Christmas day was really a fabulous day. We slept late and strolled to a hotel restaurant nearby where we had warming scrambled eggs and fantastic Polish bread -- dense and flavorful. Then we took a slow stroll from Kazimierz to the Rynek Glowny, the main square in Old Town where they hold the Christmas Market. It's proported to be the largest central square in Europe.
It was snowing from the moment we stepped outside, tiny little drops that clung to our hats and coats, but melted on our faces.
After we crossed into Old Town, there were lots of touristy souvenir shops in the streets leading to the Rynek open, which was surprising to me as I know how fervently Catholic Poland is, but I assume the shop owners wanted to make as many sales during the main winter tourist season as possible.
As we strolled along, by the Wawel Castle and toward the Rynek Glowny, Barb kept saying "It's a Christmas village!" and indeed with the architecture and the falling snow it really does look like some scene in an advertisement for Department 56. But it's real!
Then we came upon the Christmas market. Check here for my photos.
There were shops selling almost everything imaginable -- cured meats, warm woolens, jewelry (including amber), beautiful traditional Polish pottery, traditional Polish clothing, Christmas decorations including wreaths and ornaments, touristy souvenir items, hot chocolate, hot wine, and food, food, food!
OMG, the smells of the hot ready-to-eat foods were mouth-watering! You could get ham hocks, kielbasa, black pudding, sauerkraut, potatoes, too many things to name and god only knows what they were called in Polish. There was a big booth selling nothing but soups. We opted for kielbasas, eaten standing at a table while the snow fell around us.
A quick cuppa in one of the two Costas on the perimeter to warm the toes, and we headed back into the now swirling snow. In the market Barb gifted herself with a handmade "poncho" of amber-colored felted wool made to wear over your coat and I gave myself a delicate amber bracelet from the same vendor. She had groovy items to sell which she made herself, and wore groovy glasses, so she had my vote from the git.
Mid-afternoon we strolled through the blizzard back home to the Jewish quarter, where we watched the Netflix show to prepare us for the trip to Auschwitz on Dec 26.