Krakow, Poland Part 1

So I went to Poland this weekend with my roommate Kelsey. Our journey began with us leaving for the night train Thursday night. So we get to the train station it is kinda confusing ,we were looking at a board (all in Czech) trying to decipher what it is saying. We can't find our train--figures! So we decide to look at the time the trains are leaving which surprisingly worked we found the right train. Since where we were going wasn't the last stop that train was taking it wasn't listed there as the train stop. So we make it to the correct platform and we are looking and it is a multi-car train and we are like do we have seat numbers does it matter where we sit? So we look at our tickets it doesn't show a seat number just that we are in the second class cabin so we walk up to the train and I see a piece of paper saying it's going to Krakow. I was like great lets get on this one. We wanted to make sure so we asked one of the people that worked there and she said it was. So we find an empty room and we take a seat. The car pretty much resembled like cars that the students of Hogwarts took to school in Harry Potter. We wait around like 10 minutes till the train actually leaves. A man sits and joins our section of the train, it was very nice he was going to visit his girl friend. We head off it's almost 10pm. Another at the next stop a girl with dread locks joins us. The person checking finally comes around and stamps our ticket. Hours past and we finally make it to the last stop. Apparently the train just leaves our section/cart and then another train comes and picks us up. I guess some people didn't know that and they got on the wrong cart and were stuck in the middle of the train storage yard. Sucks to be them. So it's like 1am. Since our section of the train isn't attached there is no power which mean there was also no heat. It was freezing cold in there I was literally shaking. It was quite miserable I couldn't sleep and I was just waiting for the other train to arrive to pick us up. So finally 2 hours later it comes. So the train finally makes it to Krakow. It is about 6 something in the morning. The shops are just staring to open in the train station. There was rows and rows of pretzel stands. We are also of course starving too, but we didn't exchange money before we left so we didn't have a way to buy any. So we decided to head to the hostel.

First dummies going on vacation move was we didn't copy down direction to the hostel just the confirmation booking that had the address and dummy move number two we didn't have a map. So we left the train station in search of the hostel. So we knew it was by the Old Town Square so we headed in that direction. We got to the square and Kelsey has an iPhone so we decide we are going to try to find wi-fi so we can get directions. We can't find any so we keep walking. There is also no one around since it's so early so we couldn't ask for any directions. We finally find a wi-fi signal so we get directions. Thank you iPhone for getting us safely to the hostel we would have been wondering for a while. So we walk into the hostel it's 7 something in the morning. We check in. The person working the desk shows us the room we are going to be staying in. It was still too early for us to move in. She invited us down stairs were there was complimentary breakfast set up. We eat some breakfast and then I see these couches in the other room. We decided to lie down on them. We ended up lying down and falling asleep. That couch was so comfortable, way more comfortable than my bed in back in Prague. A few hours later the person working the desk wakes us up and we go to our room. We slept a little longer then we decide to go to get our money exchanged. So we finally get our money exchanged and we decided we wanted to see the Wawel and the Jewish Quarters. After we exchanged our money we decided to go book a tour with the Cracow City Tour company for Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps and the Salt Mines. On our way we saw some eating waffles with toppings and they looked AMAZING! So we went on a mission to find them. It didn't take long till we did and they were so good!

We went to the Wawel first. The Wawel Cathedral (Katedra Wawelska) is located inside Wawel Castle (Katedra Wawelska) on Wawel Hill hence where the name came from lol. It is the spiritual center of the Polish state. It was created in the 14th? century. The Wawel Cathedral is a burial place of nearly all Polish kings and national heroes, it was also the cathedral of Pope John Paul II before he left for the Vatican. We decided to take the audio walking tour, which I would highly recommend it was a phenomenal walking tour and the voice giving the tour had a nice listening voice not boring and monotone like some. Here are some pictures from the outside:

 

We were not allowed to take picture in the cathedral, so I will try my best to describe it in words. There are like 18 different chapels and lots of different famous people of which most I have never heard of. The tour began when we entered the basilica; you are struck by the dazzling tomb of St. Stanislas. It practically dominates the building and located in the center of the room. The cathedral was dedicated to him, alongside Wenceslas (the same Wencelas that has a whole square named after him in Prague) who was the patron of the earlier foundation. His tomb has stood on that point ever since the creation and all the kings we crowned at his foot. Following along side the aisle, the chapel of Queen Sofia lies. The stained glass windows kinda look like a kaleidoscope and cast an orangish glow and above that are some very beautiful  murals on the ceiling. Along the ceiling was amazing rib vaulting(criss-cross vaulting traditional in Gothic architecture-google it and look at pictures).The next chapel belongs to the Czartoryski family, a well known and honored clan, who were very influential during the 18th and 19th centuries. Then we saw the tomb of King Warnenczyck it was made of brown marble. All the coffins had life size replicas of the person carved on top of the coffin. There was a lion carved by his feet and looked kinda like his feet were on a  footstool. At the base or any where on a tomb if an animal is carved it is symbolic of that person's life. Then we climbed to the top of Sigismund tower, which is reached by and a wooden staircase up. The tower holds a total of 5 different bells. The most famous is the Sigismund Bell (Zygmunt Bell) which was commissioned in the year 1520 by King Sigismund the Old. It is about 2.42 m (~8 ft) in diameter and about 4.60 m (~15 ft) tall. It is made of bronze and weighs about 12,600 kg (~27,778 lbs) and takes about 12 men to ring it (hence it is rarely rung). 

one of the other small 4 bells

 view of outside from the top:

Sigismund (Zygmunt) Bell

it's supposedly good luck to touch the bell with your right hand while you touch your heart with your left hand.

Then we ascended back down the flights of stairs and continued on with the tour. We entered a room with all the crypts. First was a tomb carved in sandstone, and belongs to Wladyslaw the Short. Continuing on we saw the chapel of Bishop Gamrat. It had a pretty ceiling that looks as if it has been carved from coral. To the right is the gorgeous Chapel of Our Lady and full of black marble and dark wooden furnishings. The vaulted ceilings had some beautiful fresco painting that are becoming very faded. Continuing on was the Gothic tomb of King Kazimierz the Great. King Kazimierz united the kingdom and strengthened it as a whole. He also transformed it physically by fortifying many towns and building many castles in the kingdom. Then continuing you pass the chapels of Bishop Zaluski designed in the typical baroque design. Then we saw the tomb of Queen Jadwiga Jagiellowho was later deemed a saint. The tomb was specially made over a hundred years ago by a wealthy aristocratic family. It was made out of white marble stone and with her hands joined together like in prayer. At her feet lies a puppy which is symbolic of fidelity. The tomb was specaily made one hundred years ago by a wealthy aristocratic family. She was supposedly really tall about six feet tall. In the next chapel was an impressive red marble tomb of Wladyslaw Jagiello. There was a Chinese style dragon at his feet. He is also on the 100 in their currency. Then we went down into the 'basement' where we saw some more tombs which contained the typical Romanesque style which was really cool since they build the Gothic Cathedral over the Romanesque building so it was still perfectly in tacked with the cross groin vault (see below). Here are two photos I snuck in when I was in the basement:

Then we left the building and headed toward the Cathedrals museum which is still on the audio tour. The other building that contained cloaks, swards etc. There was a picture that had originally been painted over a picture and an artist was able to separate the two paintings it was really cool. Then we returned our headset and continued to wonder we ended up at this place that looks like a colosseum-like court yard I have no idea what is it I am planning on asking my architecture teacher about it but I had no idea how to take a picture so i took a video of it:

Then we head toward the Jewish Quarters. We here are some photos along the way:

When finally make it to the Jewish Quarter also known as Kazimierz. We had planned to go to the Temple Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery and other synagogues and cemeteries there, but we of course picked bad planning and went on Friday at dusk which was the start of the Sabbath so nothing was available to touring. I am not even sure how you even get into the cemetery we walked around the entire building and all we could find was a glass window you could look in that was broken. Also in Krakow was one of if not the first Chabad houses and they all have a JCC there. So the Jewish quarter was kinda a bust but here is a photo from the Jewish quarter:

It was getting kinda late and it was cold so we headed back to the hostel. When we finally made it back to the hostel it felt so nice to finally be able to sit since we had done so much walking. So we waited around till it was dinner time. We headed down stairs there were other anxiously awaiting dinner. It wasn't really dinner that night it was more like a whole bunch of appetizer and dessert which was fine by me. There was tons of food. It happened to be the owner's birthday so he was throwing a huge party with like 100 people there. It was pretty massive. We met some students from Boston that were studying abroad in the Netherlands they were very nice. They are coming to Prague in 2 weeks so we told them to hit us up when they come. They told us about this 24 hour pirogi place which sounded amazing so we decided to go there. Pierogies for those of you who don't know are dumpling in the shape of a pot sticker filled with potatoes and cheese DELICIOUS! If you don't believe me here is a photo:

New friend (Lindsey) on our way to get perogies :]

When we got back to the hostel everyone had disappeared; I guess they all had left and hit up the bar or a club which was fine since I was tired and we had to get up early for the long day ahead of us the next day.