September 25, 2015

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin

Up and at ‘em for a new adventure this morning.  We have a 5:00 AM wakeup with a quickie breakfast finishing up whatever is left in the house and out the door at 6:30.  We are using Uber for the first time and it is pretty slick.  They use all cabs here which is fine with us since we don’t have to wonder if there will be an Uber driver out and about at this hour.

We’re in plenty of time for our 8:50 flight to Krakow, Poland.  We have arranged a pick-up through our B&B in Krakow and a fellow is there with a nice Citroen for our half hour drive into the Old Town area.  We’re staying at Tango House which has the unusual distinction of being recommended by Rick Steves as well as being highly rated on Tripadvisor.  The building is ancient and the story is that it has a history as a Roman Bathhouse.  Our rooms aren’t ready (expected, it’s only 11:00 AM) but we drop the luggage and get lunch recommendations.

We start with a stroll around the Old Town Square.  The buildings are uniquely historic and the square is packed with easy-up vendors and food stands.  There are pierogis, pork knuckles, little cheese pies and pastries of all sorts.  All the outdoor tables are filled which requires us to find a sit-down restaurant for lunch.  We look at both of the places our hosts told us about and just pick one.  It seems like a lot of food to be eating at lunch but for 27 Zlotis (about 6 bucks) the prices seem fair.

John and Pat both have Buckwheat dishes, Pat’s topped with goulasch and John’s topped with chicken and mushrooms and both are served with red cabbage, cold green cabbage, horseradish and a cheese sauce.  Mary has the goulasch in a bread bowl (she borrows some horseradish from Pat) and we are all overstuffed when we leave.

We shouldn’t have mentioned the sunshine yesterday because it has now jinxed today.  The rain is starting to come down and it looks like it will continue for at least 36 hours.  These soakers are getting a little sickening.  Why doesn’t it just storm and get it over with.  We do wander a bit and visit the Benedictine Basilica.  It’s a real working church with a line for confession. We stay out as long as we can and now it is time to get checked in to our rooms anyway.  The two skinny young girls working the desk haul the biggest of our suitcases up the 56 steps to our rooms.  We’re glad to see them puffing instead of us. There are murals painted on the stairway ceiling, apparently from the Roman bath days.

The rain is discouraging which forces us to our rooms for a couple hours.  After a rest-up we decide to tackle it again despite the continuing wet weather.  We mill around the square and the place is busy with umbrellas, ponchos and just plain wet people.  It is Friday night in Krakow which has become a party destination for western Europeans who can get here with cheap airfare and find 1-euro beers and 5-euro meals. There were a dozen ladies on our plane this morning, all probably somewhere in their 50’s who were coifed and ready for a getaway.  Mary thought it might be a group facelift.  Catty.  Those who made their way here for the fun aren’t going to sit in their rooms, but sooner or later they will find a bar with cheap vodka shots and beers.

There are a couple major stages on opposite sides of the square. It sounds like a cliché but one has a polka band with lots of people bouncing up and down in the rain.  It just feels right like a ukulele feels right in Hawaii or a mariachi band is great in Mexico.  With rain gear and umbrellas it would seem we could be full participants in the fun but the cold and damp works its way into these old bones and it wears us down.

We don’t have a destination in mind for dinner tonight and at this stage we’re not going to be choosy.  We opt for warm and dry.  The restaurants are busy as expected but we snare a table right off the square at Apertif.  Pat has the usual rum & coke while John & Mary splurge with a $25 bottle of wine. John tries to order a $29 French St. Emilian red but our server insists that the cheaper wine is the better wine.  The first taste would indicate otherwise but maybe it needs to breathe.  The server obviously knows where the profits lie.  After further discussions with our server (“of course yes but…) John has the veal knuckle with gnocchi, Pat has a pasta with kielbasa and Mary has baked salmon with a vegetable risotto. All of them pretty darn good but dinners are getting quite expensive here—almost $10 apiece.

After we warm up over dinner we think we are brave enough for more time out but it doesn’t last long.  There is nothing happening on the big stage and our only entertainment is watching at the meat stands for a while.  Better than many other forms of entertainment we have tried.  Back to the room to read 6 pages before falling asleep.  Not much hope for tomorrow either.

What did we learn today? Eating Polish food while activity is being restricted by the weather reverses a lot of diet and exercise.