Weekend 3 - Visiting Krakow, Zakopane, and Seeing Auschwitz

Friday in Krakow
 For the weekend, most of the team planned to travel to Krakow, Zakopane or the Salt Mines, and Auschwitz.  Krakow is pronounced Krakoff, so if I slip up and you see me spell it like it sounds you will know why. Some of the team was traveling on Friday, and some planned to travel on Saturday.  I was in the group that planned for Friday, and we boldly named ourselves, "Car#1".

Our day was tightly scheduled.  We had a meeting with our client 10-11am, I made the car arrangements for our team and needed to pick up the rental car by noon, and then we needed to hit the road to arrive in Krakow (4 hour drive) before 5pm. 

Almost like clockwork, we picked up the cars just after noon, and we were on the road by 12:30.  Four hours driving in Europe for the first time, manual transmission, with 4 passengers who all had GPS devices, no problem!

Checked in at 4:45 and....

This was the view from my room!  Not a clear day, I know, but nonetheless a clear view of  Wawel Castle.

 It maybe doesn't show so well in the picture but this parking job was my first chance to park in Poland as they say "half on the curb". You can see my trepidation in parking on the curb as I am at best probably  25% on the curb.  Nonetheless, it seems it was accepted by the local parking enforcement as there was no ticket on the car when we returned.

 Pictured at right is our dinner spot Friday evening....

 .... and with a traditional polish welcome on the menu there is only one thing to do...













... that's right, order 5 shots of vodka.  I'm sure the tradition is for 5 shots for each person, but we broke tradition and shared.

 Dinner entree this evening was stewed lamb and buckwheat.

 desert was cheesecake.  Price-wise, this meal ended up being the new record high at 90ZL each.  Someone please tell me where we can eat (and drink) like this in the US for under $25.

We stepped out of the restaurant and right into what felt like all of the cool magazine places you see in photos but never get to experience in real life... well, here I am "walking through the magazine photos".

It had rained so all the surfaces were wet and reflecting the lights of the night, making it even more spectacular.

The story of this church is it was built by two brothers who were always in competition with each other.  If you look closely the steeple on the left is higher than the one on the right, giving the older brother a slightly "upper hand", at least in the way of steeple heights. 

 We literally just stood in the center of the Market Square taking picture after picture.

Every angle, everywhere we looked it was amazing!

I have a real cool application on my phone camera that lets me take 360 degree photos.  For those I see after I return I will share the photo I took from the center of the square... awesome!

 After the photo shoot it was still raining lightly so we scrambled into a shop on the square so I could find a hat.  My teammates and I spent the next hour in this tiny store looking at all of the cool stuff.  We each unloaded a good bit of our souvenir budget here.

 And, yes I found a hat too.

Even just walking back to the car was beautiful.
















Saturday in Zakopane (Poland's Winter Capital)

Shortly after breakfast on Saturday morning, Teammates Alex, Amit and I headed out for Zakopane.  Our plan was to drive there, spend the day sightseeing, and return to Krakow in the evening.  

 

It is worth noting that we had not seen snow yet in Poland, except for a few flurries that didn't last very long, and it began to snow as we left Krakow. 

 

 As we got closer to Zakopane, it was obvious it had been snowing here for a while...

 

.... and as we entered Zakopane, it was evident it had been snowing possibly for days, as the town was still digging out from the snow; Imag1948.  We found out at the tourist center that up until 3 days prior to our arrival, there was no snow in town for several weeks.  

 

I thought twice about bringing this hat, since we were basically walking around in light jackets and T shirts in Lublin since we arrived, but glad I did as I fit right in with the locals in Zakpopane.  I brought this hat with me from the states (gift from my wife); it seemed an appropriate hat for the day.

We made our way into the center part of town,

 

 so beautiful we were snapping pictures every 10 yards.

 

 

 

 

All of the pictures from the time of the first picture out of the car, to this bridge pictured at left are all taken during our 15 minute walk.  Well okay, it probably took us closer to 45 minutes because we were enjoying the scenery, and snapping photos.

 We walked through a sort of snow mountain resort farmer’s market.  Very cool. 

 

 

 Hard to tell from the picture but this is a cheese stand.  What good ole boy who grew up in Wisconsin (some call it the Dairy State, others call it the Cheese State) would pass up the chance to sample the cheese in Poland?  Not me!  This is Oscypek Cheese, made from sheep milk.  Be sure to click the link to learn more.

 

 This Farm Market reminded me of the Farm Markets in Old Town Alexandria, VA, and even the Farm Market in Winchester, VA. Though I have to wonder if the markets in VA would be operating with this much snow :).

 

Hey there is Lola!!(my dog back home).  Wait, that’s not Lola ( I sure miss her though).

 

But you can see the resemblance... minus the sunglasses and red Tshirt.

 

Time has come to climb the mountain, oh good they have "mountain taxi service" here.

 

WOW! Beautiful.   

 

 We had to give up some of the clear view for the effect of having snow fall all day while we were in town

 

 

 

 WOW, cool ski hill!

Wait Alex, this was not in the plan! 

Amit, what are you doing? 

 10 ZL/ hr for all equipment and access to the small hills.  (30 ZL/hr if we get brave and choose to venture out to the big hills).  

Well, ok for less than $3 US, I guess I’ll try snowboarding for the first time.  

 

 

Me on the slopes!

  

It still remains a mystery who ran into who, but one things for sure, Teammate Alex was quick with the camera! Thanks Alex!

I managed to make it down the hill on my last two runs only falling once each time.   

 

One hour of snowboarding was plenty for me.  Time to rest our legs, so perfect time for a sleigh ride.

 

 

As we made our way to go back down the mountain, we came upon this “Zakoponean” who liked my hat.   

 

He managed to wrestle away my hat, but I also got his....

 

but then… after a brief struggle, victory was mine!

 And then of course we all danced!

After venturing back down the mountain, I had a little snack…the most unique “grilled cheese” I have ever had.

 

Time for lunch

 

 A stained glass window in the restaurant I thought was interesting.

 

One more walk through town to see the inside of the church 

and some shops,

and doesn't every winter capital town you visited have at least one skating rink on a street corner?

 What a great time in Zakopane!!  Now back to Krakow.

But not before I get another hat!! (Zakapone style)

Sunday morning- visiting the Wawael Castle 

Sunday morning after breakfast, we ventured over to the Wawel Royal Castle.  It was a little foggy in the morning so the pictures are capturing some of that effect.

This place was amazing, and so hard to imagine this place was first built in the 13th century.  

The view from the castle overlooking the Wisla River is amazing

We were a little short of time so we did not get to spend any time in the museum. This is definitely something I will do when I visit next time!!  The castle grounds were spectacular.

 

 For those I see when I return, I will share the 360 degree picture I took inside the Castle grounds.

Sunday Afternoon - seeing Auschwitz 

Our Car #1 Team drove to Auschwitz in the afternoon.  This is the more well-known of the former Nazi concentration camps during WWI.    

 

The place was packed with tourists the day we were there.

Teammate Simon was able to get our group included with an English guided tour.

You may recall I wrote about Majdanek, the former Nazi concentration camp outside of Lublin, in an earlier blog entry. 

 The thing that impacts you most when you see Auschwitz is the massive scale of this place. 

 These were some of the quarters where the prisoners stayed.

 The label on this building sums up the tragedies that happened here: (translates to annihilation and extermination)

 Its hard to imagine that meticulous records were kept of the victims of these atrocities.

 The most gripping images of the day were the display of shoes, hair, and prosthetic limbs of the victims.  I did not take pictures of these but you can see images by searching Auschwitz on Google.

This is a very down place to see, and impossible to comprehend the things that happened here, yet I think everyone across the world should make it a point to go here. Somehow, some way, the exact opposite of what happened here is the lesson learned and the take away.