra is still cute.
Carrying on with the suggested guidebook sites, we found the Ossolineum--which is part of the university.
We went into the small, pretty garden
and into the library, but this was obviously not the famous library. Most of this area was closed for Sunday. We DID find the right Cathedral island. Wow.
These gas lamps are famous. Wroclaw is one of the very few places left in the world that still employs a lamplighter.
They are serious about not sitting on the chains.
At the souvenir stall before the bridge we found a souvenir stall selling what looked to be the best gnomes so far. We bought it. The bridge to the island was interesting too. It was covered with locks just like Paris.
The island is rightly named. There were 5 or six large Cathedrals, St. John the Baptist was the most amazing.
One of the other Cathedrals--most of the churches we saw had this pretty red and white brickwork.
There was also a Jesuit seminary and street musicians.
We walked slowly toward home.
The town is full of lovely surprises like these historic sidewalk markers.
and a friendly neighborhood alligator,
We had dinner at Burger Love. Good burgers, but no fries, only coleslaw. I liked these chairs.
On our way home we found our friend, Melina and her son, Eli who were also there for the conference. We chatted and then got hot chocolate, and Catherine introduced me to "string cheese." Oh my, best stuff ever.
We lit the candles and sang at Dave again.
We ended the day at about 17,000 steps.
June 22, 2015 Wroclaw
Dave had to go to his conference and present, so this was the day Catherine and I chose to take the tour of Lower Silesia. My mother is from this area of the world. Sadly, my uncle was not able to pinpoint exactly where they had lived, so I wasn't able to visit the old farm, but I at least wanted to see the countryside.
Our guide was a young man named Thomas, and I could kick myself for never getting a picture of him! He was wonderful. He spoke excellent English and was very easy to talk to. He picked us up at our apartment and we headed south. The scenery reminded me if Iowa--but with more hills, green, lovely with fluffy white clouds that day. we drove by miles and miles of fields of poppies and lavender. Thomas told us that mothers used to use the poppies to make little chew bags to quiet their babies. Wonder if Omi ever did that? Did Mom grow up on opium?
The first stop, about an hour form Wroclaw, was Swidnica Church of Peace.
It is the largest timber-framed church in Europe. There is good reason why it doesn't look like a church on the outside. It was built in the mid 17th century when Protestants were out of favor. To build the church at all, they had to follow these rules: Only use perishable materials, such as wood, and hay, it could not look like a church, could not have a bell tower or bell and had to be completed in one year. They were outwardly compliant, but just look at the inside!
Around the church was a wonderful cemetery--overgrown and spooky.
Back in the van, and next stop was Ksiaz Castle.The third largest castle in Poland, it was built toward the end of the 13th century.
A lion for Dave.
The castle changed hands many times until the Hochberg family got a hold of it in 1605. Much of the current tour tells the story of the Duchess Maria Teresa Olivia, "Daisy."
She married into the family at 17 for wealth and importance, but was never very happy. Here is a small breakfast parlor.
A doorway that I liked.
Daisy worked as a nurse during WW1. During WWII a reporter published an article telling that the family was working against Hitler. Obviously, the Nazi's weren't going to tolerate that. Hitler had the castle confiscated. Daisy lived the rest of her days in a villa in another city. She died in 1943, no one knows where exactly she is buried. Today the castle can be rented out for weddings and conferences.
After seeing the castle, we had a quick lunch at a little stand near the parking lot---sausage and bread with mustard. Thomas asked if Polish sausage in America was like this? It isn't, and I was trying to explain how sausages here are much smaller. Thomas pointed out that it was ironic that I was in Poland trying to explain Polish sausage to a Polish person. Couldn't argue with that!
The last stop on this tour was at the complex Osowka, a huge underground construction the Nazi's began but didn't finish. No one knows what the purpose of these tunnels was. Conspiracy theories abound, but the only certain thing was that the working conditions for the prisoners sent here was appalling.
Don't know exactly what this was. Just another deep hole in another tunnel. Dark, scary and miserable.
A few cannons and odds and ends were left out. Sadly, the countryside here was beautiful. I could just see Mom going into the hills looking for mushrooms.
On the way home, I was talking to Thomas about the rest of our plans, specifically, whether he could take us on the Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour? The original plan had been to take a day trip to Auschwitz when we were in Krakow, but our time in Krakow was very short, and it seemed to me that if we went to Auschwitz on one day and the salt mines on the other, we would have very little time to see the city. Thomas was happy to sell us another tour--and then kindly made the suggestion that if we wanted he could just drop us off in Krakow, rather than bring us all the way back to Wroclaw only to have to take the train back to Krakow the next morning. A great idea.
When we got back to town, we met up with Dave and set off for the old town to meet my cousin, Carolyn and her daughter, Bella. I hadn't seen Carolyn for years and had never met Bella. But they are world travelers and Bella just graduated from high school and wanted a European trip to celebrate. They'd never been to Poland, and the timing worked out. It was fantastic to see them. We had a loooooooong dinner at a nice Pierogi place in the old town.
In Poland, and I guess most of Europe, they don't bring you the check unless you ask for it--if you can catch the eye of the waiter, that is. You can sit at the table all night. We had a lot of catching up to do and did sit there for hours. Also, very exciting for me, was the appetizer--OFFAFET!!! Offafet is something of a shameful secret of my past. When Omi made anything with bacon (which was often), she would pour off the grease into a little jar and put it in the fridge. When it solidified, she would spread it onto homemade bread and eat it--sometimes with mustard. I loved offafet sandwiches. But somewhere in my teenage years, realized that eating pure fat out of the jar wasn't a great idea, especially since I already had a weight problem. I hadn't eaten offafet in probably 30 years. But here it was! In public! As a perfectly reasonable and delicious thing to eat! I think this variety had lard as well as bacon grease, so it wasn't quite as yummy, but it was a start! I ate up hearty, and it was wonderful. Offafet might just make a reappearance in my fridge someday. After dinner, we discovered that although Carolyn and Bella were also staying in an Absynt hotel, it wasn't our hotel. They were actually staying at the main location where we picked up our keys. We went with them to see the place. MUCH nicer lobby, with room service and everything. We said goodnight and walked home in the rain. Stopping for some lody (ice-cream) on the way.
At home, we wrote some postcards, washed some socks and went to bed.
4:30 a.m. Another drunken idiot starts yelling. At this point I got up to take his picture, but I was too late. All was quiet. I got back into bed and just as I'm drifting off, he starts singing (yelling)--in English, from the Titanic, "My heart will go onnnnnnn."
June 23, 2015 Wroclaw
Carolyn and Bella came over to our place for breakfast. We did have an oven and stove top, but we didn't want to buy a bunch of ingredients for just the 5 days we were there. We all munched on toast, jam, cheese, yogurt, bananas and those little teething bagels. After breakfast, Dave had to go to his conference.
Carolyn and Bella hadn't seen anything yet, so first we went back to the little street with the cast iron animals so they could see it and Catherine could pick up some art supplies. Then we continued on to the University--open this time, and saw the famous lecture hall.
Socrates, one of many great minds featured in the hall.
After this, we climbed to the top of the math tower for great views of the city.
Then next door to the Ossolineum, which used to be a palace, but is now a library.
Great doors and great people, Bella, Carolyn and Catherine.
THIS was the real library--there was a fun room on the main floor displaying professorial robes. Why doesn't Dave's look like this?
And Professorial scepters. Again, why doesn't Dave have one of these?
And nifty gadgets of all kinds.
Upstairs there were more exhibits. Somewhere in there there is an original manuscript by Copernicus,. We never found that, but we did find original works by Albrecht Durer.
Self portrait.
Then to my delight, we found a room full of real card catalogs!! This was not an exhibit. People were using them.
After this we were all hungry, so we stopped at the library cafe for lunch. This was a bit of a challenge. There were no pictures and no English on the menu. Between us we spoke German, French, Russian and Italian none of which helped a lot here (Russian was the closest). Carolyn could tell the difference between soups and the main dish and roughly what the main dish was, but the only thing we were 100% ssure about was the cheesecake because we could see it. So lunch was a surprise.
We wound up with two bowls of lentil soup (very good), and two bowls of beet soup with chunks of hard boiled egg (better than it sounds, but not a favorite). Carolyn and Bella had chicken with rice and pickled cucumber. Catherine and I had pork? veal? with potatoes and cauliflower. We all had the fluffy cheesecake.
Next, I thought Carolyn and Bella needed to see Cathedral island, which was nearby and definitely worth seeing twice for us. On the way we looked into a random church. BEST church ever!!
Almost all the churches we saw had this lovely redbrick interior.
But one of the wings of this church had something different.
Yup. A religious altar on the left, a wonderful toy scene on the right. Put in a couple of zlotty's and it all moved.
Beautiful details everywhere.
I think every church should have something like this. Just think of the money we could raise to send missionaries out! Catherine says that I would never pay any attention to the talks if there were toys. I told her that that is completely irrelevant.
On Cathedral island, we went back to St. John's.I saw all kinds of details that I had missed before.
But first, here is Peter with the keys of the kingdom.
We climbed to the top of the cathedral. Awesome views and gargoyles.
We also paid to see one of the side wings which had exquisite baroque sanctuaries. I loved the doors, not just here, but everywhere in Wroclaw. There were all kinds--big medieval doors with iron hinges, beautifully carved wooden doors like this, graceful tall doors. It would be fun to make a picture book, "The doors of Wroclaw"
All over the city, but especially on this island, priests and nuns in full dress. One picture I would have loved to have taken, but didn't dare, was on our way out. In a small sanctuary was a pretty young nun on her knees arranging flowers. She seemed to me to symbolize grace and devotion.
After this, we were all tired and went back to our hotels for a short nap.
One of the things all the guidebooks are adamant about seeing is Centennial Hall--even though by their own description, it isn't all that great. Still---you haven't seen Wroclaw if you haven't seen the hall. So go see the hall or you'll be deported!! Not really but close. Ok! Ok! we'll go see the hall. Carolyn and Bella were still asleep, but we had agreed to meet at the hall because Carolyn knew of a good Georgian restaurant not far from there.
The story of the hall is pretty funny. I quote from Wroclaw in your Pocket, "...his proposal was chosen over 42 others by city council despite abject objection from almost everyone who laid eyes on the design which resembled a colossal concrete hatbox." It remains an engineering monument of its type. So, is this really a winner after all? Or just first in a field of one?
The grounds also feature this giant steel spire, which has an equally problematic history. It was built in 1948 as part of a celebration of Poland's stunning achievements since its return to communism. Originally, it was 106 meters high and topped with a big spinning contraption of mirrors which would create a "dazzling umbrella of light." Instead it was struck by lightning only hours after completion and became a "dazzling catastrophe." The remaining bits were a real hazard and the military couldn't figure out how to take the the top off. Instead, two college students from the climbing club came to the rescue, and the spire was reduced to 96 meters. Again I quote from the guidebook, "Today the ugly ribbed structure continues to stand outside Centennial Hall and is probably one of the tallest pieces of useless bolted metal in the world."
The area did have some redeeming features though. The guidebook also sang the praises of the nightly water fountain show. There were also lovely covered walkways.
Plus, a beautiful Japanese garden. We strolled through the gardens and finished just as Bella and Carolyn came to meet us.
The fountain is nice in the daytime, but we were determined to come back later and see the show.
Now it was time for dinner! The Georgian place was about 2 kilometers away, not bad and we got to see to city on the way.
Carolyn spent years in Russia, and knew just what to order. This was a fast-foody kind of place, But you could still linger forever. There were different kinds of bread with meat and cheese. One came with a raw egg on top. Ick, but Carolyn knew to mix the egg with the cheese while it was still hot so the egg cooked. It made a delicious creamy, cheesy topping.
This little gnome is striking the same pose as the big statue. I think Dave looks equally studly as well.
The light show really was world class. A lot of the people from Dave's conference were there to see it as well. A perfect end to the day.
Well, almost an end. We still had to wait for the train which dropped us off near Carolyn's hotel. Then walk back to our own. Total for the day was 26,153 steps (11.41 miles) and 40 staircases.
June 24, 2015 WroclawOne of the things all the guidebooks are adamant about seeing is Centennial Hall--even though by their own description, it isn't all that great. Still---you haven't seen Wroclaw if you haven't seen the hall. So go see the hall or you'll be deported!! Not really but close. Ok! Ok! we'll go see the hall. Carolyn and Bella were still asleep, but we had agreed to meet at the hall because Carolyn knew of a good Georgian restaurant not far from there.
The story of the hall is pretty funny. I quote from Wroclaw in your Pocket, "...his proposal was chosen over 42 others by city council despite abject objection from almost everyone who laid eyes on the design which resembled a colossal concrete hatbox." It remains an engineering monument of its type. So, is this really a winner after all? Or just first in a field of one?
The grounds also feature this giant steel spire, which has an equally problematic history. It was built in 1948 as part of a celebration of Poland's stunning achievements since its return to communism. Originally, it was 106 meters high and topped with a big spinning contraption of mirrors which would create a "dazzling umbrella of light." Instead it was struck by lightning only hours after completion and became a "dazzling catastrophe." The remaining bits were a real hazard and the military couldn't figure out how to take the the top off. Instead, two college students from the climbing club came to the rescue, and the spire was reduced to 96 meters. Again I quote from the guidebook, "Today the ugly ribbed structure continues to stand outside Centennial Hall and is probably one of the tallest pieces of useless bolted metal in the world."
The area did have some redeeming features though. The guidebook also sang the praises of the nightly water fountain show. There were also lovely covered walkways.
Plus, a beautiful Japanese garden. We strolled through the gardens and finished just as Bella and Carolyn came to meet us.
The fountain is nice in the daytime, but we were determined to come back later and see the show.
Now it was time for dinner! The Georgian place was about 2 kilometers away, not bad and we got to see to city on the way.
Happily, we didn't stop at this burger joint.
Carolyn spent years in Russia, and knew just what to order. This was a fast-foody kind of place, But you could still linger forever. There were different kinds of bread with meat and cheese. One came with a raw egg on top. Ick, but Carolyn knew to mix the egg with the cheese while it was still hot so the egg cooked. It made a delicious creamy, cheesy topping.
After dinner, on the way back to the light show we made a pit stop at the mall. World's greenest bathroom I think.
The mall was a bonanza of gnomes.
This little gnome is striking the same pose as the big statue. I think Dave looks equally studly as well.
The light show really was world class. A lot of the people from Dave's conference were there to see it as well. A perfect end to the day.
Well, almost an end. We still had to wait for the train which dropped us off near Carolyn's hotel. Then walk back to our own. Total for the day was 26,153 steps (11.41 miles) and 40 staircases.
Last Day in Wroclaw. And, owwwwww. Today my knees made themselves known. I'm scheduled for a total knee replacement in a few months, and a trip like this is about the worst possible thing I could be doing--let alone climbing up and down Cathedral stairs. But, as I told the doctor, I'm going on this trip, and I fully intend to do what I want--the knees are just going to have to come along for the ride. He rolled his eyes and gave me some heavy painkillers. But I was tough, and just took the regular painkillers--stronger than tylenol but not narcotic like the big daddys. Then we walked somewhat slowly to meet Carolyn and Bella at Cafe Central for breakfast. This place is famous for breakfast, especially for pancakes. One of the things I loved best about Poland is that everywhere I looked were pretty scenes like this. The restaurant was on the ground floor of one of these buildings.
Oh yes! Bacon in between the layers. Great idea.
FIRST TIME EVER. You know how people will talk about being unable to finish some kind of food because it's just "too rich"? I've never understood that. I have never, and I mean NEVER found any kind of cake, fudge or whatever that was too rich for me to not eat a huge piece of it until now. This hot sipping chocolate was TOO RICH for me! It was delicious, but I couldn't possibly have finished it.
Roughly translated this sign says, "From this place from 1941-1944 the Breslauer Jews were deported by the National Socialists. We never want to forget."
There were exhibits around the hall, and an accordion player was preparing for an big event that night.
Our next stop was the National Museum. Kudos to Carolyn, we had seen this building during our wanderings yesterday,but I could never have found it again myself. She is a first class navigator.
Pretty ceiling in the main hall.
A wood cut that I liked (description of it below). As we were soon to discover, one does not simply roam aimlessly around in a Polish museum. If you enter a wing of the museum, you are making a commitment to SEE that wing. And you will see every bit of art in that wing, and you will not backtrack if you want to take another look. Catherine and I had no idea that this was the case, and accidentally turned the wrong direction. This made the attendant very unhappy, but we couldn't figure out what we did wrong. Soon, we were at a juncture, and this time accidentally turned the correct direction--this won us smiles and applause from the attendant. She must have called ahead to all the other guards in the area to warn them of our coming. Thereafter, we were shepherded from room to room with no chance of making a mistake. Once out of a wing you were allowed to go up or down or rest or whatever, but if you decide to view say, pottery. Then that is what you will view. Each and every pot.
I like art and I enjoyed much of what I saw. To my great irritation, I was forced to sit down more than I would have liked, but still---with the prodding of the museum staff--saw pretty much all of it. I wonder what they would have done if I really couldn't have continued? Would they have let me limp away a hallway unseen? Just as well I didn't put them to the test.
In the park across the street from the museum, were these irresistible fat stone chairs. They were quite uncomfortable, but you had to sit in them. Human nature is just that way. We had no choice.
Bella
Carolyn
Catherine
Dave
Me
Dave wanted to take a closer look at some ruins we had passed by while he was at the conference.
Nifty model of the old city walls.
I liked this hidden relief work of a frog rescue.
The park and the river had a "promenade." Being the "Venice" of Poland, the city encourages walkers. Accordingly, we promenaded ourselves by the river and through the park. A biker took a fall right at Dave's feet. I really don't think it was Dave's fault, but he felt bad for the guy.
So pretty.
Random palatial building.
This statue was moving. I added the descriptive plaque below.
Moving from the poignant to the silly--this was an awesome fountain.
Darn it! The puppet show was closed. This is what we were hoping to see. Judging by the magnificence of the theater, it must be quite a show.
One of the puppet props.
Dave liked this ad.
This was fun. We walked what felt like miles (and probably was) back toward home and did some shopping in the little stalls. As we were shopping, a parade come by---
Complete with brass band. No idea what the parade was for, so we will assume it was in our honor.
Taking a well-earned lody break. One of the rare times I passed on the ice-cream. I was still sweeted out from the morning chocolate.
We went home to rest and pack. And then met at Humberto's for dinner. Service took forever as usual, I had fried camembert, fries and a carrot salad. I felt very full of cheese---you didn't think I went past all those stalls without indulging in some major cheese?
This time, when we got home, I gave in and took a scary pill for my abused knee. If the drunks were singing in the alley, I didn't hear it.
June 25, 2015 Krakow
Catherine, who had just been to Auschwitz the week before, had no desire to go again so soon. So she used one of the train tickets we had bought and caught the 7:00 a.m. train to Krakow. Thomas picked us up at 8. Also along was a guy named Mark from Dave's conference. We swung by Carolyn's and picked them up--again plus luggage. It was all quite efficient. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours. Thomas didn't go through Auschwitz with us. Can't blame him! There was no need. Once he got us through the line, we were assigned to a group of about 30 people with a guide. They were clever about how they handled the tours. We all had a little box radio and tuned into our guides frequency, we all heard everything and the guide didn't have to shout. We didn't take many pictures. It's overwhelming emotionally to go there, so it's hard to know what will have meaning later.
A couple of things that stood out to me. I knew that most people were sent straight to the gas chambers, but I didn't put together just how quickly that happened. The guide said that for most people, because most were sent directly to death, our visit to the compound would last longer than their stay at the camp.
The picture I wish I'd taken was of another picture. In this picture an officer is at the head of the line making the "selection"--left the person goes to work, right the person goes to the gas chamber. An elderly gentleman is at the head of the line, and if you look at the shadow of the officer, it is clear that the soldier is pointing to the right.
The buildings themselves were old army barracks, and so much nicer than I expected.
There were many displays like this, of shoes or glasses or even hair. But this one of cooking pots got to me because so many were exactly the same as what is in my kitchen right now.
One of the creamatoriums.
Some prisoners had a sort of "trial." They were shot at this wall.
The bunks don't look too horrible in this picture, but the bottom level was directly on the floor, and people were crammed in. It was important to be on the top bunk. Almost of the prisoners quickly became seriously ill with diarrhea or dysentery or other diseases. They were locked in these rooms--and with bathroom privileges only twice a day....you didn't want to be on the bottom.
As we were looking at the ruins in Birkenau, a rabbi was nearby with his own group telling stories. I drifted over to his group and listened to this kind and sincere man. Our own guide was quite good and sincere himself. He's been giving tours for 8 years and says people often ask him how he can do such a thing? He says that most of the guides working there have some sort of personal connection to the camp. Working there keeps the memories alive that should not be forgotten.
My favorite story of Auschwitz is this story of an escape. Four prisoners stole German uniforms (I don't know how), and simply drove out in the Kommandant's car. Ha! I would have loved to see the face of that Kommandant. One of the men just recently died at age ninety-something.
Meanwhile, while we were on our tour, Catherine had been having adventures of her own. She got to Krakow in the morning and discovered that the Bed and Breakfast where we were staying is nowhere near anything. She walked about three miles and found it (Thank you google and T-mobile unlimited data plan), then went back to the old town and saw the archeology museum. She said the museum was fascinating, and again she was very directed as to where to go and in what order to see things. No skipping things or slacking off.
Thomas, our tour guide now went an hour out of his way (plus another hour back), to take us to Krakow. I don't think the other passenger knew about this little detour--he didn't seem too pleased. The farther we went in the boonies the more uncomfortable Thomas seemed. When we found the place he wasn't at all sure it was the right place. But Catherine had come back to meet us, and the owner--who was darling and only spoke Polish, was there, so we were in the right place. We unload the luggage and thanked Thomas profusely as well as gave him a large tip.
The pension, Rud Nadawa, was darling.
Comfy looking beds (except Catherine's was a pull out), and being in the middle of nowhere, presumably no loud drunken oafs yelling under the window.
Comfy looking beds (except Catherine's was a pull out), and being in the middle of nowhere, presumably no loud drunken oafs yelling under the window.
Ecelectic Hallway
Pretty Tapestries
And a very promising looking breakfast area.
Happily, although the pension wasn't close to anything, the bus stop wasn't too far off. We hopped on (again, no thanks to my non-existent navigation skills), and got pretty close to the old city center.
Walking along one of many narrow alleys.
And.....ahhhhh. A beautiful town square. The building in the back is cloth hall. A medieval building where people really did trade and sell cloth, but now has lots of little booths with people selling all kinds of stuff.
Neat Accent
Both girls wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Fine with us and talk about a charming facade on the building!
Our view from the Hard Rock. There were even some brides in the square.
No idea who this musician is, but apparently he's hot stuff in Poland.
Fun Street Performer.
And another one.
No idea why this ram was here.
This gives an idea of how large this ram was. I liked him. He was cheerful.
The carriage rides weren't too expensive, so we took one around the town.
Bella and Carolyn in the carriage.
The sun sets in Krakow too. I washed out a few things and started reading a fascinating book about an Aushwitz prisoner who was the infamour Dr. Mengele's assistant.
June 26. 2015 Krakow
So fun! After a peaceful night with no drunken singers, we woke up to a beautiful breakfast. There was a cheese board, salamis, watermelon, bread with cream cheese, jam or honey, olives, tomatoes, yogurts, scrambled eggs if we wished, and real hot chocolate all served on china. It looked like something that would be at home in a Jane Austen movie. I wonder how much work it is to clear all that away and do the dishes? I'd love to serve things so beautifully at home.
Also beautiful was the backyard. It was a treat to see big lazy bumblebees. I can't remember the last time I saw a real bumblebee at home.
Then we were off on today's adventure. The Wieliczka Salt Mines. We saw this on a Rick Steve's video and I was dying to take the tour. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. But first we had to get there. We walked to the bus stop. (All of us liked the name of the wino store--and we liked to see the sign because it meant we were close to our pension).
Then to the train station. The mines weren't far. Only a 20 minute ride or so. Carolyn and Catherine worth their weight in gold-figuring out which train we were supposed to take.
These mines have been in operation for hundreds of years. They only stopped mining operations in the 1990's and became a tourist destination.
Once inside, we were sorted into groups according to language. And led to the staircase. We had to walk down 54 flights of stairs to get to the touring level. Just as well neither my doctor nor I knew about that!
The miners have been making salt carvings in the mines for years. Here's Dave and Goethe.
Including the chandeliers.
They let us walk down the salt stairs and have a good look around.
Mass is still held there every Sunday.
My favorite were the reliefs.
And there was the good King showing us the way.
Or a friendly little guy
We had a cafeteria style lunch 140 meters underground. Pretty good food. Catherine and Dave had huge cabbage rolls. I had a pork thing and cucumber salad. I like the way Poles do salads. When they say "mixed salad" they mean that they are offering a variety of salads, green, cucumber, carrot, beet, tomato etc.
None of us drank the diesel fuel.
The movie was a disappointment. Not much 4-D about it. There were some cool interactive exhibits, and the gift shop was fun too. I bought some salt for my sister. What with bathroom breaks, and stopping to see things, it felt like forever before we left the mines, but that was okay, we didn't have anything specific planned.
The elevators are not for the claustrophobic. There were two levels of elevators.
And they stuffed as many people as possible into a small cage, locked the door behind you and up you went.
We took the train back to Old Town Krakow via a very modern mall (malls all over the world look alike). This mall had a grocery store, which I thought was unusual. Security was NOT happy that I took this picture, but they couldn't communicate with me, and played dumb, so they just glared at me and went away.
In the Old Town they were having a festival. Oh my goodness! Foodie heaven! Fried cheese, pastries, slabs of bread, sausages, gingerbread, dried fruit (coconut was wonderful) and chocolate. They had the mandatory oompah bah band too.
We weren't hungry yet. So we wandered around--lost Carolyn and Bella, and meandered into the main square. Sadly, I can't remember who or what this important statue is all about, but I was amused by the total ineffectiveness of the chains around it. It was such a natural sitting spot that I guess the city has just given up trying to keep people off.
A really good guitarist.
Europe is funny. There is such a mix of the old and charming and the modern and silly.
Pigeons are universal.
We also took a look into the main Cathedral even though we weren't supposed to and then went back to cloth hall (where all the good souvenirs are), for a really thorough look.
We weren't hungry yet. So we wandered around--lost Carolyn and Bella, and meandered into the main square. Sadly, I can't remember who or what this important statue is all about, but I was amused by the total ineffectiveness of the chains around it. It was such a natural sitting spot that I guess the city has just given up trying to keep people off.
A really good guitarist.
Europe is funny. There is such a mix of the old and charming and the modern and silly.
Pigeons are universal.
We also took a look into the main Cathedral even though we weren't supposed to and then went back to cloth hall (where all the good souvenirs are), for a really thorough look.
After Dave battled a knight to get in first of course.
Now we WERE hungry. We texted the others, they had found a good Indian restaurant. That didn't sound very good to us at all, so we went back to the street festival, where I had what has to be the unhealthiest dinner of my life. This huge slab of rye bread spread with offafet, with a side of fried cheese pastries. It will be the goal of my life to find this cheese and learn how to make these myself.
After dinner (or rather, calorie overload) we walked back to cloth hall and took the underground tour. This was lots of fun, with plenty of medieval time exhibits--such as this medieval home--complete with flat screen TV.
We learned that there are six vampires buried under the hall. But most entertaining for us were the signs that indicated the "Direction of Exploring." Mind---this is a cool museum, but it's not exactly the Louvre and it wasn't jam-packed. But they are serious about steering you in the right direction. In museums you go where they tell you and in this one there are no U turns.
Naturally, we had taken note of the Wentzl lody place. As a true Wenzel descendant I had my picture taken. I was still stuffed with pounds of bread and cheese, so I didn't have any. But Dave and Catherine each had fabulous looking creations.
We were much too tired to hike to the bus stop. We just took a taxi.
June 27, 2015 Krakow
There were other surprises as we walked. A large dog show for example.
And scenic pillars.
And a small Hollywood Blvd walk of fame. We only knew one person, but a cool person! (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Neat bike racks
And a nifty model, in case you miss anything.
Touring it is not so wonderful. There is lots too see, and you have to buy a separate tour ticket for each and every little thing. We bought tickets for the armory tour, the Dragons den and the tower. First stop was the tower, which is just what it sounds like, but we would have hated to miss any staircase in Europe.
I loved the windows
And the timbering
And of course there were great views from the top.
The gift shops were pretty nice. I got something for Dad and a necklace for myself.
Then we took a tour of the armory. On the way there was a courtyard
where we could get a good view of some of the details of the castle.
Oddly, there were no directions telling us where to go as we toured the armory! We drifted as we pleased. I felt oddly disoriented.
Our last tour was the "Dragon's Den," a little underground passageway (complete with a live knight for the kids) that open up back outside by the large, fire breathing statue.
After this, we had a long walk back to the old town, again passing the boat vendors. And also seeing other interesting sites. Here's your basic important palatial build that I have no idea what it is anymore---
With the requisite impressive statues.
And the Goethe Institute
Which, alas, doesn't look nearly as fancy as this tattoo parlor.
Just so my family knows--we didn't buy you guys any souvenirs from this place.
We ate a late lunch at the pianola bar. This was a mistake. Had we gone just 10 steps further, we could have eaten at the oldest bar in Krakow. The pianola bar looked great on the outside,
but had terrible service. They served good lunch food, but the tables weren't really set up to hold actual meals. Nevertheless, we ordered two pizzas. Eventually Carolyn and Bella's pizza came, and our bread, salad and Catherine's dessert. No sign of the second pizza. We were just about to call it quits and leave without it, when it finally arrived. Ok, but not worth the wait. While we were waiting, we decided that it would be a smart move to rent a car for the next day. That would enable us to attend an early mass at the salt mines and then drive directly to the airport without having to fuss with all of our luggage on buses and trains. We had to go back to the hostel to pick up Carolyn's passport to do this. Dave, Catherine and Bella seized the opportunity to take a nap. Carolyn and I took the bus to the airport. That was the fastest car pickup I've ever experienced. They basically, said, "Hi, here's your car." The long process was figuring how to get out of the airport parking lot and figure out how to get back to the hotel on gps. Poor Carolyn! I did my best, but I am hopeless at directions, and of her two phones that had gps, one was in Russian and the other in Italian. She got something working and between that and her prodigious memory we got back to the hotel no problem. If it hadn't been for her. I'd be wandering the Polish pastureland still.
We woke the sleepers and went downtown. We had to park a good way out. In the main square I had noticed the people with signs for "Free walking Tours." I noticed the Free Macabre Tour in particular and was hoping to take it. Neither Carolyn nor Bella was especially interested in the tour or more street food, so we went our separate ways. I think they found a delicious Spanish restaurant that night. We went happily back to the festival and feasted on kebabs, sausages and cheese. It was getting on for 8:00 went he tour was supposed to start. Dave and Catherine ran back to cloth hall to pick up some earrings. While I paced in front of the Hard Rock Cafe hoping I hadn't missed the tour. I didn't. The tour guide appeared just before 8 and just before the group was ready to walk off Dave and Catherine came panting up. I'm so glad we did the tour. It was another trip highlight for me.
The tour guide, Nadia was great. She was animated and engaging.
Our first stop was at the corner of the cathedral. In the middle ages, a person wasn't executed for adultery. Or for witchcraft either,. Being burned at the stake was reserved for people who insulted the prince. Instead, adulterers and prostitutes were shackled to the church and then run out of town.
Unless they were professional prostitutes of course. That was different. One bishop ran such a successful bordello, that prostitutes were called, "bishop's daughters" for 200 years afterwards.
After this she moved us to the next stop. The whole tour was only about a mile and a half. She'd stop us from time to time and tell us another story.
In the 1960's there was a boy vampire. He killed a 12 year old. Later, he killed a sister from the church but she yelled before she died. He was watching from the sidelines. Turns out that when he was younger he started working in a slaughterhouse and acquired a taste for blood.
(This is where we found out that 6 vampires were buried under cloth hall).
Later, there was another serial killer. The police were reluctant to investigate because this was the 1960's and Poland was communist. Surely things like serial killers can't happen in such a joyous utopia killers like that were only in the US. But the head of the black market was well known and respected and friends with the secret police. He picked up a different rich girl every night. He poisoned two sisters the same night. His favorite place to eat was actually same restaurant where Catherine's study abroad had their farewell dinner. One night he was in a cab with a friend when the friend felt a hard smack. When he came to, the man told him that he had just hit him. But later, when he still had troubles with headaches, he went to the hospital and found that he had a bullet in his head. That's how they caught this man. They estimate that he killed about 35 people. Each murder a different way. His last words were "We'll meet soon again."
Great king (Kazmierz) had a mistress that he loved. She died of the black death. A sorcerer told the king that if he cut out her eyes and hand (heart?) and put it in a crystal box in his room, she would come back . It worked. She came back to his room every night, but she was very unhappy. She was Jewish, and the Jews must have their whole body buried intact. In the mornings, when the Jews would say their prayers she would go back to her grave, but since the holocaust there are so few Jews left in the city that she can't hear the prayers and so there is now no one to remind her to go back to the grave.
In recent years an artist was commissioned to create stained glass windows for a church. He created stained glass zombies. The church was not pleased, but 100 years later the city of Krakow built a house for the windows. The windows were of King Kazmierz and his beloved mistress. The story is below.
The town hall has a poltergeist. The building opposite reports seeing a person moving around in a black dress. The story goes that in the 14th century a priest was woken up in the middle of the night to go and attend a death. He was picked up by the executioner, which he thought was very strange and wondered what he had gotten himself into. , but he was taken to this house. There he met an 18 yr old girl in a black dress. Both men were told to "do their jobs." Afterward both men were given wine, but the priest was upset and spilled his. Back in the carriage the executioner suffocated. The wine was poisoned.
In the middle ages, a man could be saved from execution if a girl ran up to the platform and covered his head with a scarf and yelled, "he's mine!" If the condemend man marries her immediately then the man goes free. This happened one time and the man turned to the executioner and told him, "no thanks, get on with the job."
The the 16th century beginning executioners practiced first on fruit and then animals. Once a newbie failed and had to keep whacking at his poor victim. Neither of us remembers what the consequences were to the executioner, other than it was a great embarrassment and at the very least he was run out of town.
The tour ended in a little alleyway with an executioner there to meet us.
After the tour we met up with the others at the Hard Rock Cafe. Catherine bought a t-shirt, then we walked through the main square stopping at the weird head sculpture--
as we made our way slowly back to the car and went home. Total for the day was nearly 11 miles. In bed around 11 p.m. with plans to be up by 6:00.
The next day we went back to the Salt Mine and flew to Berlin. These pictures are in Study Abroad 8 Germany
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