My hotel is in a great location. We are across from a park called Planty. It is the longest park in Europe (according to our guide Isabella) and surrounds the city's old town. The hotel is on the same block as were Oskar Schindler lived, and right by the St. Francis Basilica. We are also about five minutes from the Main Market Square and up the hill from us is the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. When I come again, I will certainly stay in this area. It's where a lot of of my planned site seeing is.
I learned that the emblem/symbol of the city is the dragon. Krakow wasn't damaged much in the war so much of the original city remains. As mentioned it is the former capital of Poland. One of the kings was an alchemist and he was trying to turn metal into gold and the old palace caught on fire.
The city has 800K residents and 200K students. There are 100 churches in the made part of the city alone. It's called Little Rome because of that.
We started the morning in they Kazimierz area or former Jewish Quarter. We passed by the Ghetto Hero's Square. I need to go back and take a picture. It represents the chairs that Jewish children carried when they were being moved to the ghetto. We stopped by the Old Synagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in Poland. We also stopped by the Schindler Factory. There are pictures of same of the people who worked there who were saved from certain death.
We went to Wawel Hill to see the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. I have to tell you that the Cathedral was magnificent. It's one of the prettiest I have seen. It is their Westminster Abbey. There are a lot of tombs in there. Pictures were not allowed, but I am not sure they would have done the Cathedral justice anyway. There was just so much. One fun fact about the castle. When they finally got indoor heat, it was only in the king's section not the queens. I found this funny for some reason. That's one way to force the marriage bed.
We ended up in the Main Market Square. It was established in the 13th century. Everything was sold here during older times. There is an important church there called St. Mary's. A church has stood there for 800 years. The original church was destroyed by a Tatar invasion. I didn't go inside because they charge. I have been in plenty of churches, and I went to St. Francis Basilica later.
Oh and there are sick people all around me. Keep them away please. My nose was running this morning, and my throat is starting to hurt. I don't want to be sick!
Oh and the inside market I mentioned yesterday is called Cloth Hall.
I also went to see the Barbican, which is part of the city walls. I also mentioned going to St. Francis Basilica. They have a real nice glass window showing God as creator called "God the Father Let It Be." Across from the basilica is the bishop's palace were John Paul II the second lived.
I did manage to cross another item off of my Bucket List! I went on a horse and buggy ride! It was so unexpected, but I didn't want to have cash left over when I left here so it worked!
Like Warsaw, the next time I come I want to visit some of the museums, specifically the history museums. The history of Poland is pretty amazing. They prospered for hundreds of years under two dynasties. Then they had weak kings who were elected by nobles so in the nobles' pockets. Then they were divided for over one hundred years. Then they were free for a few years only to be invaded by Germany and "liberated" by the Soviet Union. They have only been recently free since 1989.
I had the zurek soup and more pierogi. I also want to try the duck but only heard about it tonight.
Tomorrow we are off to Budapest (or the two cities of Buda and Pest).
Oh, and some cute translations stories. They call headsets whisperers. It reminds me of when Yamini's grandmother calling crosswalks zebras.
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