Day 6: Krakow

View walking from train station to city center

Day 6 was one of mostly traveling, and an afternoon to explore Krakow, the former capital of Poland. Gotta say, when we first drove through to get to Zakopane, I wasn't impressed. But going to the Old Town, and seeing how it was, oh gosh I understand now. Krakow, unlike Warsaw, wasn't destroyed in the Second World War or the following Polish uprisings. So everything is basically still intact. And its gorgeous! 

The outside of our hotel, in the courtyard through the outer
door from the main street

I'm writing this as I'm on a 3-hour train ride to Prague, which has spotty wifi. So I'm not sure if these pictures are being loaded fully, as only about half the picture is uploaded on my computer. So we'll see how this goes and I can always fix it later!

After getting to the hotel, I immediately headed to the Old Town- which was only a 5 minute walk away. It was so beautiful!! And so was the weather!

Krakow Old Town

Under the big brick building in center of the square was this market tunnel. Its called the cloth market, since in the olden days, they all sold fabric and such. Now, they range from trinkets to beautiful jewelry and such. Most jewelry they sold was either silver or amber, but the most present was amber (which was also gorgeous). Basically everything in this town was gorgeous. 

In the square, pigeons were EVERYWHERE. I always get a kick out of birds, so I took way too many pictures of them. Here you go. 

Lucy trying to feed them...didnt work to well

In the Old Square!

You can see me, very tiny, in the bottom center in front
of the horse and carriage 

Here in Eastern Europe, people park on the sidewalks most of the time. The sidewalks are generally big enough to walk and have cars parked on them, but sometimes things just get ridiculous. Like this driver. I thought only Californians were this nuts. 

If I remember correctly, this is the front of the Royal Castle... or at least one side of it.

The castle is huge, and you need tickets to see it- but you need a ticket for each section of the castle. Yes, section. So we just walked around it. This back part is the cathedral section, and each different style of building is the chapel build by the ruling King of the time. So you have Gothic style, Baroque style, Renaissance or whatever...basically a ton, all squeezed into one area. Every time a King took rule, they wanted to add to the cathedral their own unique design, build to their particular taste. That is why there are so many different eras and designs on one building. 

When you turned around from the multi-style cathedral, this was the view you got- you can see the ocean! Or whichever body of water is nearby. And of course, hot air ballooning (still on by bucket list!) If you look closely, you can see the twin peaks of another cathedral on the right above the stone wall.

Selfie in front of the modern area of the Castle! 

Here we were still on the castle grounds, over looking the water (obviously). Below, theres a statue of a dragon that supposedly shoots fire every 3 minutes....i don't think safety is as much as a thing in Europe as in the US. 

ACTUALLY i know its not...i don't think I included it for the Warsaw post, but when we were checking into the hotel there, they were doing construction on the elevators...there was a worker, standing on the top of the ladder, straddling it, so a food was on the top rung of each side. And when he wanted to move, he just waddled back and forth to skootch over. Not wearing a helmet or anything! Another worker was sautering/cutting metal, so there were sparks flying everywhere, 6 inches from his face! And he wasn't wearing any sort of facial protection. All of this was 5 feet away from us! 

Eventually, we headed to the Jewish district to see what there was to see. We ended up just getting drinks at one of the restaurants, with music playing in the background. It was very classy, as you can see from my picture.

The walk back at night was beautiful- the town completely lights up! 

The church of Peter and Paul, I think

The Square at night!

And of course, Lucy got her new favorite shirt! Meg would definitely agree... Ive already picked a couple out for her ;)

Dinner was at a place near our hotel...this is Boar loin in mushroom sauce... with potatoes. Unfortunately, the potatoes were the best part. But hey, at least I tried it! Momma would be proud!
The tea pot, though...I'm definitely getting one when I get back to the states! Its a pot with a cup on the bottom so you don't need to clutter the cabinet with unnecessary items.

Overall, I'd say Krakow was way better than I expected. I would definitely recommend!!