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We began this morning with a healthy breakfast from a local bakery in Old Town. Since we have been eating healthy and avoiding all the yummy sweets that we encounter in each city and around, what seems to be, every corner in Poland, we opted to indulge in some “healthy” sweets. Sara opted for a rather large piece of cake – the owner warned her that it was extremely sweet - whereas I went with a donut, covered in icing, and stuffed with some fruity yumminess. The donut was so healthy for my body that I was required to get a second. Long breakfast story short, we left the bakery with big smiles, happy tummies, and enough energy to conquer the day.
First destination – the Royal Castle of Krakow. Given that Sara and I have experienced numerous castles throughout Europe and Scandinavia, we chose not to pay for a tour or anything along those lines. Nevertheless, we spent about 1-½ hours walking the grounds and touring the church of the Royal Castle – all of which were free (we like free things). We enjoyed our time at the castle, but after touring the church we were ready to depart
for our next destination – The Schindler Factory Museum.
Curators at American museums need to come and visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Schindler Factory Museum in Krakow. We are not huge fans of museums. Generally, we find them to be far too sterol, stuffy, and drab and boring; thus, I find little, if any, enjoyment in museums. In other words, I equate museums with china shops– you break it you buy it. However, the aforementioned museums in Poland are the exact opposite – get on the motorcycle, pull out the drawers, and stamp your museum cards.
The Schindler Museum was amazing! Although we both thought that the museum would be centered on Schindler, the storyline was more along the lines of 10% Schindler and 90% the Nazi Occupation of Krakow. We absolutely loved the museum; consequently, group after group passed us as we spent more than four hours reading and touching everything. Arguably the most intriguing aspect of our tour was learning about the symbolism behind the architecture of the wall that German’s build around the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. They built the wall out of concrete and designed it to resemble the rounded heads of
tombstones.
Further, although we knew that Krakow was the largest city in Europe to escape the war largely intact, we did not understand why this city was spared. However, after visiting the Schindler Museum we now understand. Hitler’s plans were to destroy Warsaw – the capital of Poland – and make Krakow the capital of “his” Poland. Therefore, Krakow became the capital of Poland once the German’s gained control of Poland.
Overall, we loved our time in Warsaw and Krakow. The Polish were affable and welcoming. Thank you, Poland. Whereas we are sad to leave this wonderful country, tomorrow we will be heading south to Slovakia for a few days of hiking in the Tatra Mountains.
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