Living in Germany and traveling as much as we do, we must always take advantage of the most important long weekends on the American calendar... Memorial Day and Labor Day!
We haven't done much traveling in the last few years on Labor Day so we definitely had to rectify that this year.
This weekend, it was Krakow, Poland!
On the way there, we passed some pretty decent looking thunderstorms (for Europe, anyway.)
When we got there, we ran down to the store to grab some breakfast foods, snacks and drinks for the apartment as we always do when we arrive in a new city. I found these Hashtagos. Because... Hashtagos.
Hey look what I found! Lawrenceburg, Indiana in the house! Hello, cousins!
After our little shopping spree, it was already time for dinner. We stopped at Oberza Sasiadow for a VERY tasty dinner!
We've taught them so well. (No, no, no... it's just fruit juice!)
After dinner "cocktails and mocktails."
I don't know why we took 5,000 photos of this dinner, but it was a really awesome meal!
In the morning, we made a big breakfast before heading out to take the Free Walking Tour Krakow (this one was called City Walks.) Time for some toast, yogurt and of course, Miami Cynamonki cereal.
I'm always the navigator because I have the best sense of direction. Todd is rolling his eyes right now.
Manhole covers of Krakow. Not as pretty as some, but Wawel Castle is featured on them.
Krakow used to be the capital of Poland from 1038 until 1596. It was moved to Warsaw that year after a trifecta of events led to the cities demise. First, their ruler, Sigismund II died without an heir. Then they were invaded by the Swedes. Lastly, the bubonic plague swept in and killed 20,000 of its residents.
If you go to Krakow, you must visit the bustling Rynek Główny, or the main square in the heart of Stare Miasto (the Old Town.) Here you can see the Cloth Hall, which is filled with shops.
One of the most visited sights in the main square is St. Mary's Basilica. This Gothic church was finished in 1347.
We did the City Walks Krakow with our excellent guide Makszym (or Maks) but he never posted our awesome group photo onto their website!
We began our tour in the main square and Maks told us all about St. Mary's Basilica, and how there is a trumpeter that comes out of the left bell tower at the top of every hour. Maks explained to us how two brothers were hired to build the towers in the late 1200s. The younger brother eventually realized that his older brother had built HIS tower much bigger, so he killed his brother in a jealous rage.
The younger brother then felt so sad about what he had done that he killed himself with the same knife he used to kill his brother as he fell from his own, short tower. The knife now allegedly hangs across the main square in the archway of the Cloth Market. In truth, the knife was probably placed there by officials reminding people that thieves were punished by cutting off their ear with a knife.
Mascarons top the Cloth Hall, which was originally built in 1257. The current building was built in the mid 16th century by the Italian Giovanni Maria Padovano in typical Italian Renaissance fashion, and was restored in the 1870s by Prylinski who once again gave it the original Gothic flair.
Oh this was definitely my favorite building in all of Krakow! This is the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, which of course, has a story. It was built in 1891-1893 where the old Holy Ghost church and monastery once stood. Of course, everyone went crazy over this. It was modeled after the Paris Opera (and looks very much like it on the inside, aside from that atrocious Chagall ceiling of course!)
Eventually people got over it, and it's now one of the most beautiful buildings in Krakow, inside and out.
Outside architecture of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre - I feel like some of these creatures were real and were about to jump down on me!
St. Florian's gate stands along the city fortifications that were built originally in the mid 1200s to protect the city from the Mongols/Tatars. It helped to withstand attacks from the Ottoman's as well, but when Krakow became a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire, many of them were taken down. By the grace of one man, Professor Feliks Radwański, the Florian gate (and the attached walls) were saved from destruction when he convinced the Austrians that not ONLY was the wall important for blocking north winds from entering the city (and thereby getting everyone sick), but also those same north winds would lift the skirts of women in the city! Well, no one wanted THAT! Thus the walls were saved!
This poor child totally has my legs. And we both stand the same way. I always joke that God put my legs on backwards - my left is where the right should be, and my right where the left should be.
The Krakow Barbican is surprisingly still standing after having been built in 1498. There's only two others like it that are still standing in Europe.
We continued the tour by walking back through St. Florian's Gate and back down Floriańska and toward the Main Square.
The first record of Krakow was in 965, although there's evidence that people had been there since the Stone Age.
One of the coolest things about Krakow is the legend of the trumpeter. A guy with a trumpet comes out every hour and plays a song out each of the four directional windows (N, E, W, S) which originally faced the four gates of the city before three of them were destroyed. The trumpeter begins the song (known as the hejnal) and then ends it before finishing. Legend says that during the Mongol invasion, a trumpeter played this song to alert the guards at the four gates to close the gates. As he was playing, he was shot in the throat with an arrow. Interestingly, the trumpeters are members of the fire brigade (the church tower also serves as a fire lookout tower.) In the above picture you can barely make out his golden trumpet out of the window. If the trumpeter waves at you, you must wave back!
Little boy looked cute in the Main Square of Krakow. You know how much he was loving all of those pigeons!
Oh that's more like it!!!!
We passed through the busy Cloth Hall on our way to the other side of the Main Square. Some call this Europe's oldest shopping mall! (Superlative, check!)
The north side of the Main Square is equally as lovely. SO many pigeons though!
The Town Hall Tower in Krakow is no longer the site of the actual town hall. It is all that remains, however, of the town hall that was demolished in 1820.
Eros Bendato, or "Eros Bound" sits next to the Town Hall Tower in the Rynek Główny (the Main Square.) Most people just call it "The Head." The Head was completed by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj in the early 2000s. If you're ever visiting St. Louis, there is another one of these in the City Garden. His works often featured fragments of heads or bodies.
Loving me some of that roof architecture. The blue one looks Dutch though.
Our next stop was Jagiellonian University, which was founded in 1364 and is the 18th oldest university in the world. It's the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest in central Europe (second to Charles University in Prague.)
We took a quick break here where some people got coffee or a snack. My little cutie waited in the shade beneath the dragon's head. This section that surrounds the courtyard was a bunch of Gothic homes that were assembled together in the 18th century. Sadly, during World War II, many of the professors, strictly because they were smart and Polish were deported to concentration camps.
The university was smart and used the city's symbol (the dragon) to dress up the water spouts that collect water from the roof.
After our break, we walked through a delightfully covered hallway and out to another courtyard.
A sundial sits outside in this separate courtyard, perhaps a monument to one of Jagiellonian University's most famous alum... Nicolaus Copernicus, who first believed that the sun was the center of the universe rather than the Earth. (Of course, our sun is only at the center of our solar system!)
Another stop on our tour was to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Krakow. Karol Wojtyła, also known as Pope John Paul II was born only about 50 kilometers from Krakow and even went to Jagiellonian University here in Krakow. He was, in fact, enrolled as WWII broke out. He was forced to quit school and take odd jobs to avoid deportation. He eventually became the first non Italian Pope since the 1520s and was the second longest serving Pope in history to this point.
Pope John Paul II became a priest in November of 1946, after a harrowing war experience, which included saving several Jews from a near certain death. He eventually became the youngest bishop in Poland at age 38, and at 58 was the second youngest Pope in history (only second to Pope Pius IX who was 54 when he was elected Pope in 1846.)
I think I should have started a blog about "summer flower boxes of Europe."
You can take horse and carriage rides that start in the main square and trot you around the city. Of course, there's no riding on the free walking tour of Krakow!
Some believe that St. Peter and St. Paul Church was the first baroque building in Poland. It was built in the early 1600s and was actually an Orthodox church until 1842 when it became a Catholic church.
The last stop on our tour was the mighty Wawel Castle.
The castle is built on a hill called Wawel Hill and it was the home of Polish kings for hundreds of years. The castle was vacated by the kings in the early 1600s and the structure fell into disrepair.
Todd thought it was funny that he found our name misspelled in the wall of donors who helped rebuild the castle after centuries of neglect.
Wawel Cathedral sits at the heart of Wawel Castle and is over 900 years old.
Pope John Paul II gave his first mass as a priest right here at Wawel Cathedral.
Above the entrance to Wawel Cathedral are the alleged bones of the famous Smok Wawelski, or the Wawel Dragon. This dragon lived under the castle in a cave (which still exists) and would terrorize the town (apparently they had to feed it a fresh maiden from time to time to keep it at bay.) Finally a young cobbler's apprentice, eager to win the king's daughter's heart, fed the dragon a lamb stuffed with sulphur. The dragon got very thirsty and he drank so much water from the Vistula River that he exploded!
The inner courtyard dates back to the 16th century, modeled in the Italian Renaissance fashion.
Look! Another dragon water spout! I'm sensing a theme here.
The architecture and frescos in the inner courtyard are really pretty and you definitely see the Italian side of it!
The gardens around the castle are really pretty, too.
Eeek, there was also pretty flower boxes and ivy!
The last stop on our tour of Krakow was overlooking the Vistula River down at the exit of the "cave" that the Wawel Dragon supposedly lived in. People can visit but the entrance is up on the top (where we are standing) and you have to pay to go in there (it's not much.) Behind the trees in the upper left is a statue of a dragon that really breathes fire! (More on that in a bit...)
The views of the Vistula River from up on the castle walls are really pretty.
You can climb the The Sandomierska Tower for just a few Zloty and get really nice views of the river. This tower was built in the late 1400s (obviously rebuilt with the brick) and was used as a firing tower and/or a prison for nobility.
We finished up the tour and went to a great little restaurant for some Polish food and some beverages at Gospoda Koko. YUM!
This is a very European thing to do. Steal an American copyright and drop a curse word in it.
After lunch, we walked around across town to find the Paczki shop! Oh my word. Of all of the things on my scratch off food map, this has been BY FAR my favorite!
We went to Planty Park to nibble on our treasures. The Paczki is like a Bavarian cream donut and it's divine.
Everytime I see flowers (this time as we were walking to the Museum of Illusions), I take pictures just so that in the dead of winter I can look at pictures and feel happy.
You know we love the Museum of Illusions... even if we've already been to another one just like it. Because we're just goofy like that.
Did any of you ever live in the DC area in the 2000s? There was a weekend night show on DC101 called Flounder's Mashups. He took songs and mixed them together to produce a new song and it was really brilliant, especially for that time. This is the human version of that.
I know what's going on in this box, but it's super funny just to see Grant standing there with his head in a box.
When you put your head in the box, there are a billion mirrors making an infinite number of you.
Giant Grant towers over his mom and sister. He wishes! Actually... this will be a reality sooner rather than later.
Sometimes I have to put Todd in his place!
My little actress is about to get drenched!
After a fun hour or so in the Museum of Illusions, we headed back to the main square to check out the inside of St. Mary's Basilica. On the way, we passed this old tyme tram car!
We grabbed a few souvenirs on the way inside of the Cloth Hall!
The main square of Krakow in the evening with long shadows.
Whoa. St. Mary's Basilica on the inside is stunning! And of course, it's under construction.
Look at that ceiling!
Man. I really can't get over this! Look at these walls! It's like the ceiling bled down to the floor.
Sorry. Photo overload. Throw in some beautiful stained glass and I'm in sensory overload.
OK, just one more of the beautiful, colorfall walls of St. Mary's Basilica.
Next, we were off to our favorite past time... happy hour! But first, another pretty manhole cover of Krakow.
I like that the only person in this photo NOT doing the usual "put a glass in front of your neighbors face" is the one who is the usual culprit, Todd! And Grant just put his own drink in front of his own face!
We went back out into the square at dusk for some really beautiful views of the Rynek Główny.
We grabbed some dinner at Pod Słońcem and Todd had a really good sour rye soup with sausage, bacon and egg in a bread bowl!
My kids always get a big laugh when restaurant wait staff bring them coloring pages and crayons, especially the 12-year-old. But Todd loves Spiderman, so he wanted to join in on the fun.
This restaurant is really pretty inside with funky lights and a devastatingly handsome guy at the other end.
And then... the Rynek Główny in the late evening!
Last but not least, one more close up of the horses and carriage with the Cloth Hall behind it. A very pretty end to a fun day in Krakow!
Much of the next day was spent at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, but we got back to the city in the mid afternoon, so we were able to spend more time hanging out in Krakow! We went back to the Rynek Główny for a little happy hour.
As we sat there, our friendly trumpet player once again played his tune on the top of the hour.
On the way back to the apartment, we passed this place, which I thought at first was a vintage store. But nope. It sells actual film. The kids were like, "What is that?"
Just down the street from our apartment was this place. Huh? Grab yourself a beer or coffee while you get that laundry done!
We had to go back to the apartment because we needed to watch the Auburn game. Plus we needed refreshments! It was the season opener vs. Oregon, which we WON!
Attached to out apartment (across a courtyard) was an Indian food restaurant. We never eat at Indian food places because Grant is allergic to peanuts and we'd just rather not chance it. But every time we walked out of the apartment and through the courtyard to the front door of the building, we could smell it. And it smelled SO GOOD. So since we had a long evening, we decided to go downstairs for a date night dinner! Thankfully there was also a pizza place on the block, so we were able to grab a pizza for the kids to eat in the apartment before we went to destroy this meal!
After our fun evening of Auburn football and Indian food, we had the entire morning to roam around (before the rain set in.) So we walked back to the Wawel Castle, but this time, on the lower end so that we could check out our friendly Wawel Dragon! He was built in 1969 and through a natural gas line, he actually breathes fire every few minutes. I even just learned that he does this when someone sends a text message to a phone number linked to the dragon!
The statue stands about 20 feet high.
Shhhh! Don't tell the dragon I'm about to slay it!
After we checked out the famous fire breathing dragon of Krakow, we strolled along the Vistula River and saw their version of the Walk of Fame. Kind of random!
Natalie: "Mommy, who is Josh Hartnett?" Me: "Oh he's an actor... he played in the movie Pearl Harbor." Natalie: "He has small hands!"
Krakow, you might want to rethink this one....
Wawel Castle, from down by the river.
We decided to walk all the way back to the apartment along the Vistula River, instead of cutting through town. We came across a swan on the way!
There are only a few bridges that connect one side of Krakow with the other side across the Vistula. One this particular bridge, they were doing some work and the kids thought it was crazy that there were sparks falling down into the river. ("That seems safe!")
I don't even know what is going on here. But it seems appropriate.
I'm so glad we took this walk, because otherwise, I wouldn't have seen this super cool bridge!
The Bernatek Bridge (a footbridge) was opened in 2010 and it features 9 acrobat statues performing Cirque du Soleil type of moves.
People were kind of grumpy when it first opened because it was so costly, but people have warmed up and really like the pedestrian only bridge that now connects two bar and restaurant areas - one on each side of the river.
I don't speak Polish. I don't know what is going on here and I'm very bothered by that.
I feel like walking along the river put my mind in a very weird place. What is going on here? Did we just decide to slap a weird modern building on top of this old, small building? (This is the Centre for Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, for the record... he was a 20th century theater artist.)
Also on the river? This. Someone is prepared to light this big guy on fire and have themselves a fine meal. Apparently, it symbolizes purification. I dunno anything about that, but it's certainly the strangest thing I've seen in a while, and that's saying something!
We finally got to Starowislna Street (the steps back up to the city above the river) and decided to go grab some lunch before we went back to get the bags and head to the airport. Grant (aka: Pug Life) stopped in front of the Old Synagogue, which dates back to the 1400s. It's now a museum. Speaking of the Jews, the one place we didn't have time to get to was the Oskar Schindler enamel factory. I guess that just means we need to come back to Krakow one day!
We hit up Corner Burger for some burgers before we headed out to the airport. Their onion rings were insanely good!
Unfortunately, our time in Krakow was too short. Since we flew RyanAir and I always carry my "Mom Bag," I buy priority seating and get to get on the airplane first. (This allows me to wipe down the seat for Grant, who has a peanut allergy.) Here comes my family though, right behind me!
Until next time, Krakow!
