Arrived in Krakow (Cracow), Poland

---

---

We left Warsaw, Poland at 11:35 AM and arrived in Krakow, Poland at 2:30 PM. We thoroughly enjoyed Warsaw and had a wonderful time watching the UEFA EURO Cup 2012 final at the Fan Zone in downtown Warsaw. It was estimated that 150-200 thousand people gathered at the Fan Zone to watch Spain beat Italy 4-0. Not only did we enjoy watching the game at such a venue, but also a thunderstorm that passed through during the game added to the experience. We found Warsaw to be a very nice city with wonderful people. I am sure that the EURO Cup enhanced my experience, but we both enjoyed our time there. We were both amazed at how the city was able to rebound after being flattened by Hitler and the German military and being under Soviet Union’s control until 1991.

We are now in Krakow, Poland, which is the largest European city to have been left intact during WWII and largely untouched during the communist era. We are staying at the Globtroter Hostel in Old Town. This area is only of the few remaining medieval cities in Central Europe. It reminds us of Tallinn, Estonia and Riga, Latvia that we visited two years ago. We spent the evening strolling around Old Town, sitting on the main square, eating at a local Polish restaurant, and enjoying some ice cream on the square. Krakow is a beautiful community that we look forward to exploring in more detail on Wednesday, 4 July.

We will be departing Warsaw at 8:30 AM for a day-trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is about 1-1/2 hours from Warsaw. We expect to return around 7 PM to our hostel in Warsaw. We are both looking forward to this experience.

---