I’m not really sure how I feel about the Polish (Euro??) cover of Nina Burleigh’s book…. While I might think it’s cool to see our flag on a jean jacket… and I love that it’s the favorite motif of so many clothing designers …. I’m not really happy thinking of it blazoned on the CFM’s of The Donald’s paramours………………….
Easter has Come and Gone
Monday dawned 10F colder than the previous days and spitting rain from a thick looking sky. I was scheduled to leave at 17, and since my friends had things scheduled in the afternoon I'd need to drag my rollie around all day... ALSO, Easter Monday is a holiday in Poland, so probably not a lot going on... I decided I'd leave early, get back home.
I said goodbye to Leanne. I had such a great time and I hope she did too!
I headed to Glowny (gWUV neh), the main train station / bus station / fabulous mall, taking photos of things I wanted to remember about Krakow along the way.
All commerce except the food in the train station was closed for the holiday, and I was able to swap out my bus ticket for an earlier one AT HALF THE PRICE.
I at a burger at Mickey D's and waited 45 minutes for my ride.
As I was driving away I was thinking — how sad if this is my last trip to Krakow. I truly love this city!
The bus ride from Krakow to Hooterville was mostly on 2-lane roads through the countryside. Again I experienced how Poland is miles and miles of beautiful rolling farmland, as far at the eye can see. It's easy to understand why Germany, Russia and Austria have coveted these lands for millennia.
A violinist does Jimi Hendrix
The tiny cup is the same price as the big cup??
Just like home
A bus stop in Kielce
Easter 2
I love these people, enjoying a drink on their balcony on a beautiful afternoon...
Mush!
Doesn’t this look like it would be fun?? Aside from the whole cruelty to animals thing...
Easter
Easter Sunday we took a bus tour to Zakopane.
South of Krakow is the Tatra Mountain Range, also called "the Polish Alps", and the most popular town of Zakopane. This is where Poles take their winter vacations if they can't swing the Zloty-to-Euro conversion (for a ski trip to Austria or Italy).
There were only 5 of us, plus the driver, in a Mercedes box van for the two hour drive through the countryside and up into the mountains. Yet again, we had a beautiful, warm, sunny day!
Upon arrival we had to make the decision -- take the funicular/tram to the top and see what's there... or explore the main street of the town. We chose to go up first.
Just off the funicular at the top is a toboggan-style ride, where you sit in a toboggan (for lack of better term) that has a braking mechanism which you control for the downward part of the ride. The brake then turns into a hitch for the upward part of the ride. Amanda wanted to do it, so we enjoyed the sun while she rode. In this weather you can see that the track is a wide metal groove into which the entire toboggan sits... I can only assume that in the winter the snow is hard packed and the ride more accurately looks like an Olympic run... Also, I am totally ignorant of winter sports...
It's Easter in a country that likes to consider itself the most Catholic country in the world -- so by 11am we haven't seen any food being sold except ice cream, dozens of restaurants are shuttered, and I'm beginning to panic. You know how fresh mountain air (and last night's alcohol) makes ya hungry. Oh jeesh, what have we dooooooone!
So we kept walking the non-boarded boardwalk, enjoying the views and diving out of the way of the angry NIMBY Januszes barreling down the single lane unpaved street. We strolled until noonish in one direction, and when we turned to come back we saw 1) a sweet church service where many of the congregants were in traditional Polski clothing; 2) food shops were beginning to open.
We sat, had a meat based meal, and people-and-dog watched. Then strolled back and went down the hill for a different stroll.
After careful reflection I've determined that the town at the bottom is very Jackson Hole-ish, while the area at the top is a Gatlinburg-Coney Island-any state state fair mosh pit.
We arrived back in Krakow at 4:30pm and discovered that (yes!) sinner restauranteurs existed there as well... as does UBER!!!!!!! So, with those modern conveniences we had a nice dinner.
On the stroll back to the public trans we went through a square I'd never seen before -- which I really love! Plac Szczepanski, I'll definitely visit you again.
F
Polish Easter Tradition: Saturday basket blessing
On the Saturday before Easter, The Faithful pack a basket and take it to the church for blessing.
My students told me about this tradition -- that they fill the basket with eggs, meat (fresh kielbasa?), salt and pepper, bread, cake and a tiny lamb made from sugar. This basket is taken to the church on Saturday and the foods are blessed by the priest. Then it’s taken home and eaten for Easter breakfast.
As we walked around Krakow on Saturday, so many people were carrying beautiful baskets, covered with white cloth napkins and topped with a sprig of fresh greenery (I read it’s boxwood).
The Pierogi Afterglow
After the pierogi making class we strolled around Nowy Plac (New Square, in the Jewish Quarter) where we bought souvenirs and had a quick bite to eat (and some alcohol, naturally). I bought a WWII Polish military medal for my jean jacket. Then we rushed to the Rynek Glowny for our tour of the underground.
Interestingly, the tour operator had sold us tickets online for today at a certain time... failing to mention (to know? to understand? to have awareness?) that the Rynek Underground was CLOSED the entire effin' day. Really? So, while it's not a whole lot of $$ after conversion from zloty, it IS a whole lot of currency when you convert it into good will.
So after this disappointment we found a bar on the outskirts of the Rynek and sat for hours, drinking and eating...
I popped out to hit the artists on the square... one of which asked me to marry him... even after I told him that with new US immigration rules I couldn't get him a US passport, he said he didn't care ...He just really liked me... (and seriously, who doesn't...) Jacek... "Like Jack", he said... only really it's more like Hachet... He plays guitar in a band (classical, blues and bossa nova!!) and sells art in the city center. He has a nice smile, a nice voice, and a ponytail. He speaks excellent English... and has lived in Berlin... If he could give me a December sunset at 5:15 instead of 3:15, I might consider the proposal!
Then my friends wanted to walk through a (yet another!) church and I... didn't... so I strolled through the Easter market in the Rynek... I happened upon a Welsh bachelor party and hung with them for long enough to get really drunk up... So Leanne read the maps and found our way back home.
All in all, it was a great day. And tomorrow... Off to the mountains for an adventure!
Saturday Pierogis Photis
If this is Saturday, it must be Pierogis
Saturday was a another fabulous day!!! The weather is just wonderful, and providence is making sure we make all our connections.
After figuring out that there is a weekend/holiday public trans schedule (doh!) we found our way to a tea shop KawaLerka on Brzozowa in the Jewish Quarter right next door to our pierogi making class (found on AirBNB). It started at 10 and went to 1:30 (30 minutes later than scheduled, because we were having such a fabulous time!).... Led by Karina, this was a "North American" Pierogi class because everyone was American or Canadian.
Karina has a great personality, is interesting, and is incredibly knowledgeable about Polish history, Polish cooking, and Polish drinking.
We made potato-cheese-onion pierogi (which are boiled then fried and served with fried onions) and strawberry-dessert pierogi (only boiled, served with yogurt) while we learned about all things Polish.
This was a fabulous use of our time in Krakow.
Good Friday Krakow: Schindler's Factory Museum
Our next stop was the the Schindler's Factory Museum. I had been there at Christmas but was only able to see five minutes of the movie they show the first chamber. Come to find out the movie was only 15 minutes anyway, but I watched the entire thing.. and then I snoozed through 3 more showings because I was freakin' exhausted from Wawel and the race through the streets to get to Lipowa 4 by our appointed (and ultimately meaningless) entrance time.
Somewhat refreshed, I caught up with my friends and we finished the museum together.
I will state again - Poland knows how to throw a museum! Certainly the history is so tragic and there's so much of it that it begs to be told, and I guess the unexpected presentation in every museum I've been to while here has been an attempt to keep new generations of highly wired progeny interested. It definitely keeps me interested.
We're getting really good at figuring out the public trans map, so after a dinner of pizza, prosecco and gelato (when in Krakow!), we came home early and crashed.
Good Friday Krakow More Photos
Good Friday Krakow: Wawel
Sightseeing today started with a hunt for churches. While there are many, many old churches in Krakow, it seems the Easter weekend has packed the schedule with services attended by The Faithful... And you're not allowed to sight see in the church while a service is in session (whaaa??!!) -- even if the service is only attended by 8 nuns and 2 priests.....
A quick lunch and we were ready for the tour of Wawel Castle.
Our guided tour included the State Rooms and the Lost Wawel exhibitions of the castle, and my brain is about to explode from trying to grab and hold onto facts as she spouted them on the run.
(Seriously, it was on the run... It felt like they'd added 2 extra tours per day onto this tour guide during the Easter weekend... She was hustling us and talking fast and panting the entire time. Another thing that added non-tour time onto the tour guide was that for each exhibition she had to leave us in the courtyard, go inside with her paperwork, register our group, come outside and shepherd us all in... It would have probably streamlined her day if someone had registered the prepaid groups in advance... But, I digress.)
Here's the gist of what I remember...
The tragedy of Polish history - disappearing from the map altogether at least twice since 1790 - means that this castle / fortress has undergone many phases of ownership and various opinions of its cultural significance. This roller coaster ride resulted in Wawel being stripped of most original furnishings. While the museum has worked hard to re-furnish the building with pieces of the right time period, they've had to search throughout Europe, and most of the pieces are not Polish.
Construction of the castle, on a high point above the Vistula, began in the 1300s.
Fires during the years destroyed much original work, such as coffered ceilings. These ceilings have been reconstructed. There are original wood ceilings in three rooms.
Sigismund I the Old and his (immigrant!!) second wife, Bona Sforza of Italy, brought in Italian artists to modernize and decorate the castle and grounds in the 1530s.
Some of the Sforza commissioned frescoes (interior and exterior!) still exist.
At one point it became fashionable to cover walls in colorfully painted cordovan (leather), applied like wallpaper.
One king bought a collection of Flemish tapestries, 100+ giant wall hangings surviving through the centuries. In the mad lead up to WWII, these tapestries were removed and packed up, shipped in a circuitous route through Europe to Great Britain, and then shipped to Canada for safe storage.
During German occupation in WWII, the German governor general of Krakow and his family resided in Wawel castle.
Photography was only allowed outside.
Good Friday Krakow 1
I started my Friday morning in a quick survey of the 4 directions from our house. It was a wonderful day -- sunny and warm -- so it was actually kinda lucky for me I was in search of a pharmacy to get something for the spring allergies plaguing me. I never found the pharmacy, but I did take a nice stroll through the little park that insulates our street from the wide, busy, and under construction Mickiewicza street.
Very green with blooming trees -- probably adding to my allergy suffering -- the park sports a shallow man-made lake with an island in the center upon which there is a willow. Beautiful. There's also a really cool wood playground, with a castle.
There's also some ... interesting (?!?)... art...
Easter is Coming.............
I arrived at Krakow Glowny (pronounced gWUV-neh) and waited for my friends at the Mickey D's behind the big globe. After we ran in circles trying to buy public trans passes, got some bills changed to coins so we would have 'Exact Change' for the public trans pass machine, found a trans system office to explain where we'd find the proper stop to catch a bus to our AirBNB, we gave up and just took a cab to our apartment.
Located on a quiet street near a park, we met the young owner and her 6-year-old daughter outside and they showed us into our FABULOUS apartment. 3 bedrooms (no sitting room) and a kitchen. Almost new. Fabulous bathroom. HOT HOT HOT water. Adequate plugs so that everyone's electronics can charge. A TV in every bedroom. Jeesh. I'm not in Kansas-ski anymore!
We stored our shit, analyzed our public trans options to get to our Vistula boat tour and headed out.
What a fabulous day for a 90 minute ride on the river. And the sun set at 7:30 pm so we had plenty of time! (One small note, while it was beautiful, there weren't any announcements or documentation of what we were seeing along the banks. So I didn't learn anything.)
We then strolled into the main central square, Rynek, where we found an "Easter Market" much like the Christmas Market from when I was here before... only this time there were Easter tchotchkes instead of Christmas tchotchkes, warm weather food instead of cold weather food, ice cream instead of hot wine.... But most of the vendors were the same.
We strolled around and looked at the artists work -- many more than at Christmas -- and decided we'd come back tomorrow.
The girls were crashing with jetlag, so we headed to dinner at a Georgian (doh!) Polish restaurant. Where the girls had a ginormous plate of pierogi and I had zurek in a traditional bread bowl. Delish!!
A pop into a grocery store, and then we fell into bed!
Wow
We just blew through a small city near Krakow, where, in the distance from the train, we saw this:
What time is it?
So I’m sitting at the station waiting for my train to Krakow. I’m watching the Departures and Arrivals boards.... on these boards they’ve listed the next 5 trains to depart and to arrive. There’s helpful information like the route number, From and To, other important stops on that line, the platform, etc.
But nowhere on the board do they tell you the current time... So if you don’t have a watch or a phone, you could be screwed.
Easter is Coming....
This morning I head to Golden Krakow -- first Christmas, now Easter in the former capital of Poland, the ultimate goal of the marauding Tatars, the training ground for Pope John Paul II, and the city where providence sent Oskar Schindler. (Remember when Jerry and his girlfriend du jour made out in the theater during Schindler's List because his parents had been staying with him for sooooo long? But I digress!)
There are special Easter foods I'm supposed to keep an eye out for... First, my favorite soup has an Easter version. Zurek (of the smoked kielbasa and boiled eggs) is modified to have "white kielbasa" -- meaning not smoked, meaning it must be cooked somehow before eating -- and horseradish. Yum! Also this white kielbasa is served as the main dish for Easter dinner. And there are (at least!) two cakes specific to Easter -- masuzurek (a low cake with frosting and elaborate decoration) and poppy seed cake. Love me some Polski food!!!
Also, we're doing some activities that I didn't do last time... starting with a boat tour of the Vistula (pronounced Veesswah) this afternoon for which the weather is supposed to be perfetto!
I'll keep you posted!
Happy Tax Day America!
I got an extension...
KoshKooWho?
Some of my adult students mentioned excitedly that a Polish general had been a hero in the American Revolutionary War. I'd never heard this before and made a mental note to do some research, and promptly forgot about it. Until he surfaced again in the Poland book I'm reading.
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko - pronounced kosh-koosh-ko) was a Polish-Lithuanian (minor) nobleman born in Kosava (in what is now Belarus). His father died when he was 12 and the family fell on hard times, leading to Kościuszko's military education being sponsored by the (princely) noble family of Czartoryski.
A restless and adventurous sort, educated as an military architect / engineer, he learned of the American Revolution in 1775 in Paris and headed to the Colonies to fight on the side of the Continentals.
There he designed and led construction efforts of fortifications of New Jersey's Fort Billingsport to prevent a British advance on Philadelphia; coordinated destruction of infrastructure to slow the British in their pursuit after the abandonment by Continentals of Fort Ticonderoga; designed defenses for the Battle of Saratoga; and eventually spent two years at West Point.
In the south, Kościuszko was responsible for scouting the Dan and Yadkin rivers for crossing points, building flat boats called bateau as troop transport, and running the spy network in South Carolina.
He even designed the fireworks displays to celebrate the end of the war for Charleston and Independence Day July 4, 1783 for Princeton. He was promoted to brigadier general.
Kosciuszko returned to Poland in 1784 - between the first and second Partitions - where he was able to regain some family lands which had been lost by his brother to bad investments. His estate was not profitable because of his radical decision to reduce the hours owed to him by his serfs -- males would work for the manor only two days per week, females were exempted.
The Great Sejm (Congress / Parliament) of 1788–92 introduced reforms, including human rights for the serfs, a reduction in the power of the nobles, and a build up of the military to defend Poland-Lithuania. Kosciuszko took this opportunity to join the military, where he ultimately became second in command.
Poland's neighbors saw the reforms of Poland-Lithuania, and especially the strong constitution adopted in May 1791, as a threat to their long ability to influence policy, and Polish magnates/nobility saw them as a direct challenge to their cushy lives. So in May 1792 the magnates approached Russia to help overthrow the Constitution and four days later an invasion started.
While Kościuszko never lost a battle, the weak king capitulated to Russian forces in July 1792, and Kościuszko left the country in disgust for a Polish enclave in Germany. In January 1793 Russia and Prussia designed the second partition (don't even get me started!), which the Sejm was forced to ratify in June 1793. At this time the constitution with the forward thinking reforms was overturned.
Buoyed by support from Polish ex-patriots in Europe, Kościuszko planned an uprising to throw off the foreign forces who were occupying and carving up his country. The uprising where serfs and nobles fought as equals started in March 1794. Kościuszko's forces were surprisingly successful, forcing Prussia to come to Russia's aid in June. His ragtag forces continued to fight, until Kościuszko was captured October 10.
The Kościuszko Uprising forced the Third Partition, which wiped Poland-Lithuania off the map for the next 123 years.
After the defeat of the Kościuszko Uprising, he was held in Russia until being pardoned after the death of Catherine the Great. He emigrated to the US, where he continued his friendship with Thomas Jefferson, and eventually returned to Europe, living in Switzerland until his death.
The American government defaulted on their promises to pay Kościuszko for his seven years of military service - plus interest.
Hello Krakow!
It's the week before Easter and, as as all good Catholic countries should, Poland has an extended school holiday for this Holy time. So, I'm heading to Krakow (again! yes, I LOVE Krakow!!) to meet some friends from Charlotte.
I'll be traveling to the Emerald City (or Golden Krakow as it’s called in the Michener book) Thursday and returning to Hooterville Monday evening.
Karol Józef Wojtyła / Pope John Paul II was the Archbishop of Krakow so I think lots of businesses and restaurants will be closed in observance of Easter, but Krakow still has a large Jewish population so I'm thinking we won't starve.
The weather is expected to warm up nicely and we're staying in an area I've never explored. I'm excited! More to come....