June 26, Krakow Poland

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. 

St. Kinga.  A princess, who when told she could ask for anything, asked for salt. Smart girl, salt was more valuable than gold.

There were all kinds carvings, from whimsical dwarves, to religious figures. Then we were told we would see the Cathedral. I imagined a small, little room. NO. They meant CATHEDRAL. Absolutely mind-blowing, and everything made of salt,

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.

After the tour, we could have taken the elevator straight up to the top, or we had the option to have lunch, look at the gift shop and see a 4-D movie first. Naturally, we opted for food. On the way we passed a meeting room.



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.

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.

 Wentzl's had a great interior. Disney clearly needs to adopt this cool chandelier.

We were much to tired to hike to the bus stop. We just took a taxi.