Wieliczka
A few of my Polish friends all suggested the same place to visit. The salt mining town of Wieliczka. We're taking a little shuttle bus there right now. It's 10km out of the city. http://www.kopalnia-wieliczka.pl/english/index.html
It was really neat. We rode in a little mini bus to the town and then decended what felt like hundreds of steps to the mine. Absolutely amazing. I can really descibe what we saw. Chapels and statues carved all out of salt. Understanding the different forms of salt. Hearing a german choir sing in the largest chapel (st Kinga's chapel) and the way it resonated was phenomenal.
We each got to take a piece of rock salt home. (Hey can't seem to get rid of it fast enough).
For lunch, we went to a traditional Polish restaurant that advertised 'we will remedy you hunger'. That they did. Alice and I tried the soups (borscht and mushroom respectively) and the boys (Doug and Richard) went for veal and potato pancakes (and beer for course). It was a wonderful meal. And at the end they gave us each a souvenir. Can you guess what it was? More salt!
Then, mini bus back to Krakow.
Jewish Quarter
We then walked around the Jewish Quarter where the Jews were all rounded up and sealed in by a brick wall. The area was tiny. It reminded me of the movie "The Pianist" but that took place in Warsaw so I'm told but it's the same result. Very moving. Found it strange that only one of the
Night Life
Off for a brief snooze and then dinner at the Italian restaurant (il Calzone). Alice, Doug and Richard all had calzones and I had pasta.
After our massive and very yummy meal, we headed back to the Jewish Quarter to a French cafe called "Cafe des Couleurs" to meet up with my friend the Groom (Matt) for his "Bachelor Party". His Bride to be showed up but was ushered out once the Canadian Contingent got to say Hello. Instead of beer, I was being fed vodka and apple juice. The special vodka has a buffalo grass strand in the bottle to give it flavour. YUMMY! Tasted almost like there was a hint of cinnamon in the drink. Very nice. We brought some home with us as part of our duty free.
Got to catch up with Matt's brother Sebastian and sister Samantha as well as his best man Alex whom I hadn't seen in 15 years. Matt, Alex and I all worked together at summer camp when we were in senior high school.
Once we got to midnight, we were told that's when parties really get going in Krakow. So off we went to the Zentrum (or Centre) of town also called the Market. We went below the city's streets and buildings into club PROZAC where it was techno all the way.
Needless to say, Matt was "well taken care of" from a bachelor party point of view. Alex took his duties as best man seriously and got our groom-to-be home and ready for his rehearsals and dance lessons the next day (his true last day of bachelorhood).
What will we get up to in Krakow as tourists while Matt is pacing around as a nervous groom? We'll see shall we?
A few of my Polish friends all suggested the same place to visit. The salt mining town of Wieliczka. We're taking a little shuttle bus there right now. It's 10km out of the city. http://www.kopalnia-wieliczka.pl/english/index.html
It was really neat. We rode in a little mini bus to the town and then decended what felt like hundreds of steps to the mine. Absolutely amazing. I can really descibe what we saw. Chapels and statues carved all out of salt. Understanding the different forms of salt. Hearing a german choir sing in the largest chapel (st Kinga's chapel) and the way it resonated was phenomenal.
We each got to take a piece of rock salt home. (Hey can't seem to get rid of it fast enough).
For lunch, we went to a traditional Polish restaurant that advertised 'we will remedy you hunger'. That they did. Alice and I tried the soups (borscht and mushroom respectively) and the boys (Doug and Richard) went for veal and potato pancakes (and beer for course). It was a wonderful meal. And at the end they gave us each a souvenir. Can you guess what it was? More salt!
Then, mini bus back to Krakow.
Jewish Quarter
We then walked around the Jewish Quarter where the Jews were all rounded up and sealed in by a brick wall. The area was tiny. It reminded me of the movie "The Pianist" but that took place in Warsaw so I'm told but it's the same result. Very moving. Found it strange that only one of the
Night Life
Off for a brief snooze and then dinner at the Italian restaurant (il Calzone). Alice, Doug and Richard all had calzones and I had pasta.
After our massive and very yummy meal, we headed back to the Jewish Quarter to a French cafe called "Cafe des Couleurs" to meet up with my friend the Groom (Matt) for his "Bachelor Party". His Bride to be showed up but was ushered out once the Canadian Contingent got to say Hello. Instead of beer, I was being fed vodka and apple juice. The special vodka has a buffalo grass strand in the bottle to give it flavour. YUMMY! Tasted almost like there was a hint of cinnamon in the drink. Very nice. We brought some home with us as part of our duty free.
Got to catch up with Matt's brother Sebastian and sister Samantha as well as his best man Alex whom I hadn't seen in 15 years. Matt, Alex and I all worked together at summer camp when we were in senior high school.
Once we got to midnight, we were told that's when parties really get going in Krakow. So off we went to the Zentrum (or Centre) of town also called the Market. We went below the city's streets and buildings into club PROZAC where it was techno all the way.
Needless to say, Matt was "well taken care of" from a bachelor party point of view. Alex took his duties as best man seriously and got our groom-to-be home and ready for his rehearsals and dance lessons the next day (his true last day of bachelorhood).
What will we get up to in Krakow as tourists while Matt is pacing around as a nervous groom? We'll see shall we?
1 comment:
Hey, Kat, it sounds like you had an awesome trip! I've met two really fantastic Polish people here in Korea who've given me a reason to visit Poland, and I'm glad to hear you had a great time there.
Keep up the good work posting!
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