As I mentioned in my previous post, the week before we were scheduled to arrive in Krakow, the Polish President was killed when his airplane crashed in Russia. The President was scheduled to be buried in the Woclaw Castle, which was used as the Capital of Poland for several centuries and is the place where the great kings and national heroes of Poland are buried, on Sunday, the day we visited Auschwitz(More on that…in another post). As such, Poland as whole, and the city of Krakow in particular was in a state of mourning.
When we left Maraysova Kolej at a little past eight in the morning(nicely done Ian, nicely done), we didn’t know what to expect in the eight hours it would take as to reach Krakow, or what we would find when we arrived. It didn’t really matter to me at that point however, because my noise was buried pretty deeply in the virtual pages of my Kindle (it’s just the gift that keeps on giving). I would be aroused, somewhat from my reading, when we made a rather unexpected stop. You see, one of our follow travels kind of…somehow…passed out. In the front of the bus, apparently on his way to ask for a rest stop. A rest stop we got too....any way, if that excitement out of the way, it was nice relaxing trip to Krakow, one which the Barbara, one of the employees of AIFS informed us was the quickest they had made from the outskirts of Krakow into the center.
Krakow follows the Standard European City Layout to a T. Like Prague, Munich, Vienna, Paris, and Budapest ect, the city Is located next to a body of water, the Vistula river. It is dominated by a castle located on a rise above town, and has large central square, with the obligatory Cathedral, and most of the economic functions of the town are located. It was to this central square that the ever incredible, Zee led us. Here he explained the significance of the church; apparently it had one of the prettiest altars in Europe, and then told us some good places to eat. Myself, Jake, Allie, Ryan and Jordan, Ian, and Rachelle, a fellow Arlingtonian, set out to a Georgian Restaurant. The food was pretty good, cooked beef, and Coke Light that was actually cheaper than the beer(a first in any East Central European Country). After the restaurant, the group wandered around trying to find something to do. First, we found an alcohol store, and started to head back to hotel to partake. After we got there though, we decided instead to head out and find some Gelatto. It being 11 clock on a Friday night, in a country officially in mourning, we didn’t have a whole lot of luck with that. What we did find was a fellow American, Evan from Midgeville, Georgia(for those of you who are not Civil War freaks, Midgeville served, in 1864, as a temporary state capital, at least till William T. Sherman and about 100,000 of his closest friends burned the place, after enacting a mock session of the state legislator.) who desperately wanted to get a drink with some Americans. We obliged. (For the record, as my father and I can both attest, this sort of friendly openness is not at all out of place in the South, though rather odd to see in East Central Europe). We went to a little Polish Bar, and enjoyed some Polish beer, and a few hours of chit chat. As it was now nearly 1 in the morning, we head back to the hotel.
The church, the next day, but still.
The next morning was two tours of the City with our good friend, and the Dr. Whittenburg of Europe, Zee. Zee started out our tour with a monument to the Battle of Grunwald, in which, in 1410, the Poles and Lithuanians, broke and utterly beat the Teutonic Knights, effectively ending their power in the Baltic(yeah, I had to look up, I’m not Zee). Next, he took us through the town’s defensive walls, past the market square, and to the site of Church in which his Holiness, John Paul II preached before he became Pope. This church was also home to a copy of Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial shroud of Christ Himself, complete with blood stains from where the nails were pressed in…did I mention that Poland is a very religious country, and then to yet another church, this one constructed by the Jesuits. This is where the tour finished up, at least for about two hours. This was long enough to go into another basement room, and get some food at a Ukrainian Restaurant. Good food, and a lot of interesting conversation(for anyone who was there: I was right, there is a Dunkin Donuts in Arlington County, on Lee Highway, across from the Safeway, down the street from Seven Eleven.)
Grunwald memorial.
After that pleasant little interlude we headed back to the Church to meet Zee for our afternoon tour. Zee took us up to the Cathedral/Castle were the President was being buried. Inside there was a monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a hero of three nations, Poland for leading its armies during a revolt against Russia, and the United States for help us out during the Revolution, and then leading armies for France in the service in Napoleon
Beyond Kosciuszko, we went into the Cathedral. Three Polish kings, and a queen and some saints are buried above ground in the Church, with placards that describe in English and Polish what they did, and why they are important. Also important in the Castle Complex was a site that according to Zee was important to Hindus. Apparently one of the gods, maybe Shiva, I can’t remember, throw a bunch of stones all over the world that serve as place to recharge your Chaka, or good energy, one apparently landed in Krakow, and had a castle built on top of it. Zee took us as close to that spot as we could get, because according to him Auschwitz would completely drain our Chaka otherwise.
The chaka refilling castle.
After maxing out our Chaka, we drained some of it. From Castle, Zee led us down into the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. Once upon time, before the Nazis came, Krakow had a large and thriving population of Jews. More than 76,000 of them supposedly lived in the city, as in those days, Poland was one of the few countries in Europe that treated Jewish people halfway decently. And then the Nazis showed up, and sent almost all of them 60kms down the road to Auschwitz (more then you will ever want to hear about that, I assure you). Today, there are only 150 Jewish people in Krakow.(No, that’s not a typo, I wrote exactly what I meant to, 150.) The quarter itself looks pretty run down, and apparently was pretty much a no go zone until the fall of Communism, because almost no one live there.
The Jewish Quarter
After this, we were all a little bummed out, but fortunately Krakow had something to take our minds off the depression caused by mass murder, and where we were going the next day. That thing was a massive water park located just outside of town. The park had a pool into which at least half a dozen slides emptied, a series of lily pad type things, a balancing rope, water volleyball pools, and saunas. We, meaning Jake, me, Ian, Alex, and Alex’s crew, did just about everything for just about three or four hours. By the time we got back we were pretty tuckered out, but very hungry.
From our hotel we headed out to the center of town once again, finally to get some Polish food. This turned out to be some ravioli like dishes, stuff with meat, or fruit. They were pretty good and very filling. After that we headed back to the hotel, talked for a while…or something like that…and went to bed.
Next: Krakow Part II: Auschwitz
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