The day after Częstochowa, Gigi and I set aside the whole day to explore Kraków. We walked through the main streets, went to the old Jewish section of Kazmierz, and walked the royal grounds of Wawel Castle. Gigi was convinced that everybody in the country was somehow related because she said we all looked alike haha. We had a great time that day though - did some major shopping damage. Although really you can't do too much damage with that amazing conversion rate haha - 4 złoty to one euro. We went out again that night in the main square and barely woke up in time to tour the Salt Mines.
Touring the salt mines at Wieliczka was kind of a last minute decision but it ended up being an awesome one. I have never seen anything quite like them. Their on the UNESCO world heritage site. I think they're still functioning salt mines but the coolest part is all of the underground sculptures and chapels, cause it's Poland and the miners have to pray. The pictures didn't come out as well as I would have wanted but you can still kind of tell what a cool place it was.
The next day, Gigi left me to go back to Florence and I jumped on a bus to Zakopane, a picturesque city in Southern Poland almost on the Slovakian border. I initially wanted to go to Zakopane because it was so close to my family town but ended up having a lot of fun in the town itself. Zakopane is situation right up against the Tatra mountains and is absolutely goregous. It is the winter capital of Poland but is also really popular for hiking and climbing in the summer. It is kind of a touristy city apparently, but not so much touristy for foreigners more so touristy for Polish people. Which made life kind of fun. That and the fact that like no one spoke English haha.
I got into Zakopane around noon, found my hostel, and went on a search for my family town. I ducked into every post office and tourist bureau showing them the pictures Uncle Brian sent me. Based off of those and knowing that it was vaguely south east of Nowy Targ, many awesome helpful people and I figured out it was at or near the town of Leśnica. The rest of the day I just hung around Zakopane, taking a cable car up to see some scenic views, hunting down some Pierogi Ruskie, and buying some cool handcrafted stuff near the mountains.
The next day I had planned to take a rental car out to find Leśnica, but it ended up being a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. The whole no English, being a female by myself thing was making the situation really difficult. So I concluded after an hour or two of struggles that coming back in the summer with another friend might be a better idea. And now that I had a good idea of where the town was I could just rent a car out of Krakow. I did much of the same thing as I did the day before in Zakopane. The raging mountain winds were keeping me up late at night again haha. I have honestly never heard winds like that before. They made the Santa Anas look like a mild Hawaiian breeze. I got up really early the next morning for onemore day in Krakow by myself.
My last day, I went to Mass at Kosciol Mariacki for the last time. It was Palm Sunday and so there was an epically ridiculously amount of people there. Polish church is so crazy. When people kneel/sit/stand... there's no delay. It's like a mass (pardon the pun) army command or something. And none of this standing if you have no pew business. Everybody kneels. No exceptions. In the square there was a ton of stuff going on too. Lots of flowers and dancing and people dressed up in folk costumes. It was really really fun and ultimately really hard to leave. I feel so at home when I'm in Poland - I really feel like I need to find a way to come back in the future. I still miss it but remember it with my awesome pics and 5 foot by 6 foot Polish flag . : )
Miss u all!!!!
-Courtney
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