My Parents & Poland!

My parents arrived in Poland late on Thursday afternoon. We settled in at the apartment, took a walk around the block, and ate dinner. I'd gone out to the neighborhood stores about three times that morning to pick up essentials. I picked up a six pack of water, some dessert, and essentials - train snacks, dinner, etc.

So, the next morning, I made pancakes before we headed to the train station for our trip to (dun dun dun) KRAKOW!

Friday afternoon, we ate dinner on the rynek and had an early evening with a bottle of wine.

The next morning, we woke up early to head to ... WIELICZKA. Unfortunately, the salt mine at Wieliczka is not as cool the second time. Some of the wonder really wears off. The steps downstairs were quite a bit. I didn't realize it at the time, but the next morning, I could feel it!

Anyway, the salt figures are pretty nifty. The fact that miners did all these carvings themselves is so awesome. I love the whole kitschy tourist trap thing. Once, I met a man who works at the Smithsonian who had been a professor in Lodz on a Fulbright. He told me that he hated Wieliczka. I think that was the moment that I lost his respect. At the same time, I'm not sure I care for people who don't have a sense of humor.

The above picture is of St. Kinga - the Hungarian princess who brought salt to Poland. The legend has it that she threw her engagement ring into a mine of sorts back in Hungary. When she came to Poland, they found salt and her engagement ring. Huzzah! Salt was super important at the time. The miners would be paid in salt, even. It was the way they preserved food. I never fully appreciated how important things like salt are. It makes sense to have salt and bread as the traditional Polish wedding gifts.

Mom & Dad hanging out in front of the requisite state of JPII. The only salt statue of JPII in existance. (Challenge accepted.)

When we got back to Krakow, we ate an absolutely delicious lunch before we headed to Wawel. We toured the royal apartments and the cathedral and walked around the complex. (A scale model of which is below!)

The next AM, my "cousin" Marcin picked us up and took us to Lekawica where we hung out with some of my Polish family (below). They're pretty cool. They're the ones I stayed with in 2010. With the language barrier, there was some awkwardness. But it was all resolved with bimber (Polish homemade booze - I think), kittens and puppies, and lots of Polish food (including homemade kielbasa).

Then Marcin picked us up and took us to visit with his family. Marcin was a great translator, and things were much less awkward than with the other family. There were some weird moments. Like when my "aunt" asked me if I'd tried marriage. Then commented that my other "cousin" was going to a wedding in Zakopane soon. She suggested that I should go with him... He knows some English, but he refused to speak it. At least I tried to speak Polish - very poorly!