Happy Fourth!

Saturday, The Fourth of July!

Oh joy!  A day to sleep in!  I had set my alarm for 7:30 but I guess I went back to sleep and now it’s 9:30!  A full night’s sleep!!  We are planning to leave around noon time, so there’s lot of time to take care of the critters and have breakfast and, tra-la, enjoy their lovely bathtub with the built-in back rest!  While we’re hanging out there’s someone at the front door!  We know because there’s a button and speaker downstairs that activates a phone by our front door!  We’re not expecting anyone and at first don’t answer.  He’s persistent, though, and Marilyn finally answers.  There’s no one there!  It rings again.  There’s no one there.  The third time she can hear someone talking and goes downstairs.

There is an old man and a priest at the door!  After some pantomime, the old man leaves and the priest walks right into the apartment downstairs from ours!  We suppose that the priest comes to visit the crazy lady who lives below us and, perhaps, give her confession?  She’s in a wheelchair and I don’t even now how she gets into her apartment, since you have to climb about six or eight steps to get to the front door of the building!

Fascinating things you can see on the street!

And from a tram!

Anyway, we’re ready to take on the day and drive to the “lady bug”, park the car and hop on the Number 20 tram to get into the city center.  Today’s first project is to find a post office so Marilyn can mail her granddaughter’s birthday card.  Along the way we find an open area in which there are several teams of young men playing three-on-three basketball!  That’s fun to watch for a few minutes, then we’re on our way.  

We’ve asked a guy about a post office (we later learn we’re standing in front of it) and he sends us off and to the left!  Happily we’ve got a map and his directions make no sense, so we head for the nearest TI.  She sends us a bit further to the bigger TI where M can buy a stamp and we get directions to a post box.

That done, we head for the Barbakan, the large, round tower which guarded the city gate, back when the Planty was a moat.  One day a month there are knightly battles, but the one in July is next Saturday and we’ll be in Poznan.  Oh well, we’ve actually seen knights battle before!  Think Ren Fest!

 We’re following Rick Steves’ walking tour of the King’s Way from the Barbakan to Wawel Hill, with the cathedral and castle.  This is the holiest place in all of Poland.

Facing the Barbakan is the Florianska Gate which brings you onto Florianska Street.  Inside the gate is a favorite spot for street musicians.  Today there is a girl playing violin!  Thursday we saw an accordionist.

We’re back in the Market Square with the Cloth Hall in the middle.  Today they have set up a sprinkler and there are kids playing a game in which they let the water toss their hat in the air and try to catch it.  Mostly it’s just a good excuse to play in the water.  It looks like so much fun that Marilyn decides to get a little damp, too!  As we’re heading back toward St. Mary’s Church to try to see the Trumpeter of Krakow we stop to listen to a man playing water glasses.

The big letter "S" over the entrance to the Cloth Hall stands for King Sigismund the Old, who had it rebuild in 1555 after it burned to the ground. 

 We’re hoping that the trumpeter will play from a doorway we can see.  Alas, not so.  He plays from a window and then moves on to another one.  Next time we’ll know where to point our cameras!  A word about the trumpeters - first off, they are all firemen and they serve a twenty-four hour shift, playing every hour on the hour.  Their song is broadcast live and is a tribute to the first Trumpeter of Krakow who alerted the town to an attack.  He was shot in the throat before finishing and to this day, the song is incomplete in remembrance.  The tower, which appears to be part of St. Mary’s Church, is actually a municipal tower and the trumpeters are municipal employees.

We now know that the ancient church whose underground we explored is called St. Adalbert's.  It's a tenth century Romanesque structure that predates the square.  Further down is the old Town Hall Tower.  It is all that's left of the original town hall.  It is here that we saw the bronze head.  It's sculptor was Igor Mitoraj.

The walking tour takes us past the church that our United ticket agent had mentioned, with the twelve apostles in front, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.  Actually there are eleven apostles, minus Judas, and Mary Magdalene.  The small square facing the church is called Mary Magdalene Square and occupies ground which used to hold yet another church, but it was destroyed and never rebuilt.  There are many, many, many churches in Krakow!

From there we walk down a narrow street with housing for many of the cleric who live in the city.  In fact, cardinals have lived in three of them;  they’re identified by the cardinals’ hats over the doorways and it’s fun to try to spot them.  We also see the Copernicus Hotel which Steve tells us has housed both the famous, like Copernicus himself, and the infamous, like George W. Bush!

Further down is St. Francis Basilica.  This was Pope John Paul II's church when he was the Archbishop of Krakow. We'd love to get in and see the art nouveau which is houses, but there is a wedding in progress.

Those different - colored bricks have the names of
Poles from around the world who contributed to
return the castle to its former glory.

We’re now at the foot of Wawel Hill and can see the cathedral and castle, which occupy the same grounds.  Much of the area is free to enter, although there are extra added attractions if you have the time and inclination.  Tickets can be bought on site.

The exterior of the cathedral is a strange mixture of architectural styles!  Somehow it all works together, though.  We walk around the outside first to get a feel for it and to locate a door through which to enter.  There is a man who looks like he might be taking tickets or counting noses, but he lets us in with everyone else, so I guess we’re okay.  Steve had said that we might have to have a ticket to get in, although that’s not usually the case.  We lucked out!

Karkow has so many churches!

The cathedral closes at five, so we’ve been keeping a watch on the time.  We’ve got more than an hour and feel sure that will be enough.  Rick gives us detailed directions and we locate all the tombs and chapels with no difficulty.  The interior is amazing (no photos allowed, so you’ll just have to visit yourselves!)  Lots of gold and carvings and statues and a rose window.  There is a St. John Paul Chapel which contains a relic, or so Marilyn thinks.  We have seen people kissing the reliquary monstrance, so she is probably right. Many Polish notables are buried here, including Chopin, Casimir The Great, St. Stanislaus, and many, many other Polish kings and saints.

The grounds are as lovely as you’d expect.  There is an area that looking like it’s been terraced for planting flowers.  It turns out that the low walls are actually the footprints of two Gothic churches that were leveled during an invasion so the troops would have a parade ground!

 We walk to the outer wall and look over at the Vistula River.  Here is the Dragon of Krakow, or, rather, a sculpture of the dragon.  He breathes fire on demand via SMS message!  The story goes that there was a dragon who could only be appeased by eating all the city’s livestock.  The king fed him a sheepskin filled with sulfur and he got such a bad case of heartburn that he drank from the river until he exploded!  He can reach him by climbing down Dragon’s Lair, which is a circular staircase of 135 steps.  Of course you’ll have to climb back up unless you want to walk along the river.  We don’t.

We decide that it’s time to head to Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter.  We’re looking for dinner and, most especially, the Jewish Music Festival, which everyone has suggested we would enjoy.  We’d also live to visit the old cemetery.

Enticing entranceway!

It isn’t a very long walk and we’re there with nary a wrong turn!  Unfortunately we can’t get into the cemetery, but there is an opening in the wall through which we can take pictures.  We try what looks like an entrance to the festival but the security guards, of which there are MANY, point us in another direction.  Going that way we find a promising restaurant but they are completely full.  Never mind, there’s another quite close, Miodova, and although we don’t have a reservation, the charming young woman takes pity on us and finds us a table for two.  It is inside out of the heat and close enough for us to hear the music and most important – we can sit down.  Yesterday’s hours of walking and standing are taking their toll.

We have decided to order two appetizers and split a main course, but our lady suggests that we add a third appetizer.  We’d selected white turnips and pears with sour cream sauce, raisins and nuts – and – stewed cabbage with cumin.  She wants us to add roasted beetroots with nuts and organic honey. How can we say “No”? We’re torn between stewed mutton and roasted leg of rabbit stuffed with nuts, served with tarragon sauce and celery root purree.  We ask her opinion and she doesn’t pause for a nano-second!  Rabbit it is!

While we’re waiting she brings us a much-needed caraff of water and an appetizer on the house.  It is pickled herring with dill sauce on a marvelous little slice of rye.  Spectacular.  We had wanted to order from the special menu they had prepared for the Jewish Festival week, but the other things caught our eye.

Everything is delicious and although it is tempting to just sit a little longer, the festival is right outside the doors and we are itching to get closer!  Although there are lots and lots of people, they aren’t all crowded against one another and it is easy to maneuver around and get closer to the stage.  There are cameras on booms and lights everywhere and a jumbotron – it’s quite a big deal and the music is infectious!  We were only going to stay for a few minutes but we didn’t leave until almost nine o’clock!  It started at six!

We think this pitcher pump used to be the town well.

We’ve already scoped out our tram stop and get there in plenty of time for our Number 50.  There is quite a group at our stop!  We’ve got Batman and Mr. Incredible and Mr. Potato and half a dozen other costumed crusaders!  Turns out that these Brits (gotta love the British!) have come over for a wedding and this is the groom’s bachelor party!  And, get this, the wedding is in Cypress!!  There are lots of giggles and cuddles and then their special party tram appears to whisk them away!  In a few minutes our not-so-special tram comes and we ride to our transfer point, catch the Number 20 and boom, we’re back at the car! We need gas before tomorrow’s adventure, and, as luck would have it, we’ve spotted a station close to our stop!  We drive over and find that the road we’ve turned in to, which should have connected to the station, is blocked off and there’s no legal way to turn around.  Oh well, for a brief few minutes we pretend we’re pedestrians, drive across the sidewalk, and make our way back to an access point.

The groom

 I go in to pay since there isn’t a card reader on the pump and the cute guy behind the cash register offers to go out and make sure Marilyn knows she can begin pumping.  He puts on a reflective vest before venturing out into the darkness.  I was impressed.  I also liked that I could pay in dollars so the bank doesn’t ding me!

Home again!  The cat has eaten and the rats are find and it’s good to be home.  I take care of the critters, Marilyn plans a route for tomorrow and takes her bath.  She’s gone to bed and I’m about to do the same.  It’s a bit after one and I’m ready for night-night.  Maybe Cat will come tonight.  Tomorrow we have to straight up before we leave so Paulina’s mother doesn’t think we’re slobs who have trashed her daughter’s home!  She’ll be here to critter sit when we’re away.