2023 Little Adventure - Krakow Poland

 Off to Poland 

We are off to Poland.  Traveling with 8 people’s luggage is always a challenge. 

Especially if the kids are a little tired.  


We met a guy from Australia traveling alone.   I think old people in general are not as

tech-savey as the younger generation.   Ryan showed him how access what he needed on

his phone.  He was grateful to have Ryan help him out.  


On the train we met a couple of girls from London traveling before their jobs start in the Fall.  One is a doctor, or at least trained and starting the profession.  The other is a trained Mid-Wife. Both are just finishing school.  We chatted for quite some time about the different medical systems in England and the US.  It is always fun getting a different perspective on things from people living in a different country.  

This is the first time traveling in Eastern Europe.  I have known quite a few people from church, work, or neighbors from Western Europe.  (France, England, Germany, Sweaden, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands and so forth.)  I really have not had any friends from Eastern Europe.  We have a few in our neighborhood but I have never really got to know them.  

For some reason, at least in Prague, things seem a little different.  A little bit dirtier.  Maybe a little more gafitti as you go outside the tourist district.  I don’t really know, just a little different.  Not as many people speak good English.  Not quite as much variety in the grocery stores.  Similar to Western Europe, maybe just a little different.    We will see if it is the same in Poland.  

The train ride is nice.  Lots of trees, green farm lands and small villages.

Arrival in Krakow

From what I see in Krakow, I am VERY impressed. The city seems very clean and quite picturesque. The place we are staying is very nice. I am pleasantly impressed

Our place we are staying. Nice brick apartments


Inside is very nice 







Exploring Krakow first night

The kids wanted a little down time and watch some TV. The adults took off to explore the Old Town section of Krakow. it was very nice. Fun building, clean, and a nice atmosphere.









Out to dinner

We decided to drop into a place that served Polish Dumplings -- Pirogi .  We tried the Pirogi and some potato pancakes.  Both were great!  Ryan tried a dish with sausage and cabbage.  The Pirogi and potato pancakes were a little better.



When we got back home the kids were all in the same spot we left them watching TV


A fun day exploring Krakow with the kids 

We had a fun time exploring Krakow with the kids 

Milk Bar 

A Milk Bar is a no frills cafeteria eatery with large portions and low cost.  


It was interesting there were a few local people there.  Most all ordered soup and a roll. 
Addie gave it a try for breakfast.  Her's had a large sausage with it. 


We ordered scrambled eggs with ham and cheese with a roll. We also ordered apple pancakes (crepes with apples inside.  ) We also ordered pirogi with a strawberry inside.  The total was about $10 USD.  There was a lot of food.  


Planty

The old city originally had a mote of water around the city.  They filled it in and made a park around the city.  Kind of a grassy green space surrounding the city. 


The Planty also had some kids toys



Wahel Castle 

The Wahel Castle is a series of buildings.  






Kind  of a cool big Segway that the police ride around 


River next to the castle 




Wawel Chakra Wall

 There is a wall in the castle court yard that is believed to emit powerful spiritual energy.  We saw some people leaning against it and putting their foreheads on it.  
We all tried it with not too much success. 


Wawel Dragon Legend 

There is a legend of a dragon that was once in mid-evil time in Krakow.  the dragon would demand livestock from the towns people.  Many  great Knights tried to slay the dragon with no avail.  Once a simple shoe maker said he would slay the dragon.  He filled a lamb skin with sulfur and in the morning he put it before the dragon.  The dragon swallowed it.  It began to burn his insides, so he drank great gulps of water from the river and exploded.  

Dragon Den 

Today for a fee, you can go into the dragon's den.  You take some stairs down a long narrow cork screw type stairs.  I think the kids informed me there are 171 steps.  As you go down it gets colder and colder.  You finally end up in a large cave  




As you come out of the cave you end up at the dragon statue.  


Bryson and Hudson bought some toy dragons. 


Every little while flames shoot out the dragon's mouth.  
I am guessing this is where Universal Studios got the idea for the dragon in the Harry Potter World for their dragon to have flames come out it's mouth. 


Heading into Old Town 

Around town they have these cool misters to cool off with.


This is a musical bench.  You push a button and it play music.  


A guy set up a little archery range on the side of the sidewalk 


Not only do they have horse and carriage rides for the tourists.  I have seen a few of these golf carts they take the tourists around 


Periodically you see these cool chairs the city puts out in various places to relax.  


In the Old Town there is a big market place,


It is a long haul with lots of vendor selling all kinds of things. 


Karen bought me a new leather coin purse for Father's Day to replace the one that got pick-pocketed in Paris. 


Hudson displays his dragon on a replica of the castle 

Underground Museum 

Under the Market they were excavating about 25 or so years ago and they found a lot of old archlogical artifacts.  The decided to put an underground museum with a lot of these old artifact along with some cool modern displays telling about Krakow's past history.  

Krakow was invaded in the 1200's and burned down. Most of the houses then were wood.  They rebuilt the city with brick and laid it out in an organized fashion.  The underground museum tells this story with a variety of different ways. 

Puppet story of dragon 


Interactive games 


Original cobblestone sidewalk 


Hologram type movies 


Addie and Gracie just watched Twilight.  We read about in old Krakow they would charge people with being vampires and execute and torture them.  Here are some remains of one of the victims . 


Interactive maps and displays 


Mock-up of old water wheel. 


Pigeons and the church 

There are a ton of pigeons in the town square by the church.  




The church has a very ornate interior 

Lunch at Raspberry Grandmothers 

There is a cute little restaurant across from the theater house.  The food was pretty good.  We tried chicken steak with cheese and a jam sauce, pork cooked like a chicken fried steak, fried pierogis (last time we tried them steamed), and spagetti .  







On the walk home I noticed a blue Ferrari.  I saw an red one yesterday.  It is interesting that my grandson , Elliot Swift loves to check out high end sports cars.  He said he saw 3 Ferraris in Prague and one Lamborghini.  

I guess some people here must have some money. 


I was kind of impressed  when I saw  this automatic sander and washer.  With the cobblestone roads looking so good, I wondered how they maintained them.  This machine looked like it would put new sand down and also wash the road.  It seems like they try to keep the Old Town looking nice.  I saw a drunk on a bench and soon a couple  police guys ushered him off.    Tourism must bring in quite a bit of revenue.  They seem to try to keep the tourist areas nice here.


I saw this old style bike on the street.  It had a lock on it.  I am curious if someone actually rode it or if it was just for looks.  Looked in rideable condition.  


Breakfast at the Open Market 

We decided to go to the Open Market for breakfast.  The Open Market has all kind of vegetable stands, fruit, cheese shops, meat shop, bakery shops , and other shops you can buy all kinds of things.  Luckily even though it is open it has a roof on it.  Just as we were walking to the Open Market it started to rain.  

The Open Market 


Gracie with her new umbrella.  (Luckily she bought one, since later in the day she needed it.)


Bakery


Shop that made some beans wrapped up in a thick tortilla type thing then deep fried.  We also bought some balls that were kind of like spicy cornbread, and a flat seasoned bread. 


Entering Old Town through one of the gates. 


Biking around  Krakow Planty (or Tour de Planty) 

The Old Town did have a wall around it and a mote surrounding the city.   They filled in the mote with a walking path, trees, and grass.  We decided to rent some bikes and bike around the city.  

The race is on . . . 



The bike path was pretty nice.  Once in a while you needed to watch out for pedestrians or intersections coming into  Old Town. 

The path goes all the way around Old Town 





Dropped by our friend Wahel Dragon 


Wahel Castle behind us 




Grabbed a crepe before going to our tour to Auschwitz 



Auschwitz is a DEPRESSING place 

We took a tour to Auschwitz.  Personally I don't like big tours so I think I may have been a little grumpy.  We took a tour bus with about 50 people in it.  The ride out to Auschwitz was actually quite pleasant.  The tour bus was comfortable.  Once we got out of town we went along a two lane highway.  There were a lot of trees and farmland.  Periodically we would come through a little town. Most of the houses, once out of the city were single family homes.  Most were block homes with stucko on them and had textured metal roof.  Most had nice lawn areas and were well maintained.  There were some brick homes.  The trip took about 1.5 hours on the bus.  

Typical country Polish homes.  



Auschwitz was DEPRESSING from the beginning 

As you enter Auschwitz there is a gate and a fence around the perimeter of the compound.  Upon entering you need to show them your passport and go through security.  They caught me with my knife in my backpack and took it away.  

I kind of felt like I was being enlisted into the Prison Camp.  They gave you some headphones and a transmitter.  The guide did not have very good English and would not let anyone talk.  It was kind of awful.  

You went past some large iron gates and down a long hallway with cement walls on each side.  You were instructed not to talk.  I felt like we were being made to march down this long corridor. 


The Compound 

The  Compound was made of a series of brick building





Apparently the Nazi's took great records and lot of photographs.  We saw photos of masses of Jewish people coming in.  One hallway had pictures when they entered and when they died. 

Pictures on display 


Mock up of gas chambers 


Canisters of gas 


Holding areas 



Bathrooms 


Bunk beds areas  


Wall where they would shoot people 


It is estimated that about 1.3 Million Jews entered Auschwitz and only about 10% survived.   They mass killed people - mostly by gas and incineration.  But many by hanging, shooting, suffocation chambers, and torture.  They performed sterilization experiment on women.  Men , women and children alike were all mass killed.   

Auschwitz II - the Sequel  

We left Auschwitz pretty depressed.   They loaded us back in the bus and took us to Auschwitz II.  The first camp was mainly brick buildings that were mostly all preserved.  Auschwitz II was made of wood barricks and were mostly destroyed. They rebuilt some to give an idea of what they were like.  

To make bad things even worse, when we arrived they had time constraints because of the many tours, so we had to walk down this long road and it started to rain like CRAZY.  We all got soaked.  Luckily Monica bought some umbrellas earlier that morning .  

They would bring loads of Jews in by railcar


Rebuilt barracks 



Remains of the incineration chambers that were partially destroyed 


Even the monument they put up is very UGLY


We made it home with wet socks and a depressed mood.  

Tomorrow we are off to Budapest Hungary.  We have a 7 hour train ride and just found out our AIRBNB got flooded and they relocated it in another place.  The only problem is that it is much farther from the train station than the other.  At least we have reserved seats on the train.  


2023 Little Family Adventure - On the way home & Epilogue

  2023 Little Family Adventure - On the way home & Epilogue On the way home & Epilogue    It is interesting to be heading back home....