Day 6: Kraków [Poland]
What a day! We woke up well rested with our trusty "magic fan" moving air in the room for us. Breakfast was ready for us downstairs so we could fuel-up for our busy day! First up was visiting the University to grab some souvenirs. Nicole picked up a T-shirt for "College Days" at her work as well as a children's book [in English] for one of her Nephews.
Tip: We noticed there were public bike racks, like you would find in Paris. So we got up early in order to rent bikes and ride them around the old town. Save your time however, in order to rent them you have to have a Polish scan card! We were kinda bummed...
After the College, we were off the Underground museum. We purchased our tickets the day before at the Travel Information center on the square. We had purchased our tickets in advance for a couple of reasons, one big one, is avoiding the line! If we've learned anything on our two Rick Steves' tours, it's to skip lines where you can! We were given an alotted time of arrival for the Underground museum and walked right in!
By now, you are probably wondering just what the heck is the "Underground Museum", are we looking at dirt? Dinosaur bones? or what?! This museum is made up of discovered roads, shops, structures, and artifacts that are under the original Market Hall from centuries ago! Over the years this area was built, then built on top of that...then on top of that....you get the idea :) We would definitely recommend stopping in this museum if you get half the chance, lots of cool things to see from how life was in Kraków so long ago!
Tip: We noticed there were public bike racks, like you would find in Paris. So we got up early in order to rent bikes and ride them around the old town. Save your time however, in order to rent them you have to have a Polish scan card! We were kinda bummed...
After the College, we were off the Underground museum. We purchased our tickets the day before at the Travel Information center on the square. We had purchased our tickets in advance for a couple of reasons, one big one, is avoiding the line! If we've learned anything on our two Rick Steves' tours, it's to skip lines where you can! We were given an alotted time of arrival for the Underground museum and walked right in!
By now, you are probably wondering just what the heck is the "Underground Museum", are we looking at dirt? Dinosaur bones? or what?! This museum is made up of discovered roads, shops, structures, and artifacts that are under the original Market Hall from centuries ago! Over the years this area was built, then built on top of that...then on top of that....you get the idea :) We would definitely recommend stopping in this museum if you get half the chance, lots of cool things to see from how life was in Kraków so long ago!
Nicole did manage to incur a minor injury while in Kraków. Nevertheless, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with with some Pierogis served by a li'l ol lady in her apron and some sweets for dessert!
We filled up on Perogis and were ready for our tour of the Jewish quarter of Kraków! We met Katka and the rest of the gang in the main square and walked down to the bus station to catch a ride to where we were to meet our guide, Tomasz. A timely and clean bus picked us all up and we were on our way!
Tomasz was a fantastic guide who told us about the history of the Jewish Quarter. We learned that Pre-WWII Poland had one of the world's largest communities of over 3 million people. This was largely due to the fact that Poland was the most tolerant country in Europe. After the war, there were around 2,000 Jews that survived from Krakow and by the 90's only a few hundred remained. Today, approximately 1,000 Jews live in Krakow, but only about 200 identify themselves as members of the Jewish community. It was eerie to walk around the area that was thriving before WWII and later became the ghetto for the Jewish people. At one point in the walking tour we sat near a school, that faced the processing building during WWII. I sat on the sidewalk and imagined how scary that building was and how trucks would come in and out taking people away. Now we are watching as all people freely walk by. This tour was such a huge eye opener, if only buildings could talk. After our walking tour we were off to the Schindler's Factory museum. The museum was FANTASTIC!!! It plays on all your senses, there are sounds, smells, things to touch and see. It was a museum, that made the history come alive!
Tip! Don't over-do this day! We did a lot in one day and we were pretty exhausted by the end of the day. You definetly want to have enough energy to absorb the museum, so don't over do it!
Tomasz was a fantastic guide who told us about the history of the Jewish Quarter. We learned that Pre-WWII Poland had one of the world's largest communities of over 3 million people. This was largely due to the fact that Poland was the most tolerant country in Europe. After the war, there were around 2,000 Jews that survived from Krakow and by the 90's only a few hundred remained. Today, approximately 1,000 Jews live in Krakow, but only about 200 identify themselves as members of the Jewish community. It was eerie to walk around the area that was thriving before WWII and later became the ghetto for the Jewish people. At one point in the walking tour we sat near a school, that faced the processing building during WWII. I sat on the sidewalk and imagined how scary that building was and how trucks would come in and out taking people away. Now we are watching as all people freely walk by. This tour was such a huge eye opener, if only buildings could talk. After our walking tour we were off to the Schindler's Factory museum. The museum was FANTASTIC!!! It plays on all your senses, there are sounds, smells, things to touch and see. It was a museum, that made the history come alive!
Tip! Don't over-do this day! We did a lot in one day and we were pretty exhausted by the end of the day. You definetly want to have enough energy to absorb the museum, so don't over do it!