Day 4

Hello to all!

It is nearly time for us to leave for Milan! We will try our best to update from Italy and France, at least text-wise. Expect photos and videos to be posted at the very latest on Sunday. We are in the process last minute packing before we leave, and Ian is searching for the decoy wallet he will use to tempt thieves as a way to test their pickpocket skills!

We forgot to mention that yesterday we were in a tram accident yesterday, although we were uninjured. A moving van tried to turn through the intersection the tram was approaching. The tram is made of solid steel and the van of plastic. The van lost but no one was injured. Kudos to the young female tram driver who kept her cool throughout the incident!!

Day 3

Now THAT is a Holubchi! Imagine eating 3 of them as I did, having a fiance unwilling to translate 'I'm full' translating instead 'more'.

Today we visited the Wieliczka salt mine. It is over 700 years old and the tour is worth every penny. The pictures below are a quick sampling of the 900MB's worth of images / videos Ian and I took.

The easiest way to get pockets of methane out of a mine? Burn them of course! In the mine's 700 year history pockets of methane were lit on fire to clear them, often resulting in death. Don't mine the 'spirit orb' in the picture...

A display depicting St. Kinga and the origin of the mine. St Kinga was a Polish queen that married a Hungarian King. He gave her a salt mine in Hungary as an engagement gift (salt being nearly as precious as silver in that time frame). She threw her engagement ring down the mine in Hungary and had a feeling there was a salt mine in Poland. There was then a mine found in Poland and her engagement right was found within a block of salt. In the picture above a miner is seen handing the block of salt to St Kinga.

Monika with Pope John Paul II's salt statue.

I've never eaten lunch before in a cave so far in the ground...

A great beer selection at the undergound bar. 1/2 litre of beer 3 dollars. By Canadian standards a steal. (At the supermarket they're a dollar).

Lunch 170 metres in the ground.

These two mammoths and lunch 15 CDN, all while 170 metres in the ground.

Jet lag is best fought using 1 litre Polish energy drinks likely illegal in Canada.

The flea market in downtown Krakow. Everything from the useful to the useless.

Monika's grandmother shops here daily for the freshest vegtables. There are large supermarkets, but nothing beats the farmers.

Day 2

Inside Castle Wawel

That's not brass and it's not painted. It's made of gold. It was painted over however during WW2 when it was know Krakow would fall to the Gemans to deceive them.

Appoaching castle Wawel which is built on a hill.

Wawel Castle

The ruins of Wawel Castle's maze.

Inside Wawl Castle

Half litre of beer. Do they even sell 355ml cans? No. Discontinued due to lack of interest.

Images created by students of a nearby arts university

Dig in

Hello to everyone! Ian and I are doing quite well, the sights are amazing with so much to visit! Our bodies are trying to adjust to the time change and we are waking up very early, 3 am in the morning. My grandmother makes sure that we were stuffed before we went off to start our adventures.

We took the 502 bus route to the Centre Sqaure aka Rynek Glowny (the 152 will also suffice, but takes longer). We got off at the main terminal and went into 'Galeria Krakow', an amazing shopping mall larger then Polo Park, containing Zara's, Versace, Mango, Vera Moda, and the most attractive women on Earth (so says Ian, whose eyes hurt from darting back and forth). We bought several bottles of water and energy drinks and set off towards the Centre Square through the Barbakan, the last remaining section of a fort that encircled the whole of the Old Town district. We headed down the Florianski Street, in search of 19. Sw. Jana Street where the Czartoryski Museum is located (Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting 'Lady and the Ermine' is located here) but found that it is closed on Mondays. It is something we are planning to see however.

We settled on taking a light lunch right on the Square at the resturant 'Pod Bialem Orlem' (Under the White Eagle). We each ordered familiar perogies (Monika ordered meat perogies and Ian ordered Polish), and were in agreement that they were the best we ever had, perhaps second only to our respective grandmothers. Ian must have had several litres of beer, we topped everything off with dessert, all for a grand total of 80 zl, roughly 35 dollars. With bellies full Ian and I trotted off towards the Wawel Castle. We gained admittance into the Cathedral where we visited the sepulchres of the greatest Polish kings, queens, and bishops. Photography was sadly prohibited within however. The visit to the royal gardens was astounding, being able to make out the remnants of the maze and garden walls on the grounds. We then had our first experience with paid toilets, one which we are sure we will have to repeat once we visit Rome and Paris.

PS - We were able to locate one of the illusive 'Bar Mleczne' (Milk bars) on the square until the following day. Meals at such places could be had for as little as 2 dollars CDN.

Day 1

Monika's uncle Richard provided us with a quick tour of Krakow today. Words cannot do the beauty of this city justice. We have taken several videos using Ian's camera which we'll be posting shortly. Since we would rather go exploring than post right now, we'll be posting later today (which you'll likely be reading with this as I'm posting this at 5:00AM WPG time.

We've arrived!!

After recuperating from jetlag, we are now able to confirm to everyone back home that we are alive and doing fantastic. The flight from Winnipeg to Chicago was uneventful, United Air provided us with basic, simple service (one round of non alcoholic drinks and pretzels). The flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was handled by Lufthansa, a German airliner. Lufthansa's service was a dream compared to any other North American airliner we've been on! Complimentary alcohol drinks (Ian had 4 scotches, 3 Bailey's, 2 cognacs and a partridge in a pear tree.), two Bistro meals (dinner and breakfast) as well as several hot towelettes. Unfortunately crying babies plagued the overnight flight causing us much grief. Ian combated their whining with his PSP (and by being sloshed) while Monika used her MP3 player and ear plugs. The airliner's toilets were beyond amazing, as most of them were housed in the lower level of the plane.
The flight from Frankfurt to Poland was a hoot, as it was filled with drunk Polish men. Ian sat next to one gent that had 3 beers on the 1.5 hour flight, of which after his first, Ian had the next 2 with him. Even the parking lot in the airport had 1/2 a dozen beer cans in it.
Monika's uncle has a Suzuki Vitera which is the same as Ian's old black one, which normally is designed to fit 4 people however cramped. We were able to fit 5 people with our luggage, and Monika's wonderful grandmother. It was cramped but it was fun!!

Get Ready

Both Ian and I are keeping this blog as a real time (or as close to it) record of our adventures and misadventures throughout Poland (Krakow and surround areas), Milan, Rome, and Paris. Hopefully, minimizing the misadventures to nil. Pictures and commentary shall be posted as frequently as possible, hopefully each day.

Getting prepared for the trip has engulfed most of our spare time, with Ian and myself running to stores making lists and continually revising them. Luggage and bags are repacked over and again with additions and subtractions over the past month. I keep running emergency drills over in my head for those "just in case" moments. Last night I lucid dreamt about a 50 minute connecting we have in Munich (true) and panicked so much I woke up! July 25th can not get here any sooner!