Dzien Dobry --

Greetings from a cool, overcast Krakow.  While we have been lucky enough to have avoided rain during our trip, I fear our luck may be running out.  However, it is nice and cool -- I would certainly not trade that for a hot, humid sunny day.  I'll take this weather any day!

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day in Krakow.  We hung out most of the day, choosing to spend some quality time over a glass of beer at a comfortable outdoor cafe at the Rynek Glowny, watching the world go by.  What a great place to people watch!  Couples strolling arm in arm; groups of young people, all dressed up for church, laughing and running their way through the square; young parents pushing strollers holding kids and their assorted purchases of toys and balloons; retired couples, hand in hand, grasping newly purchased flowers from the market, enjoying a beautiful day; proud old men, wearing perhaps their only nice pair of pants and ragged sport coats, soaking up the energy emanating from the square.  Sunday appears to be the one day of the week where the locals overrun the tourists and take back the square for themselves.

While we were relaxing on the square, we heard quite the ruckus on the other side of the square.  Loud music, singing, pounding on trash cans, colored smoke, and more.  We decided to check it out.  It was a small parade, headed by a guy with long hair walking on stilts.  There were approximately 60+ people (mostly young people in their early 20s), walking, dancing, riding bicycles, rollerblading, etc., wearing white paper coveralls over their clothes, with their faces painted.  Behind them was a small truck pulling a wagon full of people pounding on big oil drums to the beat of loud music played on speakers.  Behind the wagon was a small train, pulling a few cars with young people in them.  You will never guess what it was -- it was an advertisement for a pharmaceutical company!!  They were advertising a new product called 'Immunal'.  It is a pill you take, when you are healthy, to help with your immune system to make sure you remain healthy.  Pretty ingenious -- take a pill when you feel well. Hey, it must be working, I feel fine!!  Anyway, every so often this little parade would stop, the participants would light sparklers and different colored flares, the loudspeakers would play an explanation of the product, and then the music would start again, along with the accompaniment of the drumming.  It was brilliant.  It certainly got everyone's attention, and the kids riding their bicycles and rollerblades through the square were very effective in handing out the literature for Immunal.  We have never seen such a spectacle.

As stated before, Sundays take on a whole different pace (except for the advertising parade, of course).  People are dressed in, literally, their 'Sunday Best'.  The main square and the outlying streets is the busy area for the day.  The folks here seem to enjoy the slower pace of the day, taking time for a stroll.  Most of the stores are closed, and the restaurants are quiet (certainly quite different from the busy, hectic scene on a Saturday night). 

Now, on Monday morning, things are back to the 'busy' life.  The streets are bustling with cars, and pedestrians hurry their way to work.  Outside of my window, two men have put out some orange traffic cones, and are painting lines on the street to acknowledge a no-parking zone.  They are using a can of paint and two paint brushes.  No guides, no sprayers, nothing.  Just them and their brushes, painting on the pavement.

Prior to dinner last night, we walked to the square and noticed a small stage set up near the tower.  There were groups from the mountains in Southern Poland (Zakopane) performing traditional folk singing and dancing.  They were in full costume, singing Polish folk songs (we guessed that most of the songs were in reference to some form of vodka!), dancing traditional dances, and playing violins, accordions, etc.  It was great!  We did not think we would have a chance to see this during our time in Poland, but for about 45 minutes, we enjoyed a great show.

Dinner last night was great.  We went to a small restaurant, which was very quiet (us and maybe 2-3 other parties).  I enjoyed a great potato soup and some kielbasa (first kielbasa after 4 days in Poland).  Dad had fried pierogis. After dinner, we walked around the square and stopped at a t-shirt/gift shop that was still open (perhaps the only store still open at night) to buy a t-shirt for Lukasz, as a thank-you for helping translate for us. We returned to the hotel and watched a bit of television – it has CNBC, which was showing re-runs of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

Here are a few other observations that I have (hope this is not too boring for you):

- Noticed quite a bit of grafitti on some buildings here -- much of it in English.
- There seem to be many Americans who have moved to Krakow (perhaps the new 'Prague' for artists).
- I was sitting next to a woman in a cafe, and she had the same Polish/English book that I have.  I commented on it to her, she smiled, and said something to me in German.  HA!  She, being German, is using an English-to-Polish language book.
- Flowers hold a very important role in Polish society.  The flower markets are many and very popular.  We will try to get some flowers prior to going to the relative’s homes, as it seems to be the proper greeting when visiting family or friends.
- We have been drinking bottled water.  A 1.5 liter bottle of water costs about 2.2 zloty, which is approx. 65 cents.
- Waiting in line at a store can be an interesting, and frustrating, experience. People do not so much wait in line, but rather do whatever they can to get to the front. Cutting in front of people seems to be the norm. They are not necessarily impolite – they just don’t wait in lines.

Well, that is all for now. We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Metropolitan restaurant. I am going to miss our nice breakfasts and interesting rides up and down the old cage elevator.  Lukasz and his uncle are meeting us at the hotel in 30 minutes.  This begins the interesting part of the trip.  We have no idea what we are in for, nor know what to expect.  It will be very interesting meeting the family, seeing their homes, visiting their village, seeing their church and school, and trying to communicate.  We should have some great stories.

Will send an update when we have access to a computer (not sure when that will happen).