europe | cmr

Why did we choose to go to Krakow? You ever hear of Auschwitz? Ever hear of "the Prague of Poland"? Well I heard of one of them and the second seemed pretty darned good! Plus, we found great ticket prices to leave from Warsaw and of the two major cities in Poland (to us, anyway), Krakow seems a good place to go. I had personal wishes to see Lodz and Warsaw, for the simple fact that they both housed the most famous and dire of the ghettos during World War II. I have a morbid curiosity that I relate to my thirst for knowledge and lessons learned by history to see these things. It strkes me in a way too corny to explain via "blogging," so I'll only say that to see it is to believe it; to find signs of effects in the people, the landscape and the architecture is amazing.

KRAKOW | MAY 23 - MAY 26 Krakow is an old place. It was barely touched during World War II and is the ground for buildings over four hundred years old. We walked a lot around the Old Market Square where pigeons made their home, a man blows on a trumpet every fifteen minutes (a ritual that has existed for over 200 years), people are selling flowers, people are drinking beer and you get a ride on a carriage, pulled by a horse, while eating pretzels and delicious cheeses. We had fantastic bartendars at our hotel, which was a mere 200 or so yards from the main market. We tried a new delicacy: lard. Yes. LARD. With pickles on bread. It was okay. I just wouldn't do it again if I planned on living the next day. We visited the Salt Mines (unfortunately, I have no pictures of these, though Dave does), and visited Auschwitz, which is next on my list of photos. Leave comments once you've seen the pictures.