Going to Krakow?????

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Well make that 48 days straight of snow. We got more again today. When we took another long walk today it was drizzling when we set out, but soon that turned to snow.

We had a nice long talk with Chris at breakfast. Chris is our ‘across the hall neighbor’ here but really comes from Gdansk, the seaport in extreme northern Poland.

“Tell us about Krakow,” I said.

“What do you want to know?” Chris replied.

“We are thinking of going there for a few days,” I answered. “We need to leave the Czech Republic for a day or several days as our visas will expire soon. If we leave for a few days, when we return we will have a new ninety day visa.”

“Ah,” Chris said. “Several students went to Germany for a day a week or so ago for the same reason.”

“I remember,” Nancy joined in the conversation.

“Krakow is a beautiful city,” Chris said, “and there are some interesting places nearby. You should visit Auschwitz. Would you like to?”

It is a very historic place and I think it would be both interesting and very sad to visit.” Bill said.

“Yes,” Chris replied shaking his head, “it is sad. Three million Jews were killed there.”

“And gypsies?”

“Yes, but not nearly as many gypsies.”

**My guide book says that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz. Of that number 960,000 were Jewish.

Chris told us of two other nearby places to visit. A village that was almost entirely Jewish before WW II that is still there almost totally unchanged and ancient and famous Wieliczka salt mine. I read an article about this salt mine some years ago and saw photos of the salt statues carved by miner-artists over the centuries.

“Kasha is from Krakow,” Chris said. “She is driving there Easter weekend. You could ride with her.”

“I’ll ask her,” Bill said. “If we can ride with her I’ll pay for the gas and meals. It would be great if we can ride with her and see the countryside from a car”

According to the guidebook we have Krakow is practically due east and about 350 kilometers from Prague and takes about seven hours to drive there by car. North/south it is about halfway between Budapest and Warsaw. If we go, this will be the furthest east we have been in Europe. We are excited over the prospect. One of the employees, a young woman, in the bank I use at home is from Krakow. When I told her we were to live in Prague for six months she said; “Oh that is a beautiful city. While you are there be sure to visit Krakow, it is also a beautiful city. You will have a good time if you visit.”

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[anonymous]

Enjoying Travelblogs
I have enjoyed your travel blogs so very much, You write so interesting that I almost feel like I am there. Thank you so much for including me in you mail outs. Now I would love to visit Poland and see some of the sight you have mentioned. - GaPeach61@aol. com