Me (legs up on the wall, convincing my legs they have more walking around Krakow in them): When does Schindler's Factory open?
Irma (looking up the information): 10.
Me: And the walking tour starts at???
Felicia: 10 and 130.
Me: Underground museum? 10? But we need to reserve a time slot- right? And we need 2-3 hours at each? Oh, there is no way we can do them all.
<< 5 minutes of talking back and forth about our options and prioritizing picks >>
Me: Wait! We can do it all and even have a short lunch break!
And that's how we toured for 10 hours in one day.
Lesson of the story: When traveling, I want to do it all. I'm not a sit and sip coffee all afternoon in the main square kind of traveler. I'm a "this may be my only time here so I need to do it all even if it means I have 12+ hour days filled of adventure" kind of girl. Luckily, my travel partners on this trip already knew this about me and even better? They're all for it!
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Free walking tours are perhaps my favorite things ever because they take you around the city to get the lay of the land, you hear a local's perspective and did I mention they're my favorite price--- free! (Okay, not really when you tip the guide, but totally worth some of the travel budget for the information you learn and the awesome maps of the city they always have.) Worse case, you ditch the group mid-tour if it's terrible or fear you will forget where the museum is they just pointed out to come back later...but this was not the case at all!
Alyica was clearly proud of her town, Krakow. In the 2.5 hours we followed her around, we covered several miles in the city and about 400 years of Krakow's history- Kings, Austrian Empire, and more kings. We learned how "true Poles" were tested by saying 4 of the most challenging words in the Polish language: młyn (millhouse), soczewica (lentil), miele (milling), koło (wheel). Didn't pronounce it correctly? You're dead and only the Polish remained.
We learned about how the king is crowned, not born into the job so at one point, the daughter of the deceased king was crowned king while they looked for a husband for the young girl. They found someone which lead to the baptism of the nation so that they could join the Polish kingdom. By the way- back when? Poland was HUGE! The country boarders extended much past what they are today.
Walk though old told we heard stories about how the bell tower is the only part remaining of the city call after an ill-fated restoration. We heard learned about the stories that "every Pole knows" including the story as to why the trumpeter's song ends on a broken note on the top of every hour each of the 4 times he plays it. The player, a fireman, stands in the clock tower and each hour he first plays his song towards the palace, then market square, the city gate, and then the fire station. (Legend says it's because the invading tribes shot an arrow through is throat cutting his warning signal short...it's all false, made up by a local and told to an American journalist so the story continues on.) At the University we heard about the professors lured to a conference on the German Culture shortly after the SS invaded. Rather than learned about the culture, they were arrested for starting the academic term without permission and then sent to prison camps. Here we also heard about the list of Poles who attended the school- among them Pope John Paul II (but he never graduated). We soon stood later under the the window t the Bishops Palace where he would deliver his speeches to the people when he would visit.
Our final stop lead us to Wawel Hill where the Royal Palace and Cathedral are situated. Although the country is now a democracy, the President still used the castle. We decided to "change our lives" by touching the "strange" wall where local legend says 1 of the 7 pieces of a material that fell from the sky landed on this site. Why? Well, Krakow did survive many invasions but never lost their castle. If that's not enough for you to drink the cool-aid, this is the only section of wall of the entire castle that does not have a mold problem. (You can't make this stuff up!)
At the case of Wawel Hill, along the river, my pressing question about those dragons was finally answered! Situated outside of the Wawel Dragon's lair, we learned how he used to cause problems for the king by eating all the virgins. So the kind declared war on the dragon and announced to tall the knights that whoever killed the dragon could have half the kingdom and a bunch of riches. Knight after knight tried to slay the dragon, but they all died. After months of this, a shoemaker told the Kind he knew how to slay the dragon and asked if he did, if he could have the reward. The king doubted the ability of a shoemaker to kill the dragon, but agreed. The shoemaker, Krak, took a sheep's fleece, soaked it in sulfur, and left it at the entry of the dragon's lair. The hungry dragon devoured the "sheep" and became incredibly thirsty. He traveled down to the river and drank and drank and drank and drank and drank, drank, drank, drank, drank, drank, drank until all the water caused him to explode! Krak got his reward and eventually was crowned King of the city. Krakow, translated means "city of Krack." Oh and the moral of the story? "Don't drink too much!"
Um yeah, of course I picked up a dragon Christmas ornament. (I decided Nico wouldn't like a baby dragon as a toy and would probably result in him bringing me even larger reptiles.) I mean, who doesn't like a dragon and now that I knew the story behind it? I'll always remember Krakow.
Sadly, that was the end of the walking tour...but not even the half way point in our day. Let's keep moving people...
Next stop: Rynek Underground
So, the main square of Old Town has been around for a very long time. So long that over the centuries the roads were repaired by adding layers of sand/gravel to fill hole or cover the debris. This happened so many times that the current day square and Cloth Hall is slightly over 5 meters higher than it was in the midevil time of the city. One of the small churches in the square, was once on a small hill, but is now on the same level as the other buildings!
Excavation began in the mid 2000s and they were amazed with all they discovered- artifacts including the original roads from the 11th century! When the vase amounts of the items were realizes they created the museum in what at one point was the main square, now 5 meters underground. The interactive museum had the items, but also videos and holograms of the busy markets, how fires were deadly to the city, and maps of the old town. The way of life was also explored through found graves and explaining burial practices, as to avoid vampires. A look of what the people looked like was also explored, having height charts to see where you stood among the average height. One display had you step on a scale to see what your weight was in 14th century Krakow measurements. The results? Well I'm only okay with posting it here because unless you have the conversions handy you don't know what I weighed in that day...and if you do? I swear it was the result of all those pirogi that first night in town!
There were also several movies about the town, through the various years, but once again, one the Red Army showed up to liberate them from the SS, the history sort of stopped. I don't get it. What about those 40+ years? Now I have to research or, come back and do the Commie walking tour.
Back above ground we set off for our 3rd destination. Little did we know the adventure in stores as we went in search of Schindler's Factory.
Turns out the tram number given to us as incorrect. With a lot of map reading (which we all know I'm terrible at, so luckily Andrew understands them) and a short trek through a residential area (near the old Jewish Ghetto at dusk which was only 4pm) we made it with just a few tickets left for the last admittances of the day.
The "factory" was a huge building that took us through Krakow in 1939 to 1947 as a resident of the city. Each year brought new issues: the joining of the war, SS invasion, concentration camps, a rescue by the Red Army. Although the focus was on the Jewish population at the time, there were many items from the SS invasion. Unfortunately as someone who doesn't read German or Polish many of the displays were simply pictures for me. Pictures that spoke more than most likely any translation could.
After our day spent at Auschwitz I began to see just what the experience was for many of the Jewish people prior to the miserable experience at the camps; more misery. Life in the Jewish Ghetto wasn't that much better- crowded conditions, starvation, fear of death, austere regulations. Although the Schindler story wasn't that huge part of the museum now in his former factory it was interesting to take a look into "his office." -->Side note. I'm now reading his wife's autobiography of that time frame and getting a much different impression of the story. I haven't quite finished it, but it is fascinating. I love how she says repeatedly that neither her or her husband were heroes, they just did what anyone would have...but they didn't. That's why so many died.
So yeah, our crazy long day ended rather somberly. I recommend all three activities, although maybe not all on the same day?
