Destination Poland: Wednesday (evening)

Everything you wanted to know about my evening in Krakow but were afraid to ask:

Q: How do people move around in the city at night?
A: Walking is a must in places like Krakow. Many of the central streets are narrow, cobble-stoned, one-way, and have restricted access for non-taxis. Outside the Old Town area, trams are popular (as they are in Warsaw).

too fast for my camera...

Q: Who did you have dinner with?
A: Not with these guys:

Outside, digging into the grilled sausages. Note his moustache. Classic old-world Polish. 

Actually the hotel package that I have includes one dinner at the restaurant here and so I stayed at the hotel. I listened to the conversation at the table next to me. The guests were British and I would say the most excited they got during the evening was in recalling a visit to a local museum. Someone exclaimed “Oh! Lovely.” That was the high point. I felt like I should do something outrageous, just to liven things up, but I let it go.

The menu was set and it included broiled eggplant, the ubiquitous raw carrot salad, roast pork in a mushroom sauce and potatoes. The dessert was a lovely chocolate thing. Poles are especially good with desserts.

chocolate something or other. yum. 

Q: Why do all beds have this little pillow on top? Is it to play with? To toss around? What?
A: We call them “jasiek,” literally “johnny pillows.” They’re cool, they let you wrap your arms around them, sort of like a teddy bear. Most homes have them too.

a little pillow to snuggle with and of course, puffy down quilts 

Destination Poland: Wednesday (evening)

You know those free guides to cities you find lying around hotel rooms? The one on Krakow has the usual listings of hotels and restaurants and important sights. There is also a little box insert that says the following:

Be warned: Polish beer and vodka are rocket fuel. If you’re determined to make a prat [sic] of yourself then make sure it’s not in front of the law. A trip to Krakow’s premier drunk tank (ul Rozrywkowa 1 – which literally translates as Entertainment Street) will set you back 250 zl [equivalent to about $85] for a 15 hour stay. In return for your cash expect a strip search, a set of blue pajamas and the company of a dozen mumbling vagrants. Those resisting arrest will find themselves strapped down to a bed, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-style. Refreshment comes in the form of limitless coffee, though the mug it comes in will smell of urine for a reason. Credit cards not accepted.

Makes you wonder how the writer knew of all those small details…

Destination Poland: Wednesday (afternoon - evening)

Playing hot and cold

Why all this constant talk of cold? The temps are in the upper twenties. What’s the big deal?

In truth, the prickly cold air is not constantly on my mind. I get easily distracted. For instance, this morning, I peeked into the Collegium Maius. There, the date 1492 is most significant, not because Columbus sailed the ocean blue (not this Ocean!) but because Copernicus began his studies at Krakow's Jagiellonian University in this year.

The Jagiellonian University's Collegium Maius: think old; think Copernicus. 

Each time I am in Krakow, I pop into the St. Francis’ Basilica. Wyspianski, the Polish playwright-artist, made the beautiful stained glass windows here. They’re considered Art Nouveau. I like the lilies and irises. I also like the fact that every time I stop to admire the windows, I somehow position myself right next to the confessional (you have to be there to understand how this happens). Last year, I heard a teen girl let loose about her anxieties on her way home from school. I would have said – go! You’ve done nothing bad! But I am not schooled in the ways of the confessional. This year, an older man mumbled his way through such a grand text that I think it must indicate that he is one lonely dude. At the same time, in a side nook, some 40 older people were listening to a sermon. Forty, on a Wednesday morning. Only in Poland.

I cannot do it justice here. Go to Krakow and check it out. 

And I think of warm apple pie. I told blog readers in the past: this is not an American dish, it’s Polish! Here’s my afternoon moment, with a cappuccino to add oomph to the afternoon.

This cafe went all out with the whipped cream and the added sauce. But the taste of the "szarlotka" (apple pie) is the same: fantastic! 

Okay, fine. But I do also think of the people who must be so much colder than I am. Take the pretzel people. They ask for small change for their product. How can it even pay for a day’s worth of cold-weather work? Pretzles, sold all day long, no matter how much I am shivering in my five layers.

who will buy... 

And families eating the grilled meats and stewed cabbage. The little one can’t be drinking hot spiced wine to warm her insides! She must be cold.

Benches and wooden tables to sit at while you're filling up on the kielbasas, etc... 

And the accordion player, here every year, running through Christmas music on the same street corner. The music has peasant roots and it sounds quite different than the English stuff we’re used to in the States.