Last Day Here in the Europe

We had just a few things we wanted to do today that we hadn't gotten to for various reasons and by this time we are moving very slowly, due to the miles and kilometers we have been walking every day. First, we walked to the Jewish section again since we didn't see anything the last time and visited the cemetery, the old synagogue (by old, they mean built around 1200) and another synagogue that was much newer, built in the late 1700s.

Jewish Cemetery

Old Synagogue

After that walk, we met up with Tina who took us to a restaurant to get my long-awaited duck. I thought that duck in Poland was always served with cherries but maybe it's not the right season. All the duck dishes seem to include cranberries now. We really had duck, duck, goose and yes, Lola had the goose, served with plum sauce. This was a ritzy restaurant, meaning our elegant lunch cost around $12 a piece instead of the usual $6. A pleasant dining surprise to me is that the restaurants are now carrying really great wine selections and wine bars are all over town. Beer is still winning, of course, but wine is now popular.

We finally got into the Peter, Paul, and Mary church which has always had an event going on when we walked past. Another beautiful cathedral.

Peter & Paul Cathedral

All the touring and eating inevitably leads to napping and today, it also meant packing since our 14 hour multi-flight trip home is tomorrow. For those few of you who don't follow the Krakow weather report, it's been unseasonably cold here--just a couple of rainy days, but chilly. We are not really looking forward to 90 degrees when we get back. 

Peter, Paul, & Mary's Organ

Since we had a large lunch, we spent the last evening just sitting on the square drinking beer and eating jurek. Jurek isn't really how you spell it but close enough. It's a traditional Polish rye soup with sausage, potatoes, and pieces of hard-boiled eggs. One of those dishes that varies from region to region and everyone's mother makes it best. This version was superb.

The highlight of the day was that I finally saw the trumpeter who comes out small windows (north, south, east, west) in St. Mary's Basilica every hour after the clock strikes. 24 hous a day, volunteers from the Fire Department perform a trumpet solo which stops in the middle to commemorate the guy who was shot in the neck at that moment in the song. The event happened around the year 1200 when the original trumpeter was warning everyone that the Turks were invading.  I have looked for the trumpeter for days and never spotted him until today and have been understandably bitter towards him--now I've seen him twice. At each window, the trumpeter sticks his arm out and waves but those windows are really high up.

The square has entertainment in every corner every night. Tonight, since we have too many zloty coins, we even tipped the roving gypsy violinist. And with that magnaimous gesture, we bid goodbye to Krakow.

The Fountain on the Square

Market Square at Night

Auschwitz/Birkenau

I went to Auschwitz by public bus back in 2000 but I'm not sure whether there were tours then or maybe there were summer tours and I went in the fall. But I was given a map and explored Auschwitz on my own. Now, there are many guided tours in several different languages and you visit both camps--Birkenau is 3 kilometers from Auschwitz. The tour took a total of 7 hours. There are no words to describe the experience so here's just a couple of pictures.

Auschwitz

Birkenau

Pope wuz here

Just in case you didn't know, Pope John Paul II was born in a village about an hour outside of Krakow and lived in Krakow for about 13 years. He visited often and everywhere he set foot is now a chapel dedicated to him. The house where he lived has a gigantic poster of him on the outside, so you can't miss it. Every church has a statue of him. I have bugged Lola every day to buy a refrigerator magnet with his picture, but she continues to refuse.

Today, we walked to the Wawel Castle. We forgot it is Saturday so what Polish people aren't here already have descended on the city in droves. The Castle was packed but the grounds are beautiful and they don't charge admission to the cathedral. We also saw the famous dragon statue. Legend has it that it lived in the area but King Crack (or something like that)

killed it--thus, Cracow.

Castle Wall

Castle grounds

Castle

Then we walked along the river, a very long walk, to the Jewish section, forgetting again that it is Saturday, Shabbat, so the famous cemetery was locked. It was the hottest day we had so far so we were exhausted and thirsty by the time we had lunch at the Polish Italian restaurant. Lola had the best pesto farfalle ever (even better than hers) and I had carbonara potpie. I had to ask the waitress whether she delivered the correct dish and she assured me the pasta was under the potpie crust--and it was. There was no crust on the bottom.  We somehow managed to get to our lunch at lunchtime instead of our usual 3:00 so we rewarded ourselves with ice cream cones. We eat all meals outside and at most restaurants, the WC is down the stairs underground. At the Italian restaurant, you walked down a long staircase and passed through a hooka bar. The women's bathroom was indicated by a picture of a woman in a veil. It was your Polish-Italian-Muslim bar.

After naptime, we went on a shopping spree at the Cloth Market. I buy a pair of sheep skin slippers every time I come--the price is up to $11 from the original price of $5 when I first came 10 years ago. They would last forever but my dogs tend to eat them.

We ended the day meeting up with the remaining Trapdoor folks for a beer. Lola is now a confirmed beer drinker, although she does prefer it with a flavoring, usually raspberry. Glasses with syrupy beer come with a straw so everyone can know you're a sissy.

Dinner

The Salt Herein

Sometimes, senility is a good thing. I totally forgot that the tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine begins with a walk down 368 steps. It's a round staircase, 7 steps to a landing. That gets you to level 1. When you finally walk the grand total of 800 steps, you are at level 3, 135 meters underground. In a two hour tour, you see approximately 1 per cent of the total mine. The walkways in the entire mine total about the distance from Krakow to Warsaw. The mine was the longest continuously operating mine in the world; it shut down production in 1996.

The interesting thing about the mine, besides learning about mining is seeing all the salt sculptures made by miners. There is a salt statue of Goethe, Copernicus, and Pope John Paul II, who all visited the mine and also sculptures of

 the 7 dwarfs, who probably didn't. There's a large cathedral on level 3 that is sometimes used for weddings and official events but since there's around 7000 visitors a day, it's rarely rented out.  The cathedral has sculptures of Biblical events, including a copy of Da Vinci's Last Supper. From the earliest times of the mine (1300s) miners made sculptures of salt in their spare time. Eventually, the truly talented miners were employed as sculptors full-time. Many of the ancient sculptures have disintegrated so most of what we see today were made after 1800.

Some King Dude

Goethe

Last Supper

Lola, Back to the Salt Mine

Hey, she volunteered to learn how to raise a pillar of salt from the level below.  They made her work only a few hours so don't feel sorry for her.

After walking down to the bottom of the mine, you take an elevator that gets you to the top in 40 seconds. Nine people get into each of the two chambers so it's a little slow-going, especially since it was having mechanical problems that had to be fixed. When we got back to the city, we had our typical 3:00 lunch. It seems we don't manage to get lunch until around then every day, making the midafternoon snack difficult to fit in. Luckily, there's a gourmet chocolate shop on every corner. The chocolate shops seem to be the only stores in this touristy town that don't offer English translations. Some clerks get perturbed with us when we ask "What's in this one? What's in that one?" They're all good so now we just point and buy.

We had chicken livers and chocolate cake for dinner with wine followed by more wine when we met up with the Trapdoor folks on the square where some American band was singing the blues (American, not Polish blues). Very entertaining.

Rainy Day Here

It was rainy this morning so we did our laundry in our apartmenthotel. Of course, that means no dryer so the drying rack is now taking up half the tiny apartment. We are just hoping the laundry dries so we have clothes to wear home, 4 days from now. There were few people out in the rain; the few who were joined us at the new underground museum in the Cloth Market. Between 2005 and 2010, they excavated part of the sqaure and discovered all the years of layers which you can see in the museum. As we heard a tour guide say, everyone dumped their garbage on the square so every so often, they just covered the old square with new concrete.  When they excavated, they found tools, jewelry and other items which authenticate the dates of each of the layers. The museum is ultra-modern and interactive.

We tried to get into St. Mary's Basilica several times and finally got in this afternoon. You have to pay extra to take pictures which we didn't do in the main cathedral because it is so huge, you can't take a picture that would do it justice. We're hoping to buy a professional picture, like on a postcard. However, in the smaller chapel, St. Barbara's, we were allowed to take pictures of the famous altar.

St. Barbara's

After lunch, the weather cleared and we walked to a larger farmer's market which had fresh fruit and vegetables as well as some house shoes Lola liked. Then we went on our Amber Alert, visiting several shops including Amber World and

Lola's Amber

The stores have the expensive amber although they give certificates authenticating it but we finally opted for the cheap stuff at the outdoor market that has been set up on the square.

We had the all-pierogi dinner at a hole-in-the-wall pierogi restaurant with 5 tables. 12 pierogis, choose your own combination, cost $6. We each chose 4 meat, 4 vegetable, and 4 cherry pierogis. 

We took a long walk around the planty (a green park area that surrounds the main square) after that and then somehow ended up at a wine bar. 

The only other accomplishment of the day was fulfilling our desire to take pictures of buildings made of people, like this one:

Dude with Bird on Head

Picture Us Here in Krakow

We took the bus from Zakopane to Krakow today; only around 2 hours. There were loads of cars going to Zakopane but not many leaving. It's still holiday season so many families spend their vacation in Zakopane. Tina told us a story about her 80 year old neighbors who, during Communist times, would pack up food to take to Zakopane since there were no restaurants there. Now, they just have to take their own potatoes, because, as everyone knows, Krakow potatoes are just better than those in Zakopane.

We have a tiny apartment on the square but when we got here, I had to throw the American-style fit. I had emailed them to give us ground floor because we are old; she took us to a flight of stairs and, noticing my despair, said "It's floor 1." I said that's fine but our suitcases are very heavy, so this tiny girl just picked mine up and carried it. Lola and I carried hers. The girl said when we leave, someone will carry our bags for us.

We went to the square for lunch; it is jam-packed with lots of booths that aren't usually there and various performers. We walked through the Cloth Market (UNESCO World Heritage site) but didn't do any serious shopping...yet. We're scoping out the best amber stores.

Cloth Hall

After lunch was nap time; then we went shopping for breakfast food since we're in an apartment and don't have free breakfast. We met up with Tina for dinner at an Indian Restaurant where "medium" heat means "very hot" in American.  Then, she was just going to show us one street but ended up walking us all over Old Towne. There is a church on every corner, most of them are magnificent.

St. Peter, Paul, and Mary Church (well, maybe not Mary)

Basilica of Mary and the fountain on Krakow Square

We even made it to see two sides of the castle.

Besides the sites, we have located the best chocolate store, the best amber jewelry store, the best pierogi restuarant, and the best potato pancakes in town. So, even though we got a late start, it was a productive day.

Wawel Castle

Lola Brings Good Weather Here

Lola has singlehandedly stopped the monsoon season in both Prague and Zakopane. I know I am afraid of her wrath but I didn't know Mother Nature is, too. We've been out in two 4 second sprinkle events, but that's it.

Yesterday was the day we planned to go to Morskie Oko, the eye of the sea, which requires getting up to the top of a gigantic mountain in one of two ways. We opted for the horse and wagon transportation while Tina decided to walk the mountain. I couldn't climb it 10 years ago when I was here; now I am 5 years older so it was out of the question. There is a paved road so it's not a strenuous climb, more of a steady incline for about 3 hours. We ran into Tina as we were waiting for a horse and wagon. The 10,000 people who are vacationing here were also standing in the line and each wagon can hold only 15 people. In a little over an hour, we finally got on and by coincidence, when we got to the top, Tina was waiting to take our pictures as we got out.  From the horse drop-off, it's a 1 K walk, straight uphill. It's difficult because it's such a high altitude; I would tell you how high but I don't understand meters. We found out this is the last month for the horses and wagons--people were complaining about the animal cruelty. We don't know whether they'll start running buses to pollute the forest.

Lola at the mountain top

Morski Oko

How you get ther

Today we spent the day shopping on the main street and enjoying our spa at the hotel. They have a jacuzzi, huge swimming pool and 3 saunas--dry, steam, and infrared. We didn't stay long in the infrared because we were convinced alien forces were invading our bodies.

We went to dinner and then to a concert of Flamenco Fusion music at the theater where we saw the Trapdoor play. Incredible. We got in early for us--the last two nights we came back around 1:30 a.m. and are convinced that on the staff shift, the clerk tells the new person "the weird old American women will come back at 2." They don't have to ask our room number--it's the only key left. Our late nights are the result of seeing the great Trapdoor play one night and babysitting one of the actor's kids the next. The one year old is a high-quality baby but he didn't feel the same about us.

We're off to Krakow after breakfast tomorrow. I can only hope the buffet is serving chocolate croissants because when they don't, Lola gets very angry and that might cause rain.

Getting High Here in the Tatras

It's so nice to have friends in other countries, especially the kind who speak the language and are eager to show us around.  Our friend Beata took us a small tour off the beaten path of Zakopane. We saw the most interesting cemetery in the world where only artists or people who made significant contributions to Zakopane are allowed to be buried. Many of the tombstones and monuments reflect the profession of the interred--wood sculpture for the wood carving artist, etc.

Metal sculptor's grave marker

We visited the oldest church in the city where the church itself and everything in it were hand carved from wood. We saw a Gaudi-inspired house; a metal works sculptor's workshop, and  an upside down house.

After the tour, Beata's niece Tina, who is an ESL teacher in Krakow, accompanied us to the cable car adventure to Kasprowy Wierch. While we booked the tickets at our hotel, the truth is, we probably would have never found the correct bus if Tina hadn't been with us.  Yes, those Polish have a different word for everything, and the words are very long.  The cable car goes straight up the mountains; not as scary as I anticipated...but close. The views are spectacular every inch of the trip.

not even the very top of the mountains

proof that we really were in a cable car

reminds me of the Great Wall of China; Tina climbed it, but then, she's young

Many people, who are in shape or else mountain climbers, take the cable car up and walk down or they may even walk both up and down. We saw the trail which was so steep that we knew it would be a week's adventure if we did it. I couldn't get a picture of the trail with people on it because they looked like ants from the top of the mountain. There's a restaurant where we thought we'd get a snack but ended up eating way more than we thought we would because the food is so good here. Best potato pancakes in the world. We've also had great chicken livers in both countries and duck dishes. It is our view one should eat every two hours.

Tonight we're off to the Trapdoor Theatre production at the famous Witkacy Theatre. Show starts at 10:15, not quite past our bedtime.

Getting From Here To There

Getting from Prague to Zakopane worked better in theory than in practice. We had tried to buy a double couchette on the overnight train but they were sold out and we had to get a couchette for 4. When we got there, we discovered that all the double doubles were for 6; 3 berths up both sides of the room. We were assigned the middle ones which required the use of a ladder but the top bunks looked like you would need a parachute to get down, if you ever got up.  Caitlin had warned us that we shouldn't assume we wouldn't get new roommates on the way but, as it turned out, no one ever came.  The train seemed to stop a lot and shook; there were no noisy people but the train itself was noisy. We got zero sleep.

Then finding the bus we wanted was also a bit of a challenge. Buses to Zakopane leave regularly but the one in our time frame was late. It should take about 2 hours to drive there but it took 3 because of the line of traffic. Zakopane is a ski resort in the winter but a family vacation spot in the summer--half of Poland came for this weekend. There is one road--think Gatlinburg on a weekend. We couldn't sleep on the bus either because of sitting upright.

We have a very nice hotel with a spa; massages are calling our names.  Check in is supposed to be at 4 but they got our room ready before 11 and let us pay an exorbitant amount of money for breakfast which will be free from now on.

After naps, we decided to walk to wake up and worked our way slowly through the sea of humanity to the funicular that goes to the top of a mountain. There is a zip line, rock climbing, pony rides, and other attractions for kids...and of course, beer and sausages for adults. This weekend is a holiday weekend for the Polish; everyone had Friday off. When that happens, the families head for the mountains. It should quiet down by Monday.  So far, the weather has been great. There's been a lot of rain here but today was clear and it looks like tomorrow will be too.

Beautiful views.

Lola Knows Here Now

Lola knows Prague like the back of her hand, now that we're leaving. Her self-esteem is now restored.  Yesterday, we walked 8 miles according to her Fitbit and never once made a wrong step. That involved consulting a map at every street corner, but still...

We had to pick up our train tickets near the castle; it's a confusing area but we did walk right there and got the tickets. They seem to be valid which we worried about given I had ordered them on the internet. We leave here at 10:30 tonight.

We spent most of the day at the castle. The highlight of that area is St. Vitus cathedral, another building so huge, you can't get far enough away to capture the whole thing in a picture.

St. Vitus

St. Vitus interior

I don't think I was ever in this cathedral even though I've been to Prague twice before. It is magnificent. For Lola, it was her first European Gothic cathedral so she was beside herself, even though there was no dancing in the St. Vitus.

We also toured the palace, walked over the Charles Bridge, bought small watercolor pictures, and ate often. We went to the area where the Kafka Museum is but decided not to go in since we couldn't imagine what is in the museum. We opted for having wine on a terrace that overlooks the bridge.

Our New Friends

Overlooking the Charles Bridge

As "Manneken Pis" picture above shows just one of two moving sculptures; they face each other, peeing into a basin.

After the mountain adventure, we walked through the Jewish section but none of the synagogues were open.
All the big market stores are on one street in this area--Prada, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, etc. We found a French restaurant serving snails and mussels; it turned out to be Belgian though, but the snails and mussels were great. The menu informed us that mussels are the favorite food of Belgians.

Now, we are getting kicked out of our hotel so we will be wandering the streets until 10 tonight when we catch our train. I am now confident Lola will keep us from getting lost, as long as she remembers the maps.

Low Key Day (Here)

It was cool and overcast today with 100% chance of rain which apparently turned into 0 chance. We had a slow start  because of  acute jet lag. We walked to the National Museum but didn't want to see it; there are actually 5 separate buildings of different types of exhibits but it's a natural history museum and we weren't particularly interested in the history of book-making or the money exhibit which were listed as top attractions.. I'm sure some of the exhibits are great but it seemed like it would be too much effort to figure out which ones and also where all the buildings are. So basically, by 2:00, our achievements consisted of having eaten two meals. 

We had booked a boat tour at 3 so Caitlin could join us and we sat on the top deck of a boat and saw the major sites from a different perspective. For many of the buildings, you have to be in the middle of the river to get a shot of the entire structure.  

Charles Bridge

Some pretty building

On the walk back from the boat, we strolled through an outdoor market with various vendors selling food and crafts. The entertainment in the area was a group of South Americans dressed as Native Americans playing music that sounded like a mixture of styles. It was pleasant music but we weren't tempted to buy the cd.

We ate dinner at the same restaurant we went to the first night we were here; it's half a block away and the food is great. We had the traditional Czech Italian fare and apple strudel for dessert.  

In summary, we discovered that it's easy to find your way if you always stay on the same street or take a local with you.  More efficient than our usual routine, but not near the same amount of exercise.                            

A Fabulous Day, Here

Our gracious hosts, Caitlin Bonem and her boyfriend Petr, drove us through the countryside east of Prague to several notable places we would have never seen otherwise. For anyone going to Prague, though, we found there are tours to our first stop, the town of Kutna Hora, home of not only the Bone Church (Kostnice), but two other magnificent cathedrals, St. Barbara's and the Cathedral of the Assumption; the latter two are UNESCO Heritage sites.

 St. Barbara's

                                                       The Bone Church

The Bone Church is surprisingly spectactular--really, the bone arrangements are works of art. The story is ancient  bones were in a charnel house and a half-blind monk decided to arrange them as works of art; when he was finished, his sight was restored. And that's the miracle of the Bone Church. It's very small as opposed to St. Barbara's where there was a camera crew and a bunch of actors sitting around in costumes, apparently getting ready to film "A Man for All Seasons." As with any film experience, nothing happened during the time we were there.

After our adventures at the churches, we went to a castle in a town that I can't spell, that was renovated into a medieval restaurant. The staff are purposely rude to everyone but we didn't care because we don't speak the language.  After I paid the check, though, one waiter yelled, "She can't even say tanks," but of course, I had said "thank you."   We had duck with sauerkraut and bread dumplings which were flavored like stuffing. The food was outstanding which is usually not the case in theme restaurants, in my experience.

Across from the castle was a booth where you can buy gigantic decorated cookies that are not made to be eaten; instead, you hang them on your wall or somewhere to remember the occasion. Unfotunately, many people do not understand the tradition.

All this traveling had the makings of a perfect day until Lola got us lost in Old Towne, again. Our five minute walk to the Old Towne Square turned into over an hour where, more than once, we realized we had walked in a gigantic circle.  When I finally decided to ask someone, I asked the one guy working in a store who had no English. I think he thought I was asking where is Old Towne and he was trying to tell me we were already there.  I have been lost in every major city in Europe so it's nothing new to me but for years, Lola has made fun of me for never being able to find my way. She prides herself on her map skills and sense of direction. But no, she couldn't get us to our destination even with a map (in her defense, we took the map that didn't list all the streets, but still...) I am enjoying her humiliation. Don't anyone ever let her forget.

Here we are in Prague

and yes, every title will have the word "here" in it. It's so descriptive.

We had a stroke of luck at the Dayton airport--Lola was randomly selected for precheck and they allowed me to go with her after this conversation: "Are you two traveling together?" "Yes." "Do you know each other?"  "No, we have no idea why we're traveling together."

The 3 plane ride was uneventful--well, there was the part about being delayed in Dulles because the pilot said that in order to start the engines, they have to turn off the air conditioning in the back of the plane and it wouldn't turn off. That was fixed in about a half hour. Then there was the part about screaming babies on every flight, lack of sleep, late plane to Prague, and the fact we ate 3 meals--lunch, dinner, breakfast, before midnight our time. We had to go through major security before we got on the plane in Geneva to go to Prague--they took my computer out of the backpack and out of the case.  That caused me to lose my boarding pass. After searching my bags, I finally found it on the floor where I had knelt to put everything back in the backpack.

We tried to sleep at the hotel but that didn't last long, partly because a woman came in to see if we needed the minibar refreshed. We had been here an hour.

Then, Lola got me lost all over Old Towne. Yes, it's true. In her defense, we had unknowingly lost a section of our map, plus, none of these streets go in a straight line. We did see the Astronomical Clock (constructed in 1490) strike 4:00 and we walked across the Charles Bridge.  The  Old Towne was full of tourists but not many artists on the Bridge, probably because it had rained earlier.

We met up with Caitlin Bonem for dinner. She took us to a very nice restaurant that is all of 3 doors away from our hotel; we chose that because we can no longer walk. I had wonderful goose liver and Lola had traditiional steak; the steak came with dumplings which turned out to be boiled bread; Caitlin explained that she has pointed out to restaurants in the past that bread is not the same as dumplings, but they aren't buying it. The best thing about both dishes were their sauces. We all drank beer but after dinner, they gave us free shots of a plum wine as a "gift." Very sweet but tasty. Apparently, it is quite unusual to get free anything at a restaurant here; Caitlin believes the staff was just bored.

                                          Lola and Caitlin at some restaurant

Here's where

Prague, Czech Republic

Krakow, Poland

Zakopane, Poland

But not in that order. Stay tuned.........