Day Four - Krakow

Saturday was the day we reserved for Krakow!

First, we had a great and harty breakfast. Yesterday we went to the neighborhood bakery, grocery and meat stores, bought some fresh eggs, the crescent rolls that sooo good, and "kabanos" (the very thin, smoked sausages). For breakfast today we heated up the sausages and scrambled the fresh eggs which are so yellow, that the scambled eggs looked like they had cheese in them, and had this with the crescent rolls. Mmmmm good! We also got some black current juice and had the Seattle's best coffee that we brought with us.

After breakfast, we went to visit my friend who is renting the summer house to discuss some business, then we went to drop off some laundry for Susan at the cleaners to have ready in the evening before leaving the next day. These newly set up laundry/dry cleaners are conveniently located at the large shopping centers so you can drop your stuff and have it be ready later that day. Finally we got on our way at about 10:30 am. The main road to Krakow is a fairly newly built "toll road" which we call Autostrada. Toll can be paid by credit card or with cash - Zlotych, Euros, Dollars...







We made our way to the parking lot directly in front of the Wawel Castly in Krakow. From here we first strolled by the Wistula River and admired the Castle from this view point as well as watched the geese, ducks and swans enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (about 40 degrees F.)



From there we walked up the steep walkway through the main entrance into the center of the castle. We found out that the main tour of the castle was not available due to this being the off-season. We managed to get the last two tickets for the 3 pm Private Quarters tour instead. Once we got those tickets, we went on the tour of the Wawel Cathedral.



Here is Susan at the window by the Zygmunt Bell in the bell tower.


Susan and I climbed the narrow, steep, and very treacherous steps to the top of the King Zygmunt Bell Tower as part of the tour of the Cathedral (cathedral adjacent to the main castle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Cathedral)




View of the city from the tower.


We had a couple of hours before the tour of the castle was to start, and so we decided to walk to the "Old Town Square" center of Krakow.




Here we strolled through the square and went to the Kosciol Mariacki (St. Mary's Church) to see the famous altar by Wit Stwosz.



From the lower tower you can also hear a trumpeter playing the Hejnal on the hour every hour. The trumpeter stops abruptly half-way through as, legend has it, a trumpeter was once shot in the throat by Tartar invaders.







After St. Mary's Church we got hungry and so we went to the famous Wierzynek Restaurant which was first established in 1364. http://www.cracow-life.com/panorama.php?reference=210

We feasted on a meal made up of special cheese apetizer, soup - Susan had pea cream soup with smoked bacon and potato slices and Magda had creamed mushroom soup, and we both had the traditional roast duck with apples and red cabbage. Susan had traditional red wine, while Magda decided on a mug of mulled red wine (spiced and hot red wine) see the full menu here http://www.wierzynek.com.pl/pr/menu_en.html:



After lunch we had barely enough time to dash back to Castle Wawel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel, http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/pl/) for our tour of the Royal Private Apartments where the kings conducted their day to day activities (we even got to see a Royal Toilet!). The Wawel Castle was the residence of Polish kings from the mid-11th to the early 17th century at which time the capitol was moved to Warsaw. Here are some pictures of the various rooms we toured. One thing you will notice are the beautiful and richly decorated tapestries hanging on the walls. Keep in mind that the walls of the castle were several feet thick, and it was challenging to keep the rooms warm during the severe Polish winters.

This is the Guest Bedroom. On the wall you can see the oldest tapestry in the castle’s collection (15th C.) portrays The Story of the Knight with the Swan.

The Hen’s Foot - situated in the Gothic 14th century little Belvedere corner tower (first renovated in Renaissance times and again in the 20th century), in part of the castle once known as the Hen’s Leg. The portals with the coat of arms of the Vasa family and the fireplace both are made of dark brown marble and the walls were lined with 18th century cordovan (leather).

Column Room

After the tour and the souvenir shop we returned to the center square to finish up our shopping. On the way we stopped at a 130-year old coffee shop called A.Blikle for capuccinos and "szarlotka", the unique Polish apple pastry.

Refreshed by our treats we ventured to Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) which was once a main focus of Cracow's trade. Merchants would meet here and discuss the state of business, whilst inside a lively bartering went on. During its heyday, some five hundred years ago, a rich traffic came in from the East - spices, silk, leather, wax - and Cracow itself exported textiles, lead and of course salt from the mines at Wieliczka. The mercantile traditions of the hall also live on. Today it serves mainly as a market for more tourist-oriented items, such as amber jewelery and traditional leather and wood items that are on sale. The wooden stalls maintain the hum of business as it was in earlier times. Susan and Magda discovered several beautiful amber pieces to bring back to family and friends.



Inside Sukiennice

By now it was getting dark and our feet hurt, but we had one more mission to accomplish; to see Magda's family owned house where her mom, uncles and grand-parents spent World War II. We decided to simply have a taxi take us there.

We then had the cab driver take us to our car and for the final look back at the Wawel Castle lit up in the evening...

And we returned to Bytom, stopping by to pick up Susan's clean clothes. Now it was time to pack and go back to San Diego early Sunday morning.

Day Three - Wieliczka Salt Mine

Shopping now done and inheritance legalities out of the way, we made our way to the famous salt mine in Wieliczka. Our adventure included driving to Krakow and making our way across the city to the southern outskirts where Wieliczka is located. it was also the first time that Susan was able to see the Castle Wawel in Krakow from a bridge crossing Wisla River.

We finally arrived at Wieliczka Salt Mines (http://www.kopalnia.pl/home.php?action=&id_language=2) , after getting through all that traffic. Wieliczka is unique due to the fact that after hundreds of years of operation, it's still a working mine. Here we are walking up to the mine entrance (by the way, the red car (shoe-car) is my dad's Renault Clio):

We signed up for the Polish guided tour as it was the one coming up next. Magda became the translator. We had a really good time with some students who were in our group and who spoke about 6 or 7 different languages, including Chinese, German, English and Polish. Very fascinating young people and a lot of fun.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a Unesco preserved historical sight and is a one of a kind place. Our tour went through a number of rooms each carved out entirely from salt. Below are some pictures and videos from the tour.

This "room" has been carved over a "salt water" lake. There used to be a ferry that you could take to cross to the other end, but once Austrian soldiers had a party here, got a bit drunk and tipped the ferry over killing several of them. Since then they discontinued the ferry crossings.

This is a carving of the Last Supper that was done in St. John's Chappel by one of the miners that worked there. It has a three dimensional effect that makes it so interesting.

St. John's Chappel

St. John's Chappel - view of the altar

Susan and Magda in front of the carving of King Kazimierz Wielki. This king proclaimed the statute for the Kraków Salina. That act regulated the customary mining law and the management of the salt mines in Wieliczka, as well as the Saltworks and the whole venture. The chief manager, either as an administrator or leaseholder, oversaw in the name of the king the exploitation and sale of salt. In the old times salt was very expensive as it was used not only for seasoning but also as the basic food preservation agent.

The chamber was named after Nicholas Copernicus, the great Polish astronomer, who most probably visited the mine in 1493, when he was a student at the Kraków Academy, now the Jagiellonian University.

Legend of how Wieliczka was started.

That evening, when we returned, we were treated to a fabulous supper by my friends and neighbors in the apartment next door. Zosia and Czesiu are a retired couple who have been extremely generous with their time in helping me manage Dad's apartment. Zosia made us home made potato pancakes with yet another white cabbage salad and a tomoato/fetta cheese salad. czesiu served some special type of berry Vodka to wash it down.

Day two - Auschwitz (Oswiecim)

Back to court in early morning for the final and successful hearing... Here are pictures of the things you can see outside the court house:



After the hearing, Susan and I went to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) - the WWII concentration camp which is actually near-by. I won't go into that, as it was very emotionally traumatic and not appropriate for this forum. You can view this site for more info:
http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/new/index.php?language=EN&tryb=start&id=675&menu=g

To cheer us up, we stopped at a local inn for lunch:





For lunch we had peasant food consisting of "Zurek" - soup made from fermented rye with sausage and hard boiled egg and various spices. For the main course Susan had meat pierogi sauted with onions and bacon, and Magda had bigos, a hardy cabbage and sausage stew with tomatoe sauce and other various spices (Hunter's stew?).



From there we drove to Magda's cousin's house. We drove through the Polish farm lands, through small hamlets, smelling the freshly spread manure. We finally got there after a couple of hours of treacherous driving on tiny country roads.




Our trip back from cousin Marek's place was far more exciting, the family circus of going back and forth in the night... through the way, way, way backroads, through the dark villages, making u-turns trying not to get stuck in the mud and finally realizing we are much closer to Magda's home town than we thought. Susan would like to learn Polish at least to be able to read the town names on the map... She was a great navigator!

Day one - Court, shopping and Ciocia and Wujek visit

Yesterday, Wednesday morning, started out cloudy and even later there were snow flurries when we driving. The view from the balcony shows trees still with no leaves and a bit of snow on the ground from what little fell over night.

We spent the morning meeting with my family lawyer and then went to the Bytom Court House for the first of the two hearings. The Bytom Court House building is being renovated and Susan took these pictures of the inside atrium with the Polish and Bytom's emblems painted at the top:
Later that day we went to the Silesia Center where we did some major Polish Economy saving by SHOPPING.

We stopped at the Center's Food Court (that's what it's called in big letters FOOD COURT) for lunch. One of the fast food places is a Potato Pancake place called Branny's Pancakes (Plackarnia Babuni) where each of us got a giant potato pancake with mushroom sauce and Warka Strong, my favorite local beer.

We spent our evening at my dad's old time friends' place over tons of food, wine and hours of chatting. My "Ciocia" (Aunt - all my parent's long time friends I still call Aunt and Uncle :-) made chicken in aspic for appetizers, borshch was the soup again, then "kluski" (sort of Polish version of gnocci) with beef with mushrooms in a really good souce. Then cheesecake for dessert.

Internet is everywhere!!!

Using the MC930D with the local SIM card... and Mobilink Lite - connection established almost immediately! Not one problem.

Anthony Bourdain eat your heart out!

Here we are leaving Katowice airport with Susan in the back seat of the red "shoe car"

We finally made it from Frnkfurt to Katowice. Seems the Lufthansa run airplanes are much neater and cleaner and the service is just so much more professional than United! The flight crew is much more polished, professional and with really nice attitudes. The UA crew was made up mostly of a bunch of geriatrichs with grouchy moods, looking at you like you're just asking for too much when you ask for coffee and orange juice!

But anyway... We landed in Katowice with bits of snow falling and the temperature hovering around 0 Celsius, so pretty darn cold, with a cold wind. No problems getting our luggage and off through customs to awaiting Zosia, my Polish neighbor who came out to pick us up in the red "shoe" car - my dad's Renault Clio.

Zosia also had lunch ready for us - Borsch, potatoes, sauteed fish, and cabbage salads.

Lost and Found

Our adventure turned into an extreme adventure today when we arrived in Frankfurt. The flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt was smooth and uneventful, even the toddler in front of us behaved...

Once on the ground and de-planing, we became separated and without realizing it we each went on to find the other at the huge Frankfurt airport. Magda's phone didn't work here any more (Verizon!) but Susan's did. After about 30 minutes Magda finally decided to have Susan paged and we finally found each other at the gate for our final leg to Katowice! Oh.. and by the way, the security people didn't like me taking her picture... I got the severe wag of the finger!!!

Leaving on a jet plane

Well here we are at our gate in San Diego waiting for our plane. Our first stop is San Francisco, and from there we're off over the moon onto Frankfurt...

Getting excited...

Still at work... few more hours.

Our Excellent Adventure will officially start on Monday, March 3, 2008. I am just getting things set up for our trip, including cameras, internet connection, passport, etc.

Susan has been reviewing various Polish sites to see what she would like to do... The Germans call it "Reise Fiber" (not sure of spelling) and we got it!