Krakow
I just can’t begin to describe my holiday in Krakow. I think I’ll let Jez’s flickr stream do it for me. Just click the photo. My photos will probably arrive in installments, once flickr decides it’s heard of me!
It stopped raining for about four hours the whole time we were in Krakow. However this didn’t stop us from having an amazing time. We were staying in a rather bohemian hotel in Kasimierz, the old Jewish quarter, which is out of the main part of the city. There were lots of synagogues, restaurants and cafés to go in and hide from the rain.
One of our favourite cafés in the world is now "Singer", where the tables are old Singer sewing machine tables, the mirrors and pictures on the wall are delapidated, and candles light up the dark décor. At night however, a young crowd come and dance to Gypsy Kings (which brought back memories of our first date) and the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Jez said it would take a lot of alcohol for him to get up and dance. So a lot of alcohol later, we finally danced together in Krakow! Neither of us has any co-ordination or sense of rhythm, but it was still a great experience!
Another favourite hangout is Alchemia club, where the music is extremely varied and for the most part very good, the décor is just quirky, and the drinks are Samoobsluga - almost the same as my favourite Czech word for self-service!
And another lovely café / restaurant we went in for hot chocolate / hot mead / Jewish cuisine was called Once Upon A Time In Kasimierz. It was the interior of four former shops: a grocer, a woodworker, a dressmaker and another tradesman but I can’t remember what, sorry. The restaurant is in four small sections, so around one table there is a sewing machine, a tailor’s dummy, hat boxes and tails jackets, then another section has a carpenter’s workbench, etc etc. It is truly lovely.
And the quirkiest restaurant round there? Klezmer Hois! Where we ate a three course meal (enough for a food hangover) whilst listening to live Klezmer music. We also had lots of apperfitifs, liquers, beers, wines and the most disgusting "cake kiss" in the world. It was just Perfect!
And all of these places were just five minutes from our hotel!
We went out of the city twice. Once was to the salt mines about half and hour away - well worth a visit, despite the rain. The other trip was to Auschwitz. I don’t really want to describe how I felt when I went there. I will just say that it was harrowing and I’m glad I saw it. You can see the photos.
We could have spent a week just in Kasimierz, but we managed to get into town and see the castle and various churches and monuments, and also the Photography museum which you really shouldn’t bother going to!
Jez took Polish classes many many years ago, and manages to say "I’m sorry, my Polish is not very good" so well that people just assume he’s being modest and speak Polish back. I just kept speaking Czech accidentally - to waitresses, taxi drivers - and I asked Jez, "do you think they’re laughing at my Czech?"
"No," he said, "they just think you’re speaking shit Polish."
"Well," I said, "I managed to speak shit Czech for three months and get away with it!"
His response:
"Ah yes, Operation Shit Czech is alive and well!"
Jez, I love you. Thanks for a brilliant holiday xxx
I am *so* glad you saw the salt mines, did you really like them? Me & my best friend got stuck in the lift coming back up, I’ll show you the video when I see you next. So freakin’ funny.
I’m glad you had such a nice time, Krakow is amazing
Comment by mags — September 10, 2007 @ 11:17 pm
Happy to hear you had a great time in Krakow! It is really a lovely place to visit and it sounds like the two of you discovered some amazing places. And then the salt mines on top of that! I really did like the salt mines…had to check if that great hall was really made of salt, so I licked the wall.
Comment by Kinuk — September 11, 2007 @ 7:08 am
Great pics! Glad you had a lovely time!
Are you sticking around on this blog after all?
Comment by concertmaster — September 11, 2007 @ 9:33 am
Mags, I cannot wait to see the video of that!
Kinuk, I never thought of doing that! I did think of you in the chapel there, and take a picture of some water I drank that had your name on it!
Maestro, I’m sticking round here til I have the time to set up a new blog, at least.
Comment by missdespina — September 11, 2007 @ 10:24 am
I loved Krakow nearly as much as I loved Warsaw. I used to stay in the Saski off the town square and have pierogi ruskie in Hawelka. Thanks for reminding me….btw- I might see you and Jez at Christmas as I will be skulking around Richmond at some point! :))
Comment by Anne — September 11, 2007 @ 11:41 am
Sounds like a fab holiday! Glad you’re blogging again :-)
Comment by Stratford Girl — September 11, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
Krakow sounds wonderful. I really love the idea of the Singer cafe, sounds such a cool concept
Comment by sugar007 — September 11, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
Darling, your trip in Kracow sounds fabulous! The pictures are fascinating and make me ready to go there!
Baci
Comment by Saffron — September 11, 2007 @ 1:00 pm
Anne - I am missing those pierogi ruskie! We were lucky enough to get a table at Pod Aniolami one night, and I can see why their pierogi are prize-winning! But I have to say they’re amazing wherever you buy them from.
We should be going to Warsaw sometime, maybe after my friend’s wedding in Prague next May, because Jez has a few friends there. I would love to hear a concert there!
We won’t be in Richmond at Christmas, as Jez’s parents have sold up there, and we live in Manchester - what a bummer! If we’re passing through though, I’ll send you an email of course!
Comment by missdespina — September 11, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
SG - I need to follow your example and do some serious blog pimping!
Sugar - Krakow is simply gorgeous! I think you’d love the nightlife there. It would probably take you about 20 hours to get there with Student Agency though :(
Saffron - they’re all my boyfriend’s photos, although mine will be up soon, I hope. Thanks for the compliment x
Comment by missdespina — September 11, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
It sounds like a fab place.
We will visit one day.
And when we do we will find Singer.
x
Comment by Jo Beaufoix — September 14, 2007 @ 8:52 pm