Krakow the nicer version of Poland's capital Warsaw was similar to most other larger cities; not that it was bad/boring just the same as most other cities we've visited. Did a Shindlers List tour and saw a smaller orthodox synagogue (yes, had to wear the little kap for men) which the Nazis had stripped of anything of value or significance to the Jewish (since restored). Interestingly the ladies and men sit separately in the orthodox synagogues (like the Muslim faith): apparently, according to the guide, this is to help everyone focus on their prayer. Additionally the orthodox synagogues will often be minimally decorated again to focus prayer. From what I can gather there are 3 strains of Judaism of which the black hats and long long sideburns is the most demanding!!! They appear to dedicate almost all their energy to their faith (religion first priority, then family and so on if time permits); interesting stuff. The synagogue also had a little cemetery with all the headstone inscribed in Hebrew; they often use code; dot above the Hebrew letter which with a code key corresponds to numerical information such as dates of birth/death etc to help protect identity or such. Sadly with the Nazi occupation here many of the original headstones were destroyed to be used as stone for the roads so the headstones here were all relatively new. Never flowers on the burial only rocks or 'non living' objects.
Saw the Jewish ghetto from WW2 and Oscar Shindler's factory from the war also (he set up a labour camp during the war staffed by Jewish people where they were well looked after with their families where possible. He produced metal wear; pots and pans and bullets etc. Just watch the movie! Great watch. Tour highlight was for most of the men the beautiful guide - a somewhat sassy sexy Polish lass... Smokin'... Notice I said most of the men... Wow... Not a patch on my wife however!
Poland also saw me lose poker and 10€, nearly lose my hair (fire breathing dragon which blows huge flames every 5 minutes almost got me; don't get too close Brad but do you think I'd listen? No. I climbed the dragon for a photo... Adrenalin rush of the trip to date!). Then I really did lose the mop of hair as the melon was shaved in the hostel... (1st time in 7 weeks); I've never seen such a mess left in a hostel room! Hair everywhere!!!
Left Krakow feeling we'd seen most of what it had to offer so we can happily tick that one off!
From Krakow we buzzed off into the Czech Republic were we stopped in the beautiful Prague (almost as beautiful as the Polish women!) for 2 days.
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What more can I say; it was spectacular by night and day; a lovely romantic city and without doubt had the best train/tram system I've ever seen! Romance was off the agenda as we somehow ended up with a 3rd wheel (bloke) who shadowed us all day despite our best efforts to shake him off?!? To say Manda was furious would be an understatement! Nonetheless we did end up finding Monique and Suidy (the other married couple on our trip) so spent evening relaxing with them! 3 things to note;
1. Crowds are spastic during the on season. You can NOT avoid them.
2. The clock tower that does something on the hour is often terribly boring. And CROWDED! If you want to watch something more interesting watch the people watching it. Confusion often all over their face when it's a dud display!!!
3. Watch out for massive rip offs when dining out. Fees and charges are rampant, hidden and only disclosed when the bill arrives (by which stage it's to late to argue). Seating fee, bread fee, service fee it's all there and will often cost more than the meal! Over inflation of prices is common too!
Otherwise it's a great place and one could easily immerse themselves here for a number of days! Beer also fantastic here; strict brewing laws here result in a good ale!
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Ah! Almost forgot, we took a slight detour to a little village along the way called Kutna Hora which is the site of a somewhat famous and certainly interesting little church and cemetery. The cemetery holds/held a special spot for 1000's of people from a bygone era (?1400's) when a chap travelled to Jerselum and brought back a fistful of dirt from the holy land and scattered it around the local cemetery. There are 12000 plots and bodies have been buried 12 deep as demand for these plots was so high as people believed that the fistful of soil scattered here would put them closer to God/Heaven etc. The church later employed some chap to dig up bones and decorate the church with them. The result is fascinating! Bones everywhere including a huge chandelier containing at least 1 example of every bone from the body!
Good times!
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