A brief visit to Poland

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7/11/09
Family -
Our ride to Poland was interesting. At least we got on the right train, yet finding a sleeper car seat was difficult at best. Upon some advice of an English speaking German tourist, handing the conductor some cash resulted in access to the sleeper car which previously wasn’t available. At one stop at 2am, Jon filled in for the sleeping conductor to unlock the train door to allow other tourists to board. To our surprise, the tourists pointed at our compartment as being theirs. They were redirected to wake up the conductor for another compartment. We woke up tired at 530am as our train arrived in Krakow.
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Krakow is a beautiful city filled with Baroque architecture, cobblestone streets, and during the summer plenty of very talented street performers. The food is cheap and much tastier than our books suggested it would be.
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Some of the unique sights include:
The Krakow Castle had a dragon’s layer - a cave under the castle that folklore says that a dragon use to live in. The castle itself has all the décor and impressive rooms of a European Castle.
The Salt Mines that are remnants of the communist era. We walked down 375 stairs to the second of nine levels to see both the dug out tunnels and caverns as well as plenty of artistic statues that were carved by miners into the salt rock.
Jon went to the suburbs to see Auschwitz, a museum that is set up to deter history from repeating itself.
The weather has been cool here - similar to October in Maine. It has been nice to be out of the heat, and there aren’t any beaches near by that would benefit from the heat.
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Last stop - Romania.

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Photos

Armory
Many midevil weapons were in the Krakow Castle Armory

Dragon
Lily and Austin defeat the dragon. Folklore says that a dragon lived in the Dragon's Layer under the castle.

Salt Mine Chandlier
The salt mine caverns (salt carved out) are now the location of large entertainment rooms with chandeliers made of salt. Location: 300 feet under ground.

Salt Mine for Kids
The seven dwarfs were carved out of rock salt.

Knights
Knights had mid-evil fights in Krakow to the point of death.