2017 in Retrospect

This year was a little shorter than our normal May to October visit, as we only arrived in France in September. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable time, albeit feeling rather too rushed. The weather was splendid as Ceret autumns always seem to be. We did a little more house-hunting, this time inland from Bezier. While we did find a place that we thought would be awesome, in the end we decided we'd prefer to remain in our favourite little French town.

A week-long visit by Ryanair to Malta was excellent. We walked our socks off over this little historical island.

On the way home from France we stopped off for a week in Krakow, Poland, which we chose in order to visit the Christmas night markets. They didn't disappoint, with snow on a number of days to go with the mulled wine, the special lighting and our first visit to Poland. It wouldn't be right to call Auschwitz a highlight as it was very sobering, but was worth the visit. A final week in Prague was equally enjoyable, with more snow in perhaps our favourite city, before our flight back home to New Zealand.

Prague - Dubai Day 7 - Wednesday 13 December

We were awake fairly early, after not sleeping well. We are pretty excited to be heading home. Also our new cryptocurrency is on a bit of a run and that's been very exciting. We had plenty of time to get ourselves organised, have a cup of tea and then set off. It was a good 20-minute walk trundling our bags over the cobbles through town to the train station.

The old Prague railway station

The mini-bus picked us up bang on time and the 20-minute trip to the airport saw us arrive in good time. As advised by Emirates, we tried to pick up our vouchers for our hotel overnighter in Dubai when we checked in but the system wouldn't let us. The check-in guy said to pick them up when we arrive in Dubai instead. We've had this happen before.

Still with a few hours to fill in, we took ourselves casually to Passport Control. This is where things got exciting. We thought it might be a little tricky because we'd stayed over 90 days in Europe, but we had a document from the NZ Govt setting out the bilateral agreement with the Czech Republic and other countries stating that we could stay 90 days in Europe and then additional time using "visa waivers" in specific countries, including France, Spain and Czechia. Unfortunately the guy on Passport Control didn't agree. We were collected by a security policewoman and taken aside. It was a bit like being on 'Border Control' on TV. She took our passports and boarding cards and disappeared into an office for 10 minutes. We were beginning to think we might get a fine or something. Another policeman then emerged with our documents. He agreed that NZ had these agreements but for some reason still said we had broken Czech law by 10 days. He was pretty affable and said they'd ignore it. He has much more important cases to deal with that day and said we could just go. We imagine he realised we hadn't deliberately breached any rules and was very relaxed. I don't think we will give much credence to these international agreements NZ has with other European countries in the future though.

Phew, through to the boarding lounges, just a quick rest up and then onto the plane. Our relaxed day of departure, with a lot of time in hand, seems to have raced by. The flight was great and seemed to go by very quickly - 6 hours or so.

After arriving we made our way to the Emirates Connections Desk to pick up our hotel voucher. Half an hour later, we were still standing at the counter while a supercilious and bored man punched a computer and didn't tell us what the problem was. Another helper finally printed the voucher and we walked away seriously unimpressed with the service. Found the hotel pick-up place and just a 15 minute delay until the bus arrived. Finally made it to the Copthorne Hotel for our overnight stay. Into bed at 1:45am.

We have notice this time how apathetic the hired help is here, not something we have noticed before. Nobody smiles, nobody greets you, nobody does their job with any enthusiasm or pace. There's clearly no job satisfaction, only money to send home to Asia or Africa. It's very sad to see.

Dubai - Auckland- Thursday 14 December

Slept on and off, but probably better than I thought. John slept pretty well. Our alarms went at 6:30am and down to breakfast by 7am and onto the return bus to the airport at 7:30am.

Prague Day 6 - Tuesday 12 December

Another 14km today. We never expected to be covering this much mileage but we are just loving having the time and freedom to wander, and constantly come across wonderfully designed and decorated buildings, public squares, sculptures, Xmas decorations and so on. 

We had initially intended to take the bus to the Skoda factory, if we could be sure to get on a tour around the factory. However, John decided he wasn't that fussed, and was very happy to just keep wandering today. He'd also seen a complete range of cars, motorbikes and cycles at the Technological Museum a few days ago. Though they were totally different from modern Skodas, I think he got his fill.

On our excursion we opted to have a coffee and cake for lunch at a better class of establishment than we usually choose. It was a gorgeous building housing a bank and cafe, designed in a rondo-cubist style. Stunning, both inside and outside. We are just about out of Czech money and are trying to eke it out.

A last gratuitous food photo!

The bank, still used as such

Final visit to a Christmas market

We treated ourselves to our last meal out and returned to the pub where we'd had our initial Pilsner and main courses. Boar and dumplings, ribs and carrot and celery sticks, what more could we want. It was delicious. 

On the way home we bought a few pastries to nibble for our breakfast. That's all we could afford without another cash machine run which we didn't want to do for just a few crowns. We spent quite a bit of time packing our bags. It fits in, just.

Prague Day 5 - Monday 11 December

Monday was a day of walking, walking and more walking. We wove our way through all the Old Town streets and well beyond. It's been a lot of fun keeping eyes peeled for all the antiques or bric-a-brac shops and their glassware. A few small items looked as though they definitely needed to be bought, and were. We just love the styles and quality here. The Art Nouveau is fabulous, but even more sought after and therefore more pricey. Also, it's much more delicate than the heavy and rugged deco style we have bought, so isn't suited to air travel at all.

An example of Rondo-Cubism

The start of our packing - wrapping stuff securely

We finally arrived back at our Airbnb at around 4pm, had a brief break and then returned to the Vietnamese restaurant we had eaten at a few nights ago. For just 16E we again had really tasty soups and main dishes, plus beer of course.

Museums - Sunday 10 December

Having found the lovely Moser vase on Friday, we wanted to see what else was available before we committed ourselves, so searched out another flea-market on Sunday morning, only to find that the articles suggesting it were well out of date and it had closed a few years before! We did a bit more looking at Antik shops, then went in to look at the Museum of Decorative Arts. This was a bit of a fizzer. It was lovely building which had been recently renovated. Unfortunately it was so soon after the renovation that they hadn't yet put the collections back out apart from one room of "Director's Choices". This did have some lovely articles, but hardly what we'd hoped to see.

This shows the quality of what the antique shops have to offer - we'd buy about half of it if we could!

Decorative Arts Museum interior

Next on the list was the Technical Museum across the river. The weather was still cold and grey, but we were well wrapped up and enjoying being out it it. We had to climb up from the river towards the museum and watched a small group playing ice hockey on rollerblades. They were pretty good - it was still pretty ferocious even on rollerblades on paving. It was sunny and clear, though cold.

View of Prague from across the river

The technical museum was mostly a very large hall containing cars, motorbikes, cycles and planes of Czech origin. These included a few Tatras, forerunners to Ferdinand Porsche's design of the VW beetle, but also Caracciola's Mercedes-Benz W154 grand prix car from the era when M-B and Auto-Union ruled the world of Grand Prix before WWII, as a show of Germany and Hitler's power. The display of bicycles was very thorough and interesting. There were a few other rooms that we skipped through pretty quickly, as we'd been walking all day and were ready to head home. Also, washing machines and vacuum cleaners just don't cut it with enormous supercharged V16 racing cars.

The Technical Museum

What we didn't expect on exiting the building was darkness, and a swirling snowstorm! It was cold, but not all that wet as the snow was fully frozen. We knew we had a 40 minute walk back to home and were a little concerned about how that might work out - it wasn't an area with taxis or public transport handy. However back through the gardens and down the hill was more fun than anything. What a thrill it was to be out in the dark, with biting cold, and swirling snow settling on our clothes. A magic way to end our Europe trip for 2017, and just what we'd dreamed of when we booked Krakow and Prague.

Is this fun or what?

Dinner was at Konvikt again, ribs for me and beef cheek for Karen. Very good.

Cubism and glassware - Saturday 9 December

Our second full day in Prague was about exploring the town, especially for Cubism. This was a purely Czech architectural style that spanned the change between Art Nouveau and Modernism, from about 1910 to the 1920s. Buildings are recognised by triangular bevelled surfaces, and later as Rondo-Cubism with circles added.

We'd found a suggested walking route of the main places, some being houses or apartments and others city buildings. To start we headed along the river to try to find a boat that served as a flea market on Saturdays. This we managed, but we first had to pass through a lovely waterside produce market. Some delicious food on offer and we chose a nice strudel to have for lunch later. A coffee in a downstairs cafe and we were ready to explore Cubism.

The first Cubist building turned out to be a very smart house, complete with a full Cubist set of house, walls and gates in white. It's an interesting style, very modern for its age, significantly earlier than the later clean white boxes of Modernism, but clearly far more modern than the incumbent Art Nouveau. We visited some 15 Cubist buildings through the day, but our favourite remained the first.

Cubist house

Diamante Department Store doorway

Apartments

We rounded our Cubism tour off with a visit to the House of the Black Madonna, which still includes the original Grand Orient Cafe, and the Cubism Museum which was fascinating. The style was used for furniture, fittings and household goods too.

Cubist furniture in the House Of the Black Madonna Cubist Museum

Back in towards the old centre we found another Antik shop, this one with a lovely blus Moser vase. moser is the best known of the Bohemian glass designers and makers. It was so lovely that we left the shop thinking we would probably buy it, but at 2 kilograms it was going to be awkward to get it back to NZ.

The day was rounded off with a pass through the night market in the main square.

The amazing Franz Kafka moving sculpture

Looking around Prague - Friday 8 December

We'd bought a few things at a local Tesco (yes, it's in Prague) for breakfast, so made up a nice omelette before heading out exploring. We didn't have many firm plans for our Prague stay - look at the architecture, visit a few museums, look for some Bohemian glassware, and perhaps visit the Skoda factory and museum. We'd seen the museum in 2011, but missed out on the factory tour as it was one of just 3 days a year that it closes.

First destination was the main square, Staroměstské Náměstí. As expected it was full of Christmas market stalls, much like Krakow's square. The same lovely scent of mulled wine was everywhere. Slightly different food, especially trdlniks, or chimney cakes. The square was packed with both locals and tourists. Plenty of Italian and Spanish voices about for some reason.

Having seen the square we walked around the Jewish quarter, partly because I wanted to see if I could find some more little Bohemian heavy glasses that I bought two of last time in Prague. I'd found them at one little antique shop, and we tried to find it again. We found a number of antik shops, and one which had some perfect glasses. I bought a pair of delicious uranium glass stem glasses and one deco shot glass - I was delighted particularly with the uranium glass pair as the style was lovely, with the acid yellow-green of uranium glass. We didn't manage to get to the previous visit's antique shop before lunch, but instead headed over Charles Bridge where we found a cafe for coffee and cake for lunch. It was a pleasant little cafe full of small groups of older women.

It's a very different city to Krakow. There's vastly more affluence - the streets are better maintained and better finished. there's sculpture all about. People are better dressed and there are far more of them out at night drinking, eating and just enjoying being out.

Beautiful buildings around Wenceslas Square

The quality and detail of architecture is extraordinary

Crowds on Charles Bridge

We'd looked up some walks, and one started above where we coffeed, so we took the funicular up, then wandered down along the walk route back to Charles Bridge. We have been amazed by how many tourists are still about considering it is near mid-winter. I can't imagine how packed it must be in peak season, it must be almost impossible to move, and not something we would contemplate. The cold weather has been a lot of fun, and has not stopped us from doing anything.

From Charles Bridge back toward the Old Town

On our way back from the Charles Bridge I looked for our old shop, and amazingly, managed to find it on a back lane. It's a funny old style bric-a-brac place with many small rooms and a scruffy basement area. I had a bit of a surreal chat with the owner with him a Czech and me a New Zealander, but speaking in Prague in French as he didn't have English, and my Czech is a little rusty (!). I found one little glass I bought, and as we were heading out he stopped me and came up with 2 more matching ones in different colours that for some reason had been left in a box of bits and pieces out the back.

Looking in the antique shops has been fun. We both love much of the Czech style. There's so much lovely Art Nouveau about, though the glassware is too fragile to easily carry, and the prices are too much anyway. Our glasses are very chunky and robust, being more Deco.

Back into the main square as it had become dark, and indeed was snowing just a little. We took our time heading back towards our apartment, through the throngs of people out and about.

Main square at night

Near home we'd seen a Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Hong Phuc, and felt the need for some fresh crispy veges so went in to give it a try. It was excellent and probably the best Vietnamese we've had outside Vietnam, and in reality, probably tastier than there too! We will definitely be back there. One bonus of non-local restaurants in Europe is that they tend not to be so frequented by locals, and can often be better value. This one certainly was.

So a very interesting and enjoyable day in what is probably our favourite city anywhere.

Travelling again - Krakow to Prague, Thursday 7 December

Our bus out of Krakow to Bohumin (for a train to Prague) left before 9 so we chose to get an Uber to the station. Double pricing unfortunately at that time of day, but still very reasonable. A bit of fluffing about trying to find our platform and buy something for breakfast and lunch, but found the bus Ok and got ourselves settled on board.

It was a perfectly pleasant trip to the transfer at Bohumin, just inside Czechia, as the Czech Republic now wants to be known. The train was good too, and before long we were pulling into Prague Hln station. The landscape was similar through the trip, but the closer we got to Prague the more tidy and well-maintained the fields became, as did the villages. Clearly Czechia is a more wealthy country than Poland. At the station we took another Uber to Ebel Cafe where we were to pick up our Airbnb keys.

Beautiful but cold day at Bohumin transfer

We got free coffees, but they were sufficiently awful that we certainly won't be using them for breakfast as suggested, or for any further coffees. It was a 650m walk to our apartment, and despite the relatively early hour we were surprised at the crowds we had to work our way through. The apartment was another really generous single bedroom apartment, with lots of nice art and objects.

Having opened our bags, we went out for an orientation walk close to our area. Prague is indeed a lovely city. The architecture is a cut above anywhere else we have been. Every building has architectural merit, not just a few as you normally find elsewhere. There's quite a range of styles from 1800s through Art Nouveau to Cubism, to Modernism and then truly modern. It doesn't appear that much got built in the centre from about the 30s, and what has gone up more recently is still well-designed. The decoration and richness of the facades is unbelievable. Czechoslovakia must have been fabulously wealthy until WWI.

For dinner we chose one of the hundreds of nice pubs, and had a boar stew and a smoked sausage dish, with some Pilsner of course. All very delicious and perfect for yet another very cold day - still barely above zero. We are well wrapped up, so the cold is not a bother.

Auschwitz - Wednesday 6 December

Up early again in time to find some breakfast before our 9am check-in for the bus. It's been odd that a number of times we have been in search of breakfast around 8am and nothing is open, even the 'breakfast' cafes that advertise they will be open then. With no luck finding an omelette for a few euros we had to make do with a pastry and coffee, though John's hot chocolate was a real winner - thick and syrupy like in Spain. The cafe was supposedly Sicilian so perhaps that explained it.

We'd been lucky to be booked in with just a small party (of 20-odd) to go to Auschwitz. The 10am group was to include over 100 people. We only needed a mini-van and got away pretty promptly at 9:15am. The trip out from Krakow took 1.5 hrs. When we were arrived the large carpark was filled with buses and mini-vans but the site is so large that it coped with the big numbers very easily, as it used to in the past.

Our guide started by taking us around the earliest part of Auschwitz camp, which was originally a Polish soldiers camp before being taken over by the Nazis and turned into a concentration camp. We toured through the original bunk barracks, prison and punishment block, buildings where the prisoners were stripped, then through the original gas chamber and past the ovens where the corpses were cremated next door. It was grim going, especially seeing the piles of shoes (80,000), great bales of hair (shaven from the women's heads to be used for in the textile industry), huge stacks of suitcases, hairbrushes, reading glasses and so on, all removed prior to all the women, men and children going into the chambers. The Nazis stated to the inmates that they were going to be showered and then go on to new places for resettlement. For the vast majority, they had no idea what was in store for them. It was typically only 20 minutes between getting out of the railway cattle truck and entering the gas chamber.

The old Polish soldiers barracks - reused for the original part of Auschwitz

Artificial limbs removed before entering the gas chambers

Piles and piles of suitcases - the owners expected to reclaim them before being resettled

One of the many piles of shoes, these all belonged to children

A quick hop back on the bus took us to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a much bigger camp built as part of the Auschwitz complex and which housed four huge ovens, compared to the original camp which had only one smaller one. The Nazis were gassing Jews from all over Europe, from as far afield as the Greek Islands, plus gypsies, Polish intellectuals, Russian soldiers and all the rest. They tried to blow up as many of the ovens and other evidence of their activities as they could prior to hurriedly leaving the camp before the Russians liberated it. Over 1,300,000 were murdered there, 1.1m being Jews.

The train line went straight into Birkenau camp and up to the gas chambers

A memorial plaque, replicated in 20 languages
to represent the nationalities who passed through the camp gates

It was a fairly sombre day, exacerbated by a  bitingly cold wind. Worth doing, but of course unpleasant. Our local guide gave us an extremely good commentary as we toured around both parts of the complex. It was with some relief that we climbed back into the van (and warmth) and headed back into town. Arriving just after 4pm we thought we should get our last look at the market, but it was very cold and raining lightly. We really needed a hot drink. Our local money (not Euros here) was running low so it would have to be by card. Looking around for a lively looking pub we ended up at a little place in the same street as our apartment. John opted for a hot spicy gluhwein and I tried a hot apple juice, cinnamon,vodka and orange peel. Yum. That did the trick!

Just what we needed to warm ourselves up. Mine is the big one!

It was only 5.15pm but we needed to eat so had dinner there as well. It was delicious, cheap and the best meal yet - typical that we found this place on our last evening here. Sour (zurek) soup with an egg was just 1 Euro and so tasty. We are keen to try some of these recipes when we get back home, especially the apple juice/cinnamon/vodka (probably served chilled though since we hear the weather in NZ is seriously hot even for so early in summer). 

However, John has just read out the recipe for sour soup - wholemeal rye flour, rye bread, water and garlic. Leave all this to sit in the sun for 4-5 days and then throw away any green bits on the top. What is left provides the soup base. Maybe we won't try this at home...

Back to the apartment by 6pm, where we spent a while packing up in preparation for another early start tomorrow. We're off to Prague in the morning. 

By the way, here's what we wore today, and it wasn't enough to stop us getting cold at some points...

• long sleeve merino underlayer
• long sleeved shirt
• polar fleece jacket
• light down jacket
• thick down jacket
• trousers, socks, shoes
• scarf
• polarfleece hat
• merino gloves

Rynek Underground Museum - Tuesday 5 December

On Tuesday we got ourselves a voucher to visit the Rynek Underground Museum at 10am the following day. This museum is situated immediately beneath of main square of Krakow. To a large extent it is an exposed archaeological dig - it shows the many layers of previous centuries. Large sections of  ancient roadways, including wooden kerbs, is on display. Finds from the archaeological dig are also on display, including skeletons from the cemeteries that were once under parts of the square. Stone and brick walls of former trading stalls, especially the earlier versions of the huge clothing hall, are everywhere. In all it took us just under 2 hours to go through the entire exhibition, and we learnt an awful lot about the history of Krakow and European trade through the centuries in the process. It was well worthwhile.

Under the market square in the Rynek museum

Emerging around midday it was very cold. We didn't have too much more planned for the day so opted to buy some goodies and headed back home for lunch and a few hours catching up on admin, emails and so on. We were keen to visit the night market one more time so braved the 20-minute walk back into the main square. John made the most of the opportunity to have another gluhwein, and it was just as spicy and enjoyable as the previous time. It was fun wandering among the stalls, many of which were selling Xmas decorations and small treats. I never tire of gazing at the takeaway stalls, where any combination of huge knuckles of meat, humongous sausages, massive kebabs, mushrooms, roast potatoes and horseradish can be had.

A little meat on offer

Hot meat in the dishes on the right are scooped onto great slabs of bread cut off the loaves.

Feeling a little weary of eating meal and horseradish we thought we'd try a Chinese restaurant we had spied for dinner. Sad, but true. We shouldn't have obviously because the meal, while cheap, was very bland. Filling but not much more. That will teach us.

A good thing about it getting dark so early, and being cold, is that we tend to eat dinner by 6pm-ish like many of the locals, so it was home to an earlyish night and more emailing. There is no TV in the apartment so we have been playing records (yes those funny old black plastic discs) instead. It feels very old-worldy to be doing so, but quite fitting somehow for being in Krakow.

On the way home we booked our tickets for a day-trip to Auschwitz for the following day. We had been humming and hahing whether to go. I wasn't particularly enthused. John was more keen to go because he thought he should but wasn't quite sure why. In the end we decided that we should go because this would be our only chance. It clearly would not be fun but it would no doubt make an impression on us in many ways.

Here are a few scenes from the day's wanderings:

Park near the centre of Krakow

A wonderful courtyard that we hunted to find at Collegium Maius

A Jewish cemetery in the Jewish Quarter

Wieliczka Salt Mines - Monday 4 December

A day out for us at the Wieliczka Salt Mines. They are situated south of Krakow, and we had to get going a little earlier to get breakfast and be ready for pickup by the bus. Again it was gently snowing, and the closer we got to our bus the thicker the snow. Quite a treat!

It was about 20 minutes through the city outskirts before we arrived at the mine head, where we were issued with headsets and started down into the mine, going down 54 flights with 30 steps/flight. One of our party was an exceptionally large man who struggled the whole time, heaving and puffing, and having us hope the guide had a recent first aid certificate.

The mines were opened in the 13th Century and produced salt until 1962. They go down 327 metres and include 287 km of tunnels, of which we saw just 1%. It's a grey salt which takes on a nice polish, and most of the surface we saw including the floor tiles were directly carved into the salt. The tour took us past a number of carvings and through three chapels, the largest of which is a very large space indeed, with some excellent carvings of biblical scenes.

Everything is cut from salt

 

The largest salt cave chapel, carvings are excellent

Some of the structure is massive, here to support a semi-collapsed roof.

It was all pretty rushed, as the groups are only 30 people, and there's always another one coming up behind. Just as well we were not doing it in August when they had 4 hour waits to get in. It was fun and interesting, but very much geared towards the scenes and carvings rather than the mine itself, and we left with little idea of how the salt was actually mined and how it was used or processed.

The highlight of the day for us was really the snow! It was so lovely being in drifting snow, with the trees stark black with white coats of snow on the upper surfaces of all the leaves and branches.

Having been dropped back into the city at 2:10pm, we were well ready for lunch. We ended up choosing an Indian place, which turned out to be well underground and thoroughly pleasant. We had hoped to go through the underground City of Krakow exhibit on its free day, but the free day is now Tuesdays instead, so we will try it tomorrow. We walked back towards our Airbnb in the snow, and used the spare time to check out a few antique shops and design shops, but by 4:30pm they were starting to close. The hours of business and eating are hard to work out. People seem to eat at any time of day - there are plenty of diners at 4:30pm but equally there are many who don't start meals until at least 8:30pm.

Wawel Castle - Day 3 Krakow - Sunday 3 December

Neither of us slept very well, particularly me, though the bed seems very comfortable. The temperature outside didn't tempt us out too early but we found the 2nd-hand market by 10am. It's reputed to be the biggest market in Krakow and it certainly was very extensive. It turned out to be essentially bric-a-brac, with books and some produce. We kept an eye out for anything that we would like as a memento of Krakow but didn't spy anything. It was pretty cold and threatening to snow so we continued on back towards the main square in search of somewhere for breakfast.

A cooked breakfast costs around 3-4E (NZ$6-7-ish), probably cheaper and certainly less sugary than buying muesli. We didn't quite make it to Wawel Castle nearby in time for the changing of the guard at midday but it didn't matter. By this stage it was consistent light snow and fairly chilly. 

Wawel Castle courtyard

We didn't need to buy tickets for the State Rooms because they are free on Sundays, though we were required to wait nearly 2 hours for our turn to visit them. We filled in the time quite easily by wandering around the castle grounds, a slow walk through the castle cathedral and then turning up half an hour before our slotted time and being let in with no trouble. The cathedral was impressive. Quite different to the southern European churches we are more familiar with. Decoration is a little more subdued, but somehow more impressive for that.

An ornate coffin in the Cathedral interior

The State Rooms proved to be excellent. The castle itself has been extensively reconstructed and renovated after being repurposed by the Austrians and turned into a military base 200 years ago. We marvelled at the incredibly intricate and huge tapestries draping the walls within virtually all of the rooms, coffered ceilings and ornate furniture and furnishings. Many of the walls were covered in gorgeous Cordovan leather panels, extensively decorated. One amusing aside was a Spanish mother and daughter who were moving around at much the same pace as us. Both were unbelievably bitchy-looking, to the point where it was quite hilarious.

Birds Room in the Castle

We emerged outside into quite heavy snow at 2pm. It's been a real joy wandering around the streets, tucked up in warm clothes, in amongst everyone else similarly garbed and enjoying themselves. One thing that has occurred to us is that we blend in with everyone else, i.e. white European. We don't look 'out of place' as it were, so can get taken for a local rather than a tourist. It is a nice feeling that we don't get in southern France or Spain where we are clearly different to most (a foot taller for one thing!). There are plenty of tourists around nevertheless, and plenty of touts for tours by horse and carriage or electric buggy and so on, but it's quite nice to blend in. 

Given it was still only the middle of the afternoon we opted to visit the Hipolit House, the interior of which is decorated in the style of the late 19th century Bourgeois home that it was. It was well worth while. An incredible collection of clocks added to the very attractive collection of household furnishings. Outside again at 3.30pm, this time to heavier snow.

All rugged up in drifting snow

With breakfast a distant memory we walked the short distance to our 'cake stop' from the other day. Of course, second time around it is never as good as the first, though it was still entirely adequate. John had a cup of hot chocolate with rum to supplement his stunning chocolate cake. You can tell we are working hard on our caloric intake to ward off the cold temperatures!

Dark again by 4pm and snowing/light rain by then and we were beginning to feel the cold. It was a shortish walk straight home, however John was keen to go to the restaurant that we missed out on the other night so we donned all our warm gear again and set out at 5pm. This time we secured a table. The food was fabulous. We take back some of what we have said about Polish food so far. Granted it was still basically an offering of some sort of meat, and a combination of sauerkraut, dumplings, potato, horseradish or grated carrot, but it was extremely tasty. The first course is typically soup - good warming fare. A glass of excellent Hungarian wine was about $NZ3. With two courses and one beer and one wine, the bill was about $NZ32. We're going back!

On our way to the restaurant an ancient yellow Trabant pulled in to the kerb beside us. I've never heard an engine sound so awful - like a bunch of old chains being tumbled in a rusty concrete mixer, all scrapes and groans.

After three days here we are enjoying ourselves more and more. As much as anything it is a lot of fun just walking around, taking in the sights and sounds, listening to the language, crunching the snow underfoot, watching the snow settle on the landscape, hearing the horses pulling the carriages around the streets, enjoying the way people draw patterns in the snow on car windscreens and seeing everyone enjoying the warmth and bonhomie inside the numerous cafes and restaurants that are everywhere. It is so unlike New Zealand and quite a new experience for us. Just what we were hoping to encounter.

A Polish meal - meat, potato (here as gnocchi and dumplings), grated veges

One of the advantages of eating dinner so early, and it is hard to get a table in some restaurants at 5pm, is that you can get back home very early if you want. Compared with France, for example, you typically would not start eating before 8pm, or 9pm. Here we are tucked back in the delicious warmth of our apartment by 6:30pm!! It's very nice, especially after all the walking we are doing - between 10 and 18km each day.

Schindler's Factory and Snow - Saturday 2 December

The forecasts for our week in Krakow were for a mix of cloud and snow, and Saturday looked to be one of the least snowy days so we thought we'd walk to visit Schindler's factory with its big exhibition of the Krakow ghetto. Breakfast we took in a different cafe. We normally like to have our own muesli breakfasts, but Krakow is so cheap, and muesli just doesn't seem right in freezing temperatures, hence we are having cooked breakfasts instead.

We visited the Old Synagogue, now run as a museum by the city council. Very interesting, and a good collection of Jewish artifacts, all well-explained. The building itself was fairly ordinary having been heavily remodelled at least 5 times since the 1550s. We walked south across a lovely modern bridge to Podgorze where the Jews were forced into a ghetto in 1940. Very little left of it now except for some small sections of wall (deliberately and mockingly built to look like Jewish tombstones) and gates. As we arrived the it started to snow, just little icy flakes drifting down. Quite an experience for us summer people.

Interior of the Old Synagogue, Krakow

At Schindler's factory, we joined the back of a queue outside, in which we stood in slowly increasing snow. It moved at infinitesimal pace, so slow that it took an hour to get inside, by which time the snow had thickened. The building's contents were interesting, but quite hard work given the subject matter - the wartime history of Krakow. We'd bought a combined ticket to the MOCAK museum of modern art next door, which was interesting. In particular a small room with curved walls and entirely bathed in orange light was disconcerting - inside you couldn't see anything except the bright orange light as there was nothing your eyes could focus on. Very cool!

At MOCAK

Outside it was more cool in a more normal frozen sort of way. We both enjoyed being out on the snowy streets, with a little drift of snow falling. It was very attractive, and we were sufficiently wrapped up that we were comfortable.

Although it was only 4:30pm, we thought we'd have our meal early as we'd spent so long on the queue, 90 minutes in the end, plus the time in the exhibits, that we'd missed lunch altogether. We chose Cucinia u Dorothy as recommended by our host's manual. Very simple fare as most seems to be. Beet soup, which we'd imagined to have beetroot pulp or grated beetroot, turned out to be just clear and red. The food here in Krakow seems to be generally quite bland, and perhaps better-suited for cold wet days. Lots of pork, chicken and veal, but cooked well-done, and without much flavour, and a complete absence of spices. Potatoes in a range of styles, dumplings and plain vegetables. We tend to prefer stronger lighter flavours, so might have to go Indian or Asian for a change soon. It might seem a bit of a cop-out, but the thought of some more plain white meat doesn't appeal much.

First Day in Krakow - Friday 1st December

We woke up keen to get on and see what the day had to offer. We didn't expect it to start with a knock on the door at 8am. John answered it to find a policeman standing there. He politely inquired if John spoke English, then wished him good morning, turned round and went on his way. We really don't know what it was all about - the cops must either know or suspect this place is being used for Airbnb accommodation. I don't know if our hosts have to declare it or what, but obviously we were being checked out.

Anyway we dressed, had a cup of tea and headed out to find some breakfast. It was cold! Google told us it was 1 degree but 'feels like' was -2 degrees. I agree. John soon had to follow my example and don his woolly hat, then found he'd left his gloves behind. I was considering putting my lightweight down jacket under my full down jacket. However it was fun. Snow was still around on the cars and streets but some had thawed. We found a little place for a hot breakfast and mulled over some tourist information we'd picked up. We are living right in the Jewish Quarter, so there is plenty to see in our immediate neighbourhood.

Bundled up in Rynek Glowny

First it was off to the main square, Rynek Glowny, one of the Must-See's in Krakow. It's said to be the largest mediaeval square in Europe - one of several perhaps!

One side of Rynek Glowny

It certainly is impressive, and the stalls full of all sorts of interesting food were a sight to behold. I'd expected to see far more ordinary stalls, but I guess it is winter so not as much happening, certainly on a weekday anyway. I hope there will be more in the weekend. One of the main draw-cards for coming here were the amazing Xmas markets and I've very much been looking forward to them. We checked out another info centre, wandered around a bit, getting colder and colder, and popped back to the local Jewish market square where we picked up a couple of zapiekanki for lunch - half bread rolls covered with toppings of your choice. Delicious and only the equivalent of 2 euros each. They are obviously a local favourite because we've seen plenty of people eating them.

Zapiekanki

We sat and did a bit of planning after lunch before heading back out into the cold. We had an initial look around the original Jewish area - Jews were once a quarter of Krakow's residents, but they were first crammed in a ghetto, then exterminated during WWII. There's not a lot left to see. A number of synagogues, some cemeteries and a few signs.

Acrobatic sculptures on the walkbridge over the Vistula River

We were amazed at how early dusk falls this far north. By 4pm it is fully dark. To us NZers, it feels weird walking around in the dark in what is mid-afternoon but feels like nighttime. Given the dark, we thought we'd head back to the main square to see the night markets. They certainly had come alive. It felt like there were more stalls, though that was probably the bright lighting, crowds and buzz. Many hundreds of people, often in quite big groups. A favourite is hot mulled wine, sold in vast quantities from enormous barrel-shaped stalls. We grabbed one and it was amazing - the spices are so strong that it was impossible to drink until the first flush of them had eased. Delicious!

Night Christmas Market, Rynek Glowny Square

We found a few small things from the Christmassy stalls to take back with us. The stalls are perhaps half and half food and gifts. The former is heavily meat- and bread-based, the latter a mix of all sorts of things but most are highly decorative.

By the we'd had enough of the cold, so headed back home, looking out for a restaurant for dinner. On the way back we passed an ice cream and cake cafe. the cakes in the window looked so nice we stopped to take a photo, by which time the cakes looked so nice that we felt we needed to make sure the flavour matched the looks. It did! The chocolate cake I chose had 7 layers - chocolate balls, cream, chocolate mousse, chocolate balls, chocolate nuts, crunchy cake, chewy cake. I'm sure it's the best chocolate torte I've ever eaten. Karen had an almond and coffee cake, and it too was superb. We didn't feel like a full dinner any more (funny that!) so bought another pair of zapiekanki instead, and turned in for an early night.

Gratuitous Food Photo

Chocolate torte does not come any better, ever, anywhere!

A good day, though I think we both felt that Krakow hadn't quite lived up to our expectations, not that we really knew what to expect, but I think we expected more than we have found so far. No doubt there is more to come though...