First of all we heard the news today that Nick Maxwell, former captain of Collingwood will be retiring due to a bad ankle injury :( No good. Mum is quite upset as he is her favourite player. So just a quick mention to say what a top bloke on and off the field he is, you'll be missed Maxy! Glad we will be back for your eventual lap of the G.
Last night we had dinner in the old town square. I had the best meal I've had in ages! It was crispy potato pancakes with salmon and sour cream. And the portion was just right so that I was satisfied but not overly full. Absolutely delicious!! Then we had an ice cream on the way back to the apartment.
Slept terribly again though. Now I think about it I haven't really had a comfortable bed since Oslo which was now a month ago. Topdeck was pretty basic and I've been sleeping on a dough ever since. Not complaining, more just saying it's catching up with me now and I feel exhausted about halfway through the day. Looking forward to a proper bed tmro night!
Today we walked about 15 minutes to Wawel (pronounced var-vuhl) Hill, home to Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral. These were built in the 14the century but underwent significant restoration during the 20th century. For centuries, the castle was the residence of Polish kings, but now it houses various museums.
We walked up the hill and much like Russia were confronted with a very confusing ticketing system! There are about seven things to do here, you'd think the logical thing to do would be to make it cheaper the more you do, right? Wrongggg. You have to buy a separate ticket for every single thing you want to do here, and some of them are limited and/or you have to have a guide and a time. We picked the state rooms, private apartments and dragon's den.
It was 27 degrees and sunny today, got to wear a different summer dress! Due to the temperature, we were glad to start with the state rooms indoors. They were quite medieval looking with some interesting furniture. The room I found most interesting had creepy wooden faces made of wood and painted staring down at you from the coffered ceiling!
Next we went to the Wawel Cathedral, which has a separate ticket office to all the museums (typical!!). The cathedral had many different chapels and had lots of gothic decoration inside. We saw the tomb of St John Paul II (pope before Frances and Benedict), Chopin's remains and the tomb of Adam Mickiewicsz (a famous Polish poet).
Then we climbed the Sigismund Bell Tower in the church. The bell is 2m high x 2.5m diameter, weighs 11 tonnes and requires eight men to ring it!! The stairs were incredibly narrow and even I had to duck - haha!
We went back down and had two hours to kill before our 12.50pm tour of the private apartments. So we enjoyed a cool drink at the cafe with a nice view of the cathedral, then looked around at the pretty flower beds buzzing with bees, and then the souvenir shop. Then we went to the Dragon's Den. It's a bit of a kids' attraction but I still wanted to do it! Legend has it that a dragon lived in the cave underneath Wawel Hill, and we descended some steps and got to walk through the cave and outside to see a bronze dragon statue that breathed fire every few minutes. From here we could see the Vistula river and the Kosciuzko mound in the distance (can anyone tell me why we have a mountain named after him???).
Walked back up the hill and joined our tour. I had great difficulty understanding the guide so didn't get all that much out of it to be honest. But the rooms were nice once again. Whilst in here a huge thunderstorm started, the thunder was so loud! The rain pelted down. Luckily we had brought our umbrellas (which ironically we had used as sun shades at Auschwitz yesterday!) so we walked back to the apartment without getting too wet.
Had a rest and then walked to the station to suss out the airport bus for tmro. Mum and I are catching it at 3.08am (CRINGE). We have a huge day of travel ahead of us getting to Denmark. Here's what it's going to be like:
6.30am flight Krakow - Berlin
8.50am flight Berlin - Gothenburg (Sweden)
12 noon boat Gothenburg - Frederikshavn (Denmark)
Train Frederikshavn - Skagen
I feel tired thinking about it - let along the 2.15am get up in just over 4 hours!!!! Dad goes home tmro and his first plane leaves 2pm our time. So it's just the girls from here on in!
After checking out the bus mum and I did some shopping. Bought a cheap skirt and a T-shirt to wear to the water park in Dubai as it will be Ramadan when we go and you have to cover up.
Tonight we again had dinner in the square but at a different restaurant. I had a Polish plate full of various Polish delicacies! Afterwards we did some more souvenir shopping. Oops - I bought a beautiful wooden jewellery box. Think I'll be living in a cardboard box on the street in London next year at this rate!! The man at the shop was so lovely and it turned out he had met Pope John Paul II twice in his life and shaken his hand. So he touched my face and told me my face was now blessed! Haha. Then we had another ice cream!
Have absolutely loved Poland. Fascinating but sad history, wonderful people and great attractions and food!! Bring on Denmark - which mum keeps laughing at me for because I keep calling it 'the motherland' due to our family history!!
See you in Denmark!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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