Day 12 - Last Day in Krakow

Our last day in Krakow was not as exciting as our other days. We spent the morning getting ready and packing our stuff up. We finally tried the “Kebabs” we had seen advertised in little shops everywhere – more like a pita filled with stuff. We thought they were pretty good.



The Australian couple we had met the day before had recommended a bike tour of Krakow with a guide. It was rated the #1 thing to do in Krakow on Trip Advisor and the description online seemed like something we wanted to do. So we showed up at the place at 1 and they were very full. They weren’t sure if there were going to be enough bikes for us but there ended up being enough.

Overall, we weren’t entirely sure if it was worth the money we paid for it, but it was a nice experience. We really enjoyed the bike riding and actually wished we got to do more of that. We’re hoping in another city we’ll be able to find a place to rent bikes and see the city that way. Our tour guide was a very proud, opinionated Pole. At every stop we made, he talked forever and repeated himself a lot. At one point, a Polish lady came up and told him to stop telling us all lies! They had a little round of arguments in the square with us all looking in. She heckled him and told him he shouldn't swindle the tourists. His version of history was too slanted for her. The tour ended an hour late – luckily, just in time for our dinner reservations! We learned a bit moe about Polish history and were surprised that we had already seen most of the important sights that he hilighted. After the tour we felt like we had really seen most everything Krakow had to offer. The tour showed us some of the Jewish Quarter, Kazimierz - something we hadn't really been to yet even though that's where our hotel was located. We didn't see as much as we would have liked (We wanted to see the Jewish Cemetary) but we did get a good Polish-Jewish history lesson. In Prague, there is an excellent Jewish quarter so we will explore that.

We did well in Krakow, feeling very comfortable there and sure that we had visited the most important sights - but we were a little worried about Prague and Vienna without our Rick Steve's Eastern Europe book as a guide. Our "lonely planet" replacement book was so bad it made us feel like we were "alone" on the planet. Still.. . .. the adventure must go on.

Old Jewish Synagogue


Schindler's Factory - I haven't seen the movie but now I guess I have to.


Old Jewish Ghetto wall


We ate dinner a great little place called Miod Malina – Honey Rapsberry in English. Our favorite part was the apple pie – beautiful and delicious! It would have passed for an apple cake in our culture. I also tried potatoe dumplings - kind of plain but ok. After dinner, we headed to another classical concert where we heard Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed by a Chamber Orchestra in St. Peter and Paul's church or was it a cathedral? I don't remember now. The performance was actually being recorded for a DVD and I was sitting next to the Priest. Everytime I looked at the camera to the right of us it was pointed in our direction! I have a feeling that we will be known as the American Scrubs sitting next to the Priest in this video. Kristy left her email address so we could get a copy of the DVD when it comes out.



Following the concert, we had Bob the Taxi Driver come pick us up again. Once again, he was lots of fun and he had a different mission this time! He took us to the train station for our night train to Prague! He took great care of us, actually walked us to the train platform, made sure we got onto correct car and compartment, communicated with our cabin attendant, and waited around until he felt comfortable about leaving us alone. He said there were lots of gypsies and thieves in stations and he wanted us to be safe. He was really nice and helped us so much! What a great guy with a very colorful Polish personality.

Bob (James Bond) and I (Do you think he looks like Daniel Craig - only a few pounds heavier?)


Our night train was an experience. We purchased second class couchette tickets from a Pole who spoke broken English the day we arrived in Krakow. These couchettes were interesting. We had been hoping for a little more private bed-type compartment, but these were second class, not first class. We thought about upgrading but decided to just stick it out for the adventure. These couchettes slept 6 people. Luckily, everyone that joined us in our compartment were English-speaking backpackers. The first 3 Shane, R.J., and Patrick were really nice young men (mid to late 20's probably) but the other guy Adam was a little sketchy - he got on the train with a six pack of beers and no intention of really sleeping. Luckily, he found his way to another compartment for most of the night. Overall, the guys were really nice, made some great company, and helped us out quite a bit. R.J. was especially attentive to us. He was from the South and ex-marine core - a real gentleman who looked out for us. I slept through the night but Kristy was not so lucky, she was awake for most of the trip. During the night her feet were cold - so she reached into the top front zipper compartment of her suitcase, in the middle of the night she felt a book . .. she hadn't put a book in there and so curious - she pulled it out and in the light coming through the train window about 4am she could see that it was our Rick Steve's book - showing up just in time to guide us in Prague! We arrived in Prague this morning at 7, and a taxi driver picked us up and took us to our hotel. There was some trouble finding him as the station was under construction. When we arrived at the hotel about 7:30am, our room was ready for us and so I got to sleep some more and my Mom finally got a few hours rest! It was great and very needed before we started exploring Prague!

Our Couchette



The middle "board" folded down to make a third bed between the bottom and top ones.