6 August, ’04, Friday. First, I want to bring you up to date from yesterday (Thursday). It seems like we have been doing our laundry chores for the last week, and Thursday was no different. Getting a load in, up to dry, folded, and put away, we headed into town for a “later night” adventure. We didn’t get in to town until closer to 4 and hopes of staying way past dark. As we arrived we first noticed flag banners across all the streets. One of the flags was red and white which is the Polish flag, and the other was blue and white, which turned out to be the flag of Krakow. They had set up a large stage on the plaza, and everyone was being entertained by singers and folk dancers. It was what appeared to be a political rally. There was a contingency of military people there in the crowd and even some that spoke with a lot of enthusiasm and occasionally got the crowd teary eyed.
We didn’t get back to camp until after 11pm and we had a big day Friday to look forward too.
Our tour started just after we hung-out our laundry to dry. Hope it doesn’t rain…. The bus was over 20 minutes late this morning because of a HUGE pilgrimage to Czestochowa. I couldn’t possibly give you an idea of the count of people in this pilgrimage, but it went on for miles on miles. It was well organized and with the distance (71 miles) that they had to walk, it will take at least few days to get there. Getting back to our bus, all the traffic in Krakow was slowed to a slight crawl all morning long so that explained why we all stood waiting so long. It was quite a site. Czestochowa is the site of Black Madonna, which we plan on visiting soon. Our time was to be spent sightseeing the Jewish district of Kazimierz today. We were going to follow a walking tour that is available by book. Kazimierz was the historical center of Krakow’s Jewish religious and social life. We were able to see homes, businesses, synagogues, and prayer houses that dated back as far as mid 1500’s. We saw the buildings that were taken by the Nazi’s….we saw the enameled dish factory of Fabryka Oskara Schindlera (Oscar Schindler of Schindler’s List). We must remember, Oscar Schindler personally saved the lives of 700 men and 300 women from places like Auschwitz by keeping them all “employed” and indispensable.
Time and the clouds came up on us real fast so we decided to head back. As we stepped off the bus we both felt the first drops of rain and made for the van to remove the clothes from the line….just in time !!!! Tomorrow….Salzbergwerk ( The Salt Mine ) in Wieliczka
We didn’t get back to camp until after 11pm and we had a big day Friday to look forward too.
Our tour started just after we hung-out our laundry to dry. Hope it doesn’t rain…. The bus was over 20 minutes late this morning because of a HUGE pilgrimage to Czestochowa. I couldn’t possibly give you an idea of the count of people in this pilgrimage, but it went on for miles on miles. It was well organized and with the distance (71 miles) that they had to walk, it will take at least few days to get there. Getting back to our bus, all the traffic in Krakow was slowed to a slight crawl all morning long so that explained why we all stood waiting so long. It was quite a site. Czestochowa is the site of Black Madonna, which we plan on visiting soon. Our time was to be spent sightseeing the Jewish district of Kazimierz today. We were going to follow a walking tour that is available by book. Kazimierz was the historical center of Krakow’s Jewish religious and social life. We were able to see homes, businesses, synagogues, and prayer houses that dated back as far as mid 1500’s. We saw the buildings that were taken by the Nazi’s….we saw the enameled dish factory of Fabryka Oskara Schindlera (Oscar Schindler of Schindler’s List). We must remember, Oscar Schindler personally saved the lives of 700 men and 300 women from places like Auschwitz by keeping them all “employed” and indispensable.
Time and the clouds came up on us real fast so we decided to head back. As we stepped off the bus we both felt the first drops of rain and made for the van to remove the clothes from the line….just in time !!!! Tomorrow….Salzbergwerk ( The Salt Mine ) in Wieliczka