Wow Krakow (Rod)

Hamish and I head out to see the sights of Krakow, but first we aim to play some 10 pin bowling. Hamish is very excited. We find the venue, which is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. We are told that it is downstairs, but won’t open until 2 pm. Never mind, we will do the bus tour first. I have done my research and reckon we get on at stop 9, ride through stops 10-12, and then continue through to stop 4. Here we get for off for some food and a walk through Old Town/Market Square. It’s very busy and interesting. Hamish loves the activity of the Square. When I suggest the central sculpture/statue as a meeting point should we get separated, he makes a point of heading there repeatedly. We eat some local sausage and fries and walk towards stop 5, to continue our journey. Kosciuszce mound looks interesting and we talk about another visit, with Belinda. Hamish slips over and gets his jacket muddy.

The “Wow Krakow” bus trip is okay; it is what it says, although the ‘Wow’ is something of an exaggeration. It’s a mini bus and the view is a bit cramped. It’s really just a way to get around town.

We get off, at our starting point, having done a full lap and head back to the bowling alley, since it is almost 2 pm. We gratefully use their toilet first and are then told that a game is “impossible”, due to a work group (it’s Friday afternoon) having booked out the entire 6 lanes for a “competition”. Hamish is annoyed, but keen to negotiate. “We can be in the competition. You (daddy) are my competition…” No dice. We are told we can come back tomorrow. At least we used the toilet.

 

Wawel Castle (Rod)

I have a couple of hours to kill whilst Belinda and Hamish are at Disney on Ice. I decide to walk towards the Market Square and explore the Castle along the way. There is a constant stream of people walking (mostly) in one direction, up the hill. It’s a bit like an end of the world movie, where all the lost souls seem to feel the need to walk towards god only knows what. This time, though, I am fairly certain we are heading up to the castle grounds. It is spectacular, as are the views back along the river. On the way back I purchase a Kit Kat from a convenience store (which are everywhere here). The shopkeeper refuses 2 of my coins after I had carefully counted out the exact sum. I am befuddled, but on closer look, they appear to be Greek coins. Not allowed and of no value. Somebody has fobbed them off on us, though.

Disney on Ice (Belinda)

Whilst in Berlin, we had seen a poster for Disney on Ice, but my best google searching didn’t turn up anything showing untill 2016. However, on our way back from dinner Friday night, I saw the same poster for Krakow 4- 6 December. I didn’t like our chances, it already being the evening of the 4th. To cut a long story short, after many searches turning up a few tickets in the back row, I managed to find 2 tickets in the front row. This was nothing short of a miracle; our luck was in. Rod took one for the team and I took Hamish Saturday morning. This is without a doubt one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was a look back at 25 years of Disney on Ice, with snippets from Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and the big show stopper: Frozen. When Mickey Mouse skated out and stopped 2 meters from us and waved at Hamish, he was jaw-droppingly overwhelmed. There were bubbles, snow, fireworks, fabulous sets and beautiful costumes. Yes, it was in Polish, but that didn’t make much difference to us, we loved it just the same.

 

Walk to Ghetto (Belinda)

Sunday morning we took advantage of the fabulous weather and walked from our apartment across the river into the area which was the Jewish Ghetto during WW2 (now known as Podgorze). We didn’t really intend to turn this into a Jewish Ghetto tour, but it’s difficult to avoid. There are many sights and monuments dedicated to the Jews who lived and died in the Ghetto. Even the buildings have memorial plaques on them. The town square is lined with rows of oversized chairs – the town square is where people were herded onto trains to take them to concentration/death camps. From here we walked a bit further to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory; this is a museum now, but we were just happy to see it from the outside.

 

Kosciuszce (Belinda)

So it turns out Poland has their own Kosciuszce (that’s Kosciuszko in Australian) which Rod tells me, our Kosci was named for. Who knew these things? Anyway, there is a big hill of about 34m height which is very popular with the locals; you can walk to the top and check out the view. We packed a bit of a picnic lunch and headed out. There is a 1.5m wide footpath all the way to the top and this path winds around the outside of the hill. There is no rail. Hamish and I start heading up and we get to the first crossover point and I see Rod leaning on the hill, holding the grass for support. He is not fond of heights and has vertigo. I suggest he stays at base camp and wait for us to come back. He is more than happy to do so. The view from the top is great, except for the smog in the distance. Hamish calls out to Rod “You can come up now Daddy” – daddy is doing no such thing. We descend and rescue Rod from his safe place, before eating our picnic in the car.

 

Run in with Transit Police (Rod)

Belinda has not been to the Old Town centre to see the markets, etc., so we decide to catch a tram, since Hamish is pretty much over the walking caper. Our receptionist at the hostel is most helpful, telling us where to buy the tickets and which route numbers will work. We duly purchase 3 tickets, although Hamish could probably have travelled free. It’s only 3 or 4 stops and we hop on board for a hassle-free alternative to coaxing Hamish along the footpaths. We are nearing our stop when a couple of loud men hop on, calling out something in Polish, as they bustle towards the front of the tram. A girl sitting near us says they are checking tickets. I make a rookie mistake, suggesting our stop was coming up (which it was) and start to head to the door. My hastiness catches their attention. They ask for our tickets, which we have not validated, due to our ignorance. (They are only valid for 20 minutes from purchase time, which is written on the ticket.) Big Green Pole asks for some ID. I show my licence, which is in my wallet. He does not seem happy with this. Takes me to see the sign, inside the door, saying that tickets must be validated. It’s in English/sign language. He talks about fines, me going with him and is generally most unpleasant. I explain that I am sorry, did not see the validation sign and was not trying to make trouble/evade a fare. He again asks to have my licence. I do not want to lose this, so am reluctant. Big Black Pole explains we do not want to keep the licence, so I hand it over. I get some more attitude but then they return my licence and suggest we get off the tram. No problem; this is our stop. This was all great spectator sport for fellow travellers.

 

We wander around the market before choosing a restaurant. We order tuna pizza for Hamish. Ten minutes later, we are told the temperamental chef (temperamental is, I think, a tautology) has run out of cheese (at a pizza restaurant!) and we decide on gnocchi for the boy. It’s ‘3 cheese gnocchi’ but is apparently still on the agenda. Meals arrive for Belinda and me. Cheese reinforcements then arrive, so tuna pizza is back on. We have finished our meals by the time the pizza arrives, which is annoying, since Hamish takes 3 times as long as us to eat his meals. Never mind, it’s all part of the fun. The fun keeps coming, though, when Belinda is up half the night returning her fish to the water.