 |
We bought pretzels from this vendor outside the Krakow train station, and took the bus for Wielicksa. |
 |
We visited a 700-year-old salt mine outside Krakow, one of the UNESCO list of historic places of the world. This elf and those behind him are carved from salt. Jashka tasted the walls to make sure -- they were all of salt. We were in a room where Copernicus had visited hundreds of years ago. |
 |
Ola (with the red headband) bought pressed sheep's milk cheese from these mountain people. The cheese is pressed into firm balls the size and shape of a lemon. We nibbled it as we walked across the central square. |
 |
Here we are at St. Florian's gate, one of the original gates in the medieval walls of the city. You can see the red of Ola's headband and Jashka's jacket. |
 |
Old and Jashka fed the birds in the Main Market while Karol and I made phone calls to finalize arrangements with the VHL families we were going to visit in the Krakow area. |
 |
We traveled outside Krakow to meet and stay with a VHL family. This is the town square in one of the outlying towns. That big building across the square is a bank. |
 |
This is the near right corner of that same town square. The small building that looks like a bus shelter is another small store. |
 |
This is Theresa (standing), who has VHL. Her daughter Margaret is holding Jashka. Margaret kept him occupied while we talked with Theresa and her husband and another family who came to visit us at Theresa's house. Either Karol or Ola stayed with me all the time, helping with translation. |
 |
This is one of the oldest houses I saw along the road. The new houses were of concrete blocks, often with unfinished exteriors, even though they had been occupied for 20 years. |
 |
This is one of the newer buildings near the city. It is typical of construction under the socialist regime, though with more color than usual -- very plain, utilitarian buildings, mostly concrete block or stucco, mostly gray. We visited another VHL family in an apartment near here.
After dinner with a friend of theirs, I took the overnight train at 10:30, headed back to Germany. 24 hours later, I arrived in Stuttgart. |
