Day 16 - Wednesday July 14, 2010 - Krakow, Poland

Day 16 sent in Krakow, Poland:

Top: Schindler's Factory - now a museum.

Middle: St Mary's Basilica where the trumpeter plays on the hour every hour.

Bottom: The remaining part of the wall around "the Ghetto" where the Jews were kept in Krakow.

What a beautiful city. Krakow was untouched pretty much physically during WW2. Beautiful architecture, clean, and relatively small making exploration easy.

It gets light about 4 am here and even though I was exhausted from traveling yesterday, I woke up but was finally able to sleep another 2 hours. I got dressed and went to the lobby about 7 to get a map from the Front Desk. Even though the Grand Hotel is supposed to be one of the top 3 in Krakow they have no concierge and were not able to organize tours for me.

I took my map and guide book to the hotel breakfast buffet and laid out a strategy for seeing Krakow. After breakfast I headed out into the Old City. The Grand Hotel is well situated in the northern end of the Old City only 1.5 blocks from the main square – Rynek Glowny. En route to the main square, I was approached by a tour guide and booked a 2 hour tour of Old Town, Wawel – the Royal Castle (pronounced Vavel), Kazimierz (the Jewish district), the Ghetto (1941-1943), and Schindler’s Museum (just recently opened after many delays).

It ends up that my tour guide was an American from Tampa and he is here at the University studying International Relations. Both of Tom’s parents are Polish and he was fluent and knew a lot about the sites. Very informative and I think he enjoyed talking in English to an American. It was funny that he is a spitting image of my friend Jason Kincaid who also lived in Tampa!

We took off in the electric golf cart and hit the major sites around the Old City – Main Market Square and Cloth Hall, St. Mary’s Basilica, St. Florian Gate and the old defensive walls of the city (the Barbican), the Planty (a huge park circling the Old Town where the old city walls used to stand), Szczepanski Square, Collegium Maius, Collegium Novum, Window of Pope John Paul II, St. Peter and Paul Church, St. Andrew’s Church, and many, many sites in between. At St. Mary’s Basilica, we heard the bells chime and heard the trumpeter as well. There is an old from 1241 that someone saw invading Tartar troops and played a trumpet from the bell tower to alert the residents of Krakow. He was shot in the neck with an arrow and the song ended abruptly. They do the same thing today!

Also in the Rynek Glowny is Glowa Glowna (The Head) and giant oversized head situated on its side and a major attraction. Kids love to crawl inside and have their picture taken looking out the huge eye holes.

We then drove by the Wawel where there is a huge cathedral, the Royal Tombs, and many other sites. Tom told me to allow 4 hours to see the Wawel. The former President of Poland and his wife are buried in the Royal Tombs which apparently was quite controversial.
Then off to Kazimeirz – the old Jewish district. There used to be 65,000 Jews in Krakow and today there are only 1,000. We saw the Church on the Rock, St Catherine’s Church, Wolnica Square, Corpus Christi Church, Tempel Synagogue, New Square, Old Synagogue, Szeroka Street, and Flamuh Synagogue. The recording in the golf cart and Tom’s additional commentary were excellent.

We then went through “The Ghetto” – the area of the city used to segregate and isolate the Jews between 1941 and 1943. They built a huge wall around the Ghetto that looked like Jewish tombstones placed side by side. There is a memorial square with oversized chairs of different sizes placed around. The interpretation of the art was difficult to understand. I saw the one pharmacy in the Ghetto that the Nazis allowed the Jews to have to prevent the outbreak of disease.

Then to the newly opened Schindler’s Museum which is in the old Schindler factory. Same building that is in the movie! The displays were excellent and informative. Glad I got to see that.
Tom returned me to the main square, I exchanged more money (I’m finding Krakow to be expensive !). Then I set out for a stroll back to many of the sites I had visited earlier. The weather was beautiful although hot and I enjoyed by stroll. I stopped at St. Peter and Paul Church and bought a ticket for a classical concert tonight. Spent about 1 ½ hours in the Wawel. Then headed back to the main square where I had a fabulous lunch at one of the many, many sidewalk cafes that surround the square. Lots of people watching.

By this time it was after 4 pm so I headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved nap. Had a good rest, freshened up for the concert and then headed out to roam the city before the concert.

The classical concert was fabulous. The church was a perfect setting and the musicians very talented, My favorites were Pachelbel’s Canon. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (they did Autumn), and Albinoni’s Adagio. I got goosebumps during those pieces. There were 7 musicians – 3 violinists, 1 cello, 1 base, 1 flute and 1 trumpet. Glad I saw that.

After the concert, I strolled the city for about 1 ½ hours – beautiful lit up at night. Lots of people out and the cafes were full. My lunch was so filling, I skipped dinner and headed back to the hotel and to bed.

A great first day in Krakow. Glad I came here. Tomorrow is Auschwitz and Birkenau which should be educational and moving.