Krakow was as beautiful as I remembered it. I arrived on July 22nd by train from Warsaw, about a 2 hour journey. I then took a taxi to my room above Jordan Travel at 9 Dluga St. This location is less than one block from the main street that runs around the old city and the Planty that runs inside that street.

The Planty is a beautiful green space that circles the entire old city. At one point I believe it was the old 26 foot moat and the city wall and eventually it was turned into a beautiful park area in the middle of Krakow. There is a lot of greenspace in all Polish cities and towns and it is used a lot. In the evenings every path is busy and every park bench is full. And the people are all ages - families with little children, teenagers, seniors, ... At one point I decided that the parks were probably the coolest places to be. Most homes do not have air conditioning so in the heat wave they were having the homes would be very hot and the park would be a great escape at the end of the day. The parks were also a great escape for certain tourists during the day when a break was needed from the heat.

My room was a typical room - small with a single bed, small dresser, closet, table and chair as well as a small bathroom with walk-in shower. It served my purposes quite well and because it was on the top floor (fifth floor but 4th by their numbering) I had a beautiful breeze in the evenings and mornings and a beautiful big window that I could leave wide open with no fear of anyone getting near it. Other rooms in the place did not fare quite so well and I heard many people talking about the heat. The room next to me had windows but only into the hallway so they got no outside breeze at all but got all the heat of the day. My room was also at the back of the establishment which meant it was very, very quiet. The rooms that overlooked Dluga St, which many people thought would be the choice rooms, had to listen to the trams all night long. I had to move to a front room for my last night there and in one half hour period I counted 13 trams going by and they were noisy. The street had tracks going in both directions and it was a very narrow street with only one lane of traffic in each direction. I bet the bed wasn't more than 10 feet away from the northbound tram. Oh well, I just turned over on my right side and went to sleep. I really do now know what it means to "turn a deaf ear" to something - and it works.

Anyway, on the 22nd when I arrived, I didn't do a lot except get settled in and relax and make plans for touring. On Sunday the 23rd I took a taxi to Wawel Hill. It is at the other end of the old city and it wouldn't take 15-20 minutes to walk there normally but, since I knew I would be walking around the castle and through the exhibits for a long time, I decided to take a taxi and save my feet at least that much walking. And of course, being a good tourist, I knew the place opened at 10 a.m. on Sundays so I was there right around 10. Unfortunately when I went to buy my tickets I was informed that there was a special ceremony taking place in the castle courtyard and most of the exhibits in the church and the castle wouldn't open until after noon. What is a person to do except sit and relax (and have some refreshments because it was another hot, humid day) and there were hundreds of tourists all doing the same thing.

"The Lost Wawel" exhibit was open so I did that section first. It displays old pottery and weapons and armour and artifacts from the old castle and then the exhibit goes down into an excavated area where you look at the original walls and layout of the first castle (or one of the first). The first settlement on Wawel Hill goes back to the 8th century so there is a lot of history in this one place. First it was the home of bishops and then from the 10th century to the 17th century it was the home of the Polish kings. After a fire in the 17th century the official home of the King moved to Warsaw, which has been the capital ever since.

That makes me think of one of the great differences between Warsaw and Krakow. Warsaw was a seat of power during the wars and after WWII was completely destroyed. Krakow was not a seat of power and survived virtually intact from the wars so everything is original - or as original as possible considering almost every king wanted to make his own changes to the place.

I toured the Crown Treasury and Armoury that went for ever and ever up and down stairs. Unless I missed a section it was more armoury than treasury. In Copenhagen at the Rosenberg Palace the Treasury was full of incredible treasures with crowns and jewels but here there was nothing so fancy. Perhaps it was just a difference in the time periods involved and the older treasures from the 10th century just didn't catch my fancy as much as the more recent centuries. It was interesting but just not awe inspiring.

I also toured the State Rooms and the Royal Private Apartments. I know that the current Polish Presidents still use the Private Apartments at times. Lech Walensa certainly visit Krakow according to our guide. Well, let me tell you that his bedroom may have been huge and secure behind walls that were three feet thick, but it was not a warm, welcoming room and it was very plain. The bathroom had the required components but certainly not in a modern form. I would not have wanted to be a guest.

Other of the rooms were impressive just because of the history and paintings on the wall. The theme was definitely Noah's Ark throughout most of the staterooms and there were tapestries and paintings on the same subject everywhere. There were also other tapestries and paintings and sculptures throughout and they were very impressive.

The courtyard of the castle itself is large and outside the castle but within the castle walls, the outer courtyard is also large. The function going on in the morning was taking place in the inner courtyard and it looked like military or guards were graduating, from what I could tell. There were bands and speeches and guests everywhere. The inner courtyard and the church were closed at the time.

The Wawel Cathedral is beautiful but rather dark - again probably because of the age - and divided into many separate chapels. I only visited the Cathedral on my own and did not take the full Cathedral tour. Thus I did not see the Royal Tombs where most of the old (pre 17th century) Polish Kings are buried, or the Sigismund Bell, which is only rung on special Polish occasions.

After all my touring around, I had an early dinner at the restaurant on the lower end of Wawel Hill overlooking the Wisla River. Then I walked slowly back the royal way to the city centre and home.

On Monday I went down to the old city and took an electric train ride tour of the old city and other sights. The Barbican is from the 15th century and was at one of the gates into the city. It is circular and its walls are three feet thick and it looks almost perfect. It became a land mark for me and was often where I entered the old city through The Florianska Gate and by walking down Florianska Street.

The Main Market area was planned in the 13th century and is 200 x 200 m square. You can almost image all the trade that took place in this area over the centuries. Now there are cafes and restaurants and benches and open places for everyone to enjoy. Across the centre of the market area is the Cloth Hall. It is a huge building with dozens and dozens of small shops inside. They sell everything from jewelry to wood carvings to clothes and the place is always packed. The second floor is a museum and I have to admit that I have not yet been there so that will be for the next trip.

Just as you enter the Main Market from Florianska Street you have St. Mary's Church, which was built from the 13th to 15th centuries in a Gothic style and restored in the 19th century. After my little electric train tour which stopped just beside the Church, I decided to go in and take a look. And I'm glad I did because about 5 minutes later the weather finally broke and they had an incredible thunderstorm and the rain just came down in buckets. The Church very quickly filled up about that time!

Anyway, the Church is absolutely beautiful. It's one of those places you could sit for hours and never see everything that is to be seen. The alter is amazing on its own. It is carved and painted wood 11 x 13 m in size with 12 scenes and the two outer panels fold in to close off the centre panel and the outside part is carved into 12 scenes as well. It is from the 15th century and was folded up and stored during the wars so it has survived intact. That is the main alter but there are many other smaller alters at chapels around the building, in fact 20, if I remember correctly, and each of them is equally beautiful but just much smaller.

The Church has two towers on the outside and it looks quite strange because the two towers are not the same size or design. However, the taller of the towers was really a guard tower for the City where the guards could look over city wall into the countryside and ensure all was well. If an enemy was approaching the guard would sound the alarm by blowing a horn and that horn is still blown at noon everyday.

There are many beautiful churches in Krakow and sometimes there are two or three within the same block. I wandered past the Franciszkanow Church one afternoon and had to go in as I heard some beautiful organ music. I sat in the back and listened to the music and looked at the beautiful stain glass windows and it was very relaxing. Across the street at # 3 Franciszkanow St, there is a picture of Pope John Paul II in an upper window as that is where he would hold audience in Krakow. Apparently when he died the entire street had to be closed because of all the candles and flowers that were left there in his memory. They had a photo display of Pope John Paul II along the Planty and it was really interesting. It was very easy to see why the people loved him as his warm personality came out in every picture. "Papa Jon" as they called him, lived in Krakow from 1938 to 1978 when he was elected Pope, and he is very much a part of the city.

My little electric train ride took us through Kasimierz, the Jewish district of Krakow. Jews have always been part of Krakow and prior to WWII 25% of the population was Jewish. We saw their synagogues, old and new, and their cemeteries and markets and restaurants. It is a thriving part of Krakow and it would have been nice to have some more time to spend wandering around the district. Part of Schindler's List was filmed here.

I guess that is a perfect lead in to my other organized tour for Krakow. I took a bus tour to Auschwitz - Birkenau and although it was an all day tour, I'm not sure what I can write about it. 1.5 million people died here and the Polish people have done a great job of making it a memorial to those people and a reminder to everyone else just what can happen if we let it.

We went to Auschwitz first and toured through many of the buildings but certainly not even a small portion of them. We saw the gas chambers, the barbed-wire fences, the guard watchtowers, the signs saying "Halt! Stoj!" with the skull and crossbones above it. We saw where prisoners were tried and then hung or shot and we saw the torture cells for those who disobeyed. But the one thing that stays with you is the sheer size of the place. There are rows and rows of buildings in Auschwitz and I think they have made a specific museum of each one of them. One was for Polish Jews, one was for Gypsies, ... You would need days to go through them all.

At times we were passing displays of shoes and there were thousands and thousands of them, then suitcases, then hairbrushes, then eye glasses. It was a very touching and sobering sight - very memorable and well done. And throughout there were pictures of the camp and of prisoners who were there and their stories. And when you thought you'd seen so much already, they then take you to Birkenau.

I don't think I had ever heard of Birkenau. Apparently Auschwitz, despite how big it appeared to me, just wasn't big enough to hold all the prisoners. Auschwitz had been a old Polish army camp and it met their needs for a while. When they needed more space they had to build Birkenau. Very little of Birkenau is still standing. The chimneys for each of the wooden barracks still stand, rows and rows of them, but only a few of the barracks themselves are intact.

The first couple we went into were the latrines and wash areas. The others were the sleeping areas. You could see a lot of light through the boards on the walls and it was incredibly hot inside that day. I'm sure in the winter it was incredibly cold. The bunks were exactly as seen in the movies, just boards for people to sleep in - bunks three high all tightly pushed together. Over 400 people slept in each barracks.

And of course only the healthy who could be put to work were kept in the barracks. The train track went down the centre of the camp through the main entrance and stopped farther down the way. The sorting stations were beside the train track and the gas chambers (showers so the prisoners were told) were at the far end. It was obviously a well planned and organized process. One that is still hard for me to imagine even though I've seen the camps. It's almost too incomprehensible to even be believable, despite the fact I know it to be true.

Well, on that note, I think it's time to end this blog. We are in the midst of a thunderstorm at the moment so I am likely to get rather wet before I get home to dinner. And I shall be late too so my cold ham slices will be even colder!

Take care all, and I'll write again soon.

Jayne