History overload

---

I went to the national museum and visited 4 synagogues today. I've done my touristic duty! Well, not really, because there is so much more to see. I haven't gone into any of the churches yet, nor have I visited the place where John Paul II (the Pope) used to live.

I don't have that many photos because inside of the museum today because I don't think I was allowed to shot, and inside the synagogues it seemed inappropriate...

So here's a rundown of the photos.

Attached to the Synagoga Remuh is the old cemetary; they are both open to the public. The man who sold the entry tickets passed out yarmulkes to all of the male visitors before they went into the cemetary and/or the synagogue. The cemetary is a bit rundown and dilapidated, unfortunately. All of the headstones were inscribed in hebrew and ontop of many were little stones.

I'm not sure what the stones mean but I think it has to do with honoring the dead?
I saw a similar thing when I was in Boston, visiting the Holocaust Memorial. People had placed stones along and ontop of the granite wall.

Visiting a cemetary isn't as spooky as visiting a crypt (like yesterday)... I didn't photograph the graves but I did photograph parts of the wall that enclosed the site. If you enlarge the photos and look carefully you can see the textured tiles ... textured by hebrew inscriptions??

Then I went to the Museum Historycznego". Photos weren't allowed, which is too bad, because they had some pretty nifty items related to Jewery.

Then I went to the "High Synagogue", called so because you had to go upstairs for it? Dude, I dunno, sometimes explanations I have seem really lame but that's just what I read from somewhere...

Inside the High Synagogue was a photo exhibition on the Jewish folks who lived in Kazimierz and of their decendents? I dunno, some of the pix only had Polish descriptions and my Polish isn't all that good yet! (Though on Friday we did learn the vocabulary for family members/relations so I think I'm half right on this one).


* * *

After this High Synagogue I was pretty pooped and needed to eat lunner (lunch+dinner).
I hopped onto a tram that was going in the direction of the town square, and I crossed my fingers that I would pass a Chinese restaurant somewhere along the way. Yeah, I felt like having Chinese for dinner... I could've done Polish, but I wanted to check out what the Chinese food was like here.

The place that I ended up at, it calls itself a Chinese restaurant, but I'm not so sure. Soy sauce and paper laterns does not a Chinese restaurant make!


I ordered "spring rolls", "shrimp dumplings", and "hot and sour fish".

The spring rolls I had expected to be vegetarian b/c they usually are unless specified; and especially there was another roll on the menu right below spring rolls that specified that it had meat. So I passed on the spring rolls after one bite. 😞

Then the shrimp dumplings... eeek.

Then the hot and sour fish... It was not hot nor was it sour. And it had DILL?? Hello, dill is not Chinese. If I just think of it as oh some sort of fish dish maybe I wouldn't feel so weirded out about it.

* * *

Tomorrow, back to the cabbage and mushroom pierogis.


* * *

Oh, and on a passing note... The bus/tram ticket controllers mean business!
They work even on the weekends. I ran into 2 of them working together on the bus yesterday and this teenager got a ticket. And today when I was on the tram, I saw two more dudes doing the inspection. The couple in front of me had some sort of pass but it wasn't good enough (I couldn't catch all of the details). But basically they were tourists and thought that their pass was good. Nope! The controller guy pulled out an official pamphlet and pointed to the line that described their pass and showed them. They tried to talk their way out of it... Nope! A couple of stops later they all got off together, from what I could gather it was so that they can get money from the ATM. Ouch.

Good thing I have my monthly pass!

---

Photos

Inside the National Museum
This was in the 20th century art section.

Inside the Old Synagogue Cemetary
Wall. Zoom in.

Inside the Old Synagogue Cemetary
A shot along the wall.

Inside the Old Synagogue Cemetary
A shot in color.

Spring Rolls
They were good. If you're not a vegetarian.

Shrimp Dumplings
These tasted like crap. Looked pretty though.

Hot and Sour Fish
I probably should've just gotten fried rice...

Comments

[Mark]

Still with you
Hi! It's really cool to read about your outings. From hot sandy beaches to stale spring rolls. Got to love your ability to get along with the locals. Hopefully we won't have to live vicariously through you to see all these interesting places. Gosh, don't you feel used? *sad* Think many of your blog list friends were worried when the building crumbled and that poor old man got hurt. Good to see you've got an eye for bagles. Seems like Europe does pastries well.

[Wendy]

'Chinese' food looks good on photo
They look sorta Chinese. But dill is definitly not it. But you should've tasted the Chinese food I had in India. How are randomn people finding your blogs??

[sally]

as a fellow asian person, seeing this food
is like a SLAP in the face. judy, judy, judy...stick with the potatoe stuff.