Grand Tour

We've packed in a huge amount today including plenty of stops to pace our feet and that feeling of compressed spines with all the pavement walking and standing.

What a day though!

The weather has been glorious, pure blue sky and an uncharacteristically warmer than normal February here, with barely a breath of wind. 

We set off south today, through beautifully quiet streets and stunning light.  Ulica Kanonicza, noted as one of the city's most beautiful boulevards, was indeed spectacular. We enjoyed a quiet stroll around Wawel Castle with views over the river before heading into Kazimierz and Plac Nowy to find a little French coffee shop with atmosphere oozing out of the wooden entrance doors.

We couldn't experience yesterday without taking a little more time to appreciate the Jewish culture and went to visit Stara Synagogue with a headset of fascinating information. 

Following that, we walked to the Schindler Factory Museum via the poignant art installation at Getto Krakowskie. Chairs dotted all over the square were there to represent the 70,000 Jews from the Getto that were sent to the extermination camp. 

After a bite to eat, we fortuitously discovered the museum was full to capacity apart from six spaces on a guided tour. That couldn't have been better! The museum is splendidly done with easy to follow interesting exhibits but this guy brought history alive. He was passionate, had experienced plenty in the Polish army and spoke eloquently about how he didn't want us to enjoy what we saw as well as putting a little realism into the real Schindler story. Fantastically awful was how I summed it up. And he was pleased with that. It brought tears to my eyes in places and told stories of people in a way you could connect with. 

Pointing out a famous Stalin quote, one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic, he helped that number be much more than that. Beyond my ability to explain but the tour and venue is so worth a visit to feel it for yourself. 

We failed to appreciate the modern art next door so much but had a well needed bottle of water and sit down before wandering towards the Cricoteka building for a proper break high up overlooking Krakow. It's the best design of old buildings in balance with new I've seen (it's been a hard choice of blips!)

With the sun going down, we took the pedestrian bridge over the river, stopping to admire the fabulous design of acrobats balanced on high wires. It's the perfect concept as the figures wobble about as the bridge moves, seemingly alive. 

A meander back in the fading light and buzzing streets was quite a contrast to the morning but a perfect end to a packed day. We couldn't resist seeing the square in this light so went our separate ways for a while, still managing to fit in 30 minutes of snoozing before another delicious Polish meal and our final walk to the square for Rich's vodka and my peppermint tea. 


An incredibly good and memorable day and a half in one.