Krakow, Poland
Hello from Zacopane, Poland. We have a car now so I did not have a chance to blog backwards on the train.
We had five days in Krakow and saw a lot!
Where to start? Well, as usual with a free walking tour! Big Tom was our excellent guide from the North end of the Old Town to the South.
Tower of old city wall.
At the southern end of the Old Town is the original Krakow. Krakow was once just a small city on Wawel Hill with a castle and a cathedral.
Inside the Cathedral:
We went in to see the painting by Leonardo da Vinci but found other things funny/interesting.
What is the story with the teeny-tiny little priest in the bottom right here?:
Ok - this is why we went into the museum. Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Dated 1489-1491, it is one of only four remaining portraits of women painted by Leonardo - the most famous of which is the Mona Lisa.
They even had a cutout for selfies!
These tiles in the wall were for a "brick" fundraiser. Similar fundraisers at Lutherhill or Minute Maid Park, you make a donation and get your name memorialized on the wall/ground.
the water well
Back down the hill to St. Mary's Basilica.
... quite a bit of information to take in!
road narrows, workers and general LOOK OUT!
Out for a walk after dinner we crossed this bridge.
As we crossed the river we entered the Jewish Ghetto where 43,000 of the 60,000 Jews living in Krakow were forced to live beginning in May 1940. This memorial, consisting of 33 empty chairs (one for every 1,000 people) reminds us of the lives lost as these people were taken to Auschwitz or other camps, never to return.
On Wednesday we took the train to go tour Auschwitz.
At the entrance "Arbeit mach Frei" - Work makes you Free.
Yesterday (Thursday) we headed out of Krakow in our rental car. On the way to Zakopane we stopped at a salt mine for a tour.
We are not terribly interested in salt mines but it is super hot here (94F) and we understood the mine was 60F inside!
It was interesting, regardless ... we first walked down over 400 steps to get to 64 meters (213 feet) below ground.
What a way to end the blog post huh!?!
Ready for some days in the mountain!
Take care and stay cool!
Sheri & Carsten
PS. The salt mine did have an elevator to the surface but we had to walk a long way to take it and when we merged we were no where near where we had started. Had to walk a distance to get back to our car. So strange!
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