Poland - more on Krakow

Krakow has the advantage over Warsaw in that it sustained very little damage in WWII.  Its Old Town and Wawel Castle are authentic, no re-builds.  To that I say, I salute the people of Warsaw for rebuilding from the ashes.

Wawel Castle, Krakow, Poland

We arrived in Krakow in the early evening, so once we were all checked into the hotel, the Park Inn, our Program Director, Jutta (from Vienna) took us to Old Town on a local tram, showed us how to get back on the same tram, and cut us loose to find dinner on our own.  Bob and I found a wonderful little restaurant that served sea bass.  It was served head on, which we here in the US don't normally see.  I didn't think of taking a picture before I ate it, but I did get a shot of the carcass when I was done. Not quite the visual I thought it would be.

The next morning, after our "buffet breakfast" (see my other post today on European hotels), we went to Old Town again, but saw more of it.  We went to Wawel (pronounced VaVel) Castle which you can see is absolutely gorgeous).  We went to the Jewish Quarter, if that's what they still call it. 

We also went to a Memorial to the Jews Deported from Krakow and sent East . . . I found it very moving.
                                                                                    

This was taken at what was the railway station during the Nazi occupation.  Each chair faces East, and represents 1000 Jews deported from this place. 

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Today there are only trams, but where we see trams, those terrified people saw railway cars that were taking them some place they didn't want to go, and from which they would most likely never return.
But where did the Jews go?  Belzec extermination camp, Plaszow slave-labor camp, Auschwitz.  .  .  .

On our tour, we saw the Kazimierz District, which was historically the Jewish District from the 14th century until the Naziis wiped them out in 1943.   This was not the location of the Ghetto, however.  The Nazis moved all the Jews from Kazimierz to the Podgorze District,where they were crammed into a space that used to house 3000 people and now had to house 15,000.  This the Nazis established as the Jewish Ghetto, and nothing of it remains today except a plaque, if I remember right.  Helena Rubenstein was born in Krakow, in the Kazimierz.   We saw the Old Synagogue, and the Remuh Synagogue, and the outside of Schlinder's Factory.  Nothing meant as much to me as the symbolism of those chairs.  Some of our group had their pictures taken sitting in one of the Chairs.  I didn't think of it, but I now wonder if that wasn't a little insensitive of them?  The chairs represent Jews going to their deaths.  I'm not sure a blond Gentile sitting in that chair is appropriate.  But it did make for a nice vacation picture.

Just a couple of notes on Standard European hotel accommodations

I have to say, I HATE duvets!  In Europe they do not use a top sheet.  There is just the duvet in its cover which presumably is washed between guests since there is NO TOP SHEET.  In addition to that, the damn things are too short!  The are barely longer than the mattress itself, and there is no room to tuck them in.  When I pull the covers up around my neck my feet stick out.  Each time I reposition myself I end up further twisted into the wad my duvet has become.  Eventually I am forced to get up to straighten out the duvet, usually several times.  I don't sleep well in European hotels. 

Although I do love their bathtubs!  Long and deep, high and narrow, it is a pleasure to relax in these 6' tubs.  Some of the more feeble among our passengers complain about these being hard to get into and out of to use the shower, much less take a bath!  We love the tub so much we've ordered as close as we could get here in the States.

Bidets are a lot more scarce these days, at least in the hotels we stay at.  I never figured out exactly how to use them.  Maybe it's a cultural thing based on local dress.  Then there's the Turkish Toilet, or the Ottoman toilet or the Eastern Toilet - it consists of two footprints straddling a hole.  You put your feet in the footprints, squat over the hole and do your business.   Sometimes there's a garden hose to act as a sort of primitive bidet, if you get my drift.  I don't know about today, but when we were in Italy in 2000 they still had these toilets in a lot of places.  We had to use one in Siena, because we were there at 9 AM and the only place open at that hour was a bar with one Turkish Toilet.  We were told that the further south you went, the more you would find these.  Bigger Muslim/Moorish populations. We have not been that far south since, but we will probably find out when we got to Athens next year.

A lot - all of the ones we stay at - offer an "American style breakfast buffet".  It is usually inedible.  The bacon looks raw, like they just ran it through a warm kitchen.  Maybe it's cured differently over there and doesn't need to be cooked thoroughly?  I really don't know, but I'm not going to eat it.  They usually have powdered eggs posing as scrambled, and they're invariably either runny or glutinous.

Beware ordering coffee in a restaurant.  Their coffee will put hair on your chest unless you specify Americana, or white (with milk).  If you don't specify you will usually get Espresso.  They think we're coffee wimps.  I plead guilty.  I like my coffee with hazelnut creamer and sugar.  The less like coffee it tastes, the better.  I plan on taking my flavored creamer over on my next trip!

BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS - this is not your usual warning.  When you are warned that a city is particularly bad with pickpockets, believe it and keep everything you have close to your person and zipped up!  Your purse, coat pockets, pant pockets - keep them closed up tight.  Keep your wallets on a leash, ladies, hooked to the inside of your purse.  Don't take it off the leash.

Prague is crawling with pickpockets so smooth you won't know anything.  I was pickpocketed in Prague (lost my Canon 260SX camera and the memory card.  Fortunately I downloaded my photos onto my iPad every single night on our 5 week trip.  So when my camera was lifted, all I lost were my pictures from that day.  That was bad enough, but if I had lost all my photos I would have been devastated.  So even if you plan on putting the whole vacation on one memory card, still download or upload or backup the day's photos, just in case your memory card doesna't make it home with you.