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