Day 9: Hello Krakow

We made it fine to Krakow. The wait was long in the train station, and OH! so cold. We went early because we had to pick up our bags from the hotel, and since we didn't want to be dragging our bags all over Prague, we went to the train station. Our train didn't leave until 9:20 pm, so my bum was mighty numb from sitting on that cold wooden bench.

There was a man from Slovakia that started talking to us (in Slovak) telling us how a buddy of his was Mormon and how his friend had gone to some kind of music competition in Salt Lake City...I really don't know. I'm afraid I didn't get much of what he said. It was funny though because he reminded me of this old man we saw in Jerusalem who was selling "authentic" Widow's Mites. He kept saying, "More-mons! I love More-mons!"

We got in our little tiny sleeper car and I pretty much passed out till 6 am the next morning when we had to get up to be ready to get off the train. We took care of some business at the station (beds for the ride out) and slowly made our way to Mama's Hostel. I really like this place. So far no one else is in our room, which is nice. There's also a kitchen so we made dinner there last night. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Hopefully we're this lucky with all the places we'll stay.

Brrrrrr...
I've loved Krakow so far. My only complaint is the cold. Oh wow. Too bad they can't change it for us, but that would be like asking Monticello to turn off the wind...not possible. So we see the sites in spite of the cold, although I have to admit, we were a little worried when we were dragging our bags through a mini blizzard Tuesday morning! The snow didn't stick but the icy breeze did.

We went to the castle after a bit of a rest and a shower. It was a beautiful area. We toured the palace. They have some original furnishings and paintings, but our guide says much of the precious things such as paintings, books, etc all over Poland were destroyed with WWII and Nazi occupation. I had never really thought about the outcome of that. 70% of their libraries are gone, quite possibly never to be replaced. It's such a sad thought to me. So much history. So many dreams. So many ideas. So many lives, no longer remembered because they are gone, burned by people who were afraid such things would inspire rebellion against their power.

After the castle grounds, we tried finding our way around the Jewish district, Kazimierz. Unfortunately, on the off season, everything is closed on Tuesdays. I'm not sure if we'll try again. It was a harder area to be in. The buildings are much worse off. I don't know what the insides look like, but the outsides are crumbling and ragged. Some were obviously condemned and needed to be torn down.

We had a home cooked meal in our hostel kitchen with what we could find and figure out in the local "Polo Market". It was nice to sit at a table and eat a hot meal.