I'm pretty much in love with Krakow

We had a fantastic weekend! We went to Krakow and had the best time. It was perfect. It is probably one of the prettiest cities I have seen. Like Prague, it was a city that escaped the war unscathed. This city is so old. The first written recording of this city was in the 900's and it was a thriving city by then. It's cool that nothing was destroyed.

We had a lot of adventures and saw a lot of cool things including a castle, dragon bones, street dancers, cotton candy, a cool salt mine, got contacted by the missionaries, and great food! One of the best parts was when we checked into our hotel, there was a garden patio of their restaurant right next to our door. So, we put Calem down for a nap and got to hang out in the garden and have a peaceful meal all by ourselves. It was the best just to relax and enjoy some great food and not have to worry about anything. Awesome.

Here are some pics of some of the things we saw.
So these are in no order whatsoever. We also have so many pics that it would be impossible to post all the cool places we were, so here are a scattered few.
The streets are awesome! Cobblestone and look at the buildings! It is so pretty here! The Wawel castle is behind us in this pic. I'm pretty sure this is the street Pope John Paul II grew up on. There are a million memorials around this city for him. I guess they love their pope!


This is a big courtyard inside the castle walls. Calem was in heaven with so much space to run around in. I couldn't resist just letting him run. He is the small speck in the sunlight :). The courtyard was huge and it made you feel so small. This pic probably just shows about a third of it.


This is Cloth Hall, although renovations have been made over the years, this marketplace dates back to the medieval times. Inside this hall is about a thousand little vendor shops with all sorts of things from amber jewelry, crystal stemware, wood carvings, to fur clothing. Also we found cotton candy! Maybe it is rodeo time after all!

We took some time to just play on the grass near the river. It is a hillside that has a bike/walk trail at the bottom. Calem was drawn to the bike path and we would snatch him up before he could get hit. Unfortunately, this became a game and we just ran up and down the hill for a couple of hours. We had to switch off because even though we were pooped, Calem wasn't!He was having so much fun!
This was the restaurant we ate at in the evening. Polish food is so good, especially the potato pancakes and the type of gulash they make. YUM!



Here is another pic of the streets. I love it. This is Sunday morning and after deciding to wake up at 3am, Calem is out. Our poor umbrella stroller is on its last leg. It will be a miracle if it lasts till the end of our trip. I sure hope it does 'cause that kid is heavy!


On a side note, Oscar Schindler is from this town, but we missed seeing his factory. Also, there is a woman who is sort of the female version of Schindler and helped so many Jews escape. She also went into their ghettos and treated their diseases and such. She was caught and her legs were broken so badly she could never walk right again. After she was released, she changed her name and went right back saving people. She died this Spring. Also, a few years back she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but its a good thing Al Gore won it that year, because where would we be without global warming? What a crock!