Weekend Travels

Since I last posted, our family (Scott, Sam, Darcy, and I) have ventured around Kazimierez (the Jewish Quarter of the city), ice skated, and planned out trip to Budapest and Vienna next week. Saturday morning started with a nice brunch of Polish apple pancakes and mimosas with the family, Zack, and Sarah. While we were all eating together I noticed smoke in the back yard of the apartment across the courtyard. Zack believed it was steam or smoke from a grill, however after a while the smoke became incredibly thicker and someone noticed flames. At this point we all gathered outside on the balcony to see what was going on. We saw someone in the window of the other apartment taking pictures win a cell phone. We started debating calling for help but we had assumed someone in the apartment had already. Seconds later we heard sirens on the street and saw firemen come through to put out the fire. We believe it was a shed or maybe a trash can. I took a video from the balcony that I'll post. It was an odd sight but made us realize that even if we had called emergency services, we wouldn't know how to communicate with them because we didn't know the words and it's unlikely that they would understand our English when we would have explained where we were. Thankfully nobody was injured, although everything in the shed must have been destroyed. 

After brunch we started our journey to Kazimierez. Along the way we took lots of pictures of architecture and cool things we saw. Unfortunately we didn't have a guide to tell us about Kazimierez while we walked through it. We will have a guided tour later in the semester. My favorite part of our long walk was going into a basilica in Kazimierez. I will include a picture of the basilica name. The outside architecture was beautiful but not as exciting as that of St. Mary's Basilica in the main square. We were unsure whether we were allowed to walk into the chapel since we couldn't read the polish signs outside but we figured that someone would stop us if we weren't allowed to. Stepping into the chapel was quite literally breath taking, and that wasn't just because of the cold temperatures inside. You could see every breath you let go in steamy whisps. The intricacy of the architecture was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, so many gold and silver guided statues, large carvings with such detailed precision that it was hard to believe that someone carved it with their own hands and poured everything they had into their work. The tapestries were large and magnificent as well with rich colors and detailed scenes. Unfortunately the back section of the chapel was blocked off for what looked like repairs and from afar it looked like the most impressive part. The atmosphere of the chapel was unlike anything I have ever felt before, it was almost as if you could feel the holiness of the place, imagine the services held a so many years ago and the masses of people praying in the pews together. Taking pictures was absolutely out of the question, just the thought felt so wrong and disgraceful. Words can't ever describe how incredible this experience was. 

Walking up to the basilica

We could have walked through this way

We went in from the far side instead 

The entrance we used. Note the wear on the stone step. How many people have been there before us?

The name of the basilica and times of mass

After leaving the church we continued to walk around the Jewish quarter for another hour or two, just exploring and talking. We found beautiful architecture in some places, however the whole quarter wasn't very populated. 

To Mom: we found a Yankee Candles store :)

We also walked along the park grounds marking the edges of Old Kraków. We took many pictures of Wawel Castle ("Vavel") and watched the swans in the river. A group of researchers were tagging and recording the sizes and health of two young swans on the bank.

St. Mary's Basilica 

Kraków is an applicant city to host the 2022 Winter Olympics! 

Sculptures 

Church of Peter and Paul

Wawel Castle from the back side

Air balloon rides over the river

Swans in the river. They're HUGE!

Researchers measuring and tagging young swans 

Watching the researchers 

Wawel Castle

My lovely drawing of my defeating the dragon that plagued Kraków 

After all of the walking we stopped at a little lunch place and I was able to get my favorite polish dish so far, Zurek! Zurek translates to sour soup, a delicious soup with sour cream and usually kielbasa. I also had some yummy hot wine. 

SUNDAY:

Yesterday we went ice skating! It was a program sponsored event and lots of fun! Through the past week I have had a great deal of pain in my right knee so I was very worried that I wouldn't be able to skate. Fortunately Scott's knee brace fits well enough and wearing it helped. Darcy and Scott had both only ice skated once before, they were both nervous but did so well! Neither of them fell during the entire hour we skated, which was surprising because the rink was so crowded. After skating we ventured to a chocolate restaurant right on the main square. Our director told us that past students have fallen in love with the place. We sat downs nde ach tried something different. Bitter drinking chocolate for Scott, traditional drinking chocolate for Darcy, dessert drinking chocolate for same, and a sample of dessert, milk, and white drinking chocolates for me! I can see why student love the place so much. The atmosphere is busy but relaxed at the same time, and the chocolate is to die for, so thick and decadent. Our "family" has already decided to go back soon. 

TODAY: 

Today is a simple day. Class wasn't terribly difficult today, mostly explaining grammar and some new vocabulary. After class we went to the post office to mail letters, finally! And then we stopped at the train station to buy our tickets to Budapest. We have a week off before our full semester classes start on the 24th and we've decided to use it for travel! We're spending a few days in Budapest and then taking another train to Vienna for a day or two, and then another train back home to Kraków. Thankfully Sam has a friend in Budapest who will be showing us around some and I have a friend studying in Vienna who will hopefully be able to show us some of the tourist sites. As for the rest of today, we're relaxing and studying this afternoon and this evening we're going to the Irish M Bassy. It's an Irish pub located on embassy street, called such because there isn't an Irish embassy here. How clever! The reason we're going to a pub Ina. Monday night is because it's trivia night! Possibly in English! We thought this would be a fun thing to do and maybe we might know some of the answers! 

Best wishes to everyone back home!