Sept 8 Krakow Sightseeing

Sept 8 Krakow Sightseeing

We ate breakfast at the hotel and were not very pleased. The food was OK, but most of it was gone. We asked the hostess to boil eggs for us, but she waited so long to start them that we had to leave for our tour before they were done. Breakfast was 6 Euros, nearly 10 dollars, so we figured we would eat elsewhere after this. We headed out to our tour pick up point. It is raining and we brought our rain gear. We have a small map to the Logo hotel where we are headed, but we miss the street and ask directions, back tracking about a block. We still have plenty of time. The mini van collects people. It is not big enough. The guide explains that this is just a shuttle and if some folks are willing to stand for 5 minutes, we will soon be at the lot where all the tour busses gather. As it turns out, there are only four of us going on the city tour, so we stay in the mini van.

Our tour guide is Jane, a Jewess, whom we later learn was an orphan from the war. Her heavy accent makes her difficult to understand. In addition, the microphone on the van is not working well-very full of static and background noise. She tries to point out some buildings we are passing, but we cannot understand. I ask her to just speak to the four of us in her normal voice, and she reluctantly complies. She says we will first visit the Jewish quarter of Kazimirierz.  She says for people to call this a ghetto is incorrect, because that means the residents were forced to live there. This area is not a ghetto. Jews were welcome here when they were not in other countries, so they willingly migrated to this area to live. She gives a lengthy history of Poland and Krakow and of the Jews settling here.  She describes skills the Jews had such as shoemaking, keymaking, woodworking and watchmaking. She says guilds were formed among the craftsmen. Commerce flourished between Jews and the other nearby villages and eventually all the small villages combined to become Krakow. We get off the bus and I am thankful for my Columbia hooded rain jacket. It has travelled with me all over the world and consistently keeps me dry. David is using an umbrella. Jane shows us where Schindler’s List was filmed and says she worked with Spielberg. She takes us into a Jewish restaurant where he hung out during filming. The bus takes us to Wawel Hill where we tour the castle and the 14^th century cathedral which hosted the Polish royalty coronations and funerals. We also visited St Mary’s church, where there is a carved a stunning medieval  altar and the artist, Viet Stross,  was paid a year’s budget for the city of Krakow to make it. Krakow is a respected university town, and we visited the university area. Both Capernius and Pope John Paul II attended this university! Of course, the city is proud of the Pope’s connection here and we see pictures of him everywhere. The tour took us to a place he stays when he visits. The tour ends in the main market square, the bustling heart of the city. It is full of vendors, flower shops and restaurants. We finished our tour by hearing the famous bugle call which is made to the four directions on the hour. Each bugling stops abruptly mid-song, just as the original sentry did when he was shot by an arrow in the throat as he was sounding the alarm.

The tour ended about 12:30. We are ready for lunch and after walking around on the tour for three hours in the rain, we decide to eat inside. The first place we stop has a plexiglass roof and the sound of the rain on it is deafening. We  go on to another place, cozy and small, with good food, beer, and tea. A man alone sits drinking coffee and reading his newspaper the whole time we are there. We have decided to attend a Chopin concert tonight, so stop by the tourist info desk to buy tickets. Then we walk back to the hotel to rest and write on the blog. We walk back to the square for the 7 PM concert. It is upstairs in a long hall and has a baby grand piano. The 25 year old pianist is very talented and has won many awards and competitions.  She plays a variety of classical music. She is embarrassed by the resounding applause. She plays for over an hour with a 15 minute break while patrons are served water or wine. It was a lovely concert. She came back for a brief encore, but said she could not do more as she was tired. We took photos of her and also of the beautiful spiral staircase and crystal chandeliers. We strolled outside on the square afterward and stopped for a decadent chocolate dessert, coffee and tea before heading back to the hotel.