Krakow, Poland - September 2007

We only had one full day to enjoy Krakow and on that day we were graced with a torrential downpour of rain. Even through the wall of water we could tell that Krakow was a very charming city. The Old Town square had a huge covered market where the locals were selling all types of crystal, jewelry, and carved wooden objects. While I browsed the "junk stores" as Cassidy calls them, he took some time to catch up on emails. I managed to take a couple of pictures of the square during a short break in the downpour.

Due to the rain (or our developing drinking problem) we headed to an Irish bar and tried out Zyweic, one of the favorite local Polish beers. There was a large group of Irishmen sitting near us having a "discussion". I didn't know the word 'fuck' could be used so many times and still sound like a word. Also, they were yelling the whole time, but it really appeared to be a friendly conversation. Cassidy and I continued our Uno game and that caught their attention. They had never heard of the game and one of the guys asked Cassidy - "is this a game you play to keep her occupied so you don't have to talk to her anymore?". Sounds mean, but it was all in good fun. One of them came over to play Uno and another told us about getting married in Central Park while holding an American flag (he REALLY likes us Americans), along with offering some non-PC advice on how to handle Iraq.

After quite some time we said goodbye to our friends and walked past Wawel Castle before heading to dinner. It was closed to visitors so we just did a quick loop around to see it from the outside. It was nice, but compared to the other castles we had seen in this trip, we weren't awed by it. Then again, that impression could also be due to our afternoon of drinking and the rain.

Dinner...so we were fully prepared to find a place that served traditional Polish food. This plan was ditched after Cassidy spotted a Pizza Hut. We both reminisce about the days of Pizza Hut lunch buffets (seriously, is there anything better?) and we decided to see if Pizza Hut in Poland could live up to our memories. Oh it did. Let me tell you something else, it was a packed house in there so we weren't the only ones seeking shelter in the Hut.

We really did do a lot of walking around the city and I wish I had more to show for it in terms of pictures. Krakow was enjoyable and I would love to go back again during good weather to explore it a little more. Here are some pictures of us throughout the day. Please note Cassidy's umbrella. Yes, we should have bought a new one but the fits of uncontrollable laughter that this provided me were worth him getting a little bit wet. Also...can anyone tell me what the street sign below means? No holding kids' hands? It was posted on a sidewalk and we cannot figure it out.