May 5 Krakow, Day 2

The weather has really turned, high of 18, and nothing but blue skies. I slept very well, and didn't get up till 9. That never happens at home.

I should relate another interesting little story from my plane trip. I read the duty free magazine, and I was struck by one item. It was an alarm clock. The physical appearance was three dynamite sticks, with a watch attached to the front, and four wires sticking out at the top. It looks very realistic. The idea is that when the alarm goes off, you have to pull one of the wires. One wire does that, two other wires are dummies, and the last starts the whole process again. I can just imagine the reaction of the security people, when you have that in your baggage.

Back to Krakow. Sunshine makes a real difference. The town looks quite beautiful. The entire Old Town is surrounded by a park. It is 2.5 km of trees and footpaths. Today, being Sunday, there are lots of families and couples, just strolling.

Everything is very handy. As I mentioned I am 20 minutes from the train, and bus, station. There is also a very modern mall right next door. It compares favourable to places like Yorkdale. Plus it has a supermarket. I bought stuff for a picnic lunch, bread, cheese, and Krakowski sausage. Beats Indian food, hands down!!Today being Sunday, I decided to visIt some churches. There are a lot of churches in the Old Town. The only type of establishment more common than churches are restaurants. The circumference of the Old Town is 2.5 km, within that space there are 183 eating and drinking establishments. And some have been here since 1800.

To get back to the churches; the St. Mary's Cathedral has a beautiful wooden altar piece, carved in 1489. You can climb to the top of the tower, a combination of stone and wooden steps, 239 of them. It was that or be able to get back to my place. Sanity won out.

Another note worthy church is St. Adalbert, the oldest church in Krakow; built in the 10th century. It is quite small, and sits in the main square. It looks out of place, but historically, it was there first. The other church I saw was St. Francis Basilica, which has some beautiful Art Deco stained glass windows. It's other claim to fame is that it was the church where Pope JohnPaul II was arch bishop, and where he lived on the grounds. Whenever he returned to Poland, that's where he would stay.

I did do a lot of walking today. The weather was perfect, and the people watching was great.

Tomorrow it's off to the salt mines.
By the way 
Nuns         43.  (Okay, today was Sunday)
Muslims      0