Day 2 in Krakow. Not so bad. We had a very lazy morning because we weren’t really looking forward to our sight-seeing options. We decided to hop on a bus and go to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Besides trying to figure out where the bus stops were, which direction they were going and where you were supposed to get off–it was okay. I found myself saying a little prayer that people spoke at least German. No one did. I am much more capable and confident in speaking German than I realized.
The mines were so great! They were started in the 1200s and go hundreds of meters deep. We went as low as the third level of nine and were 300 meters underground. (800 steps 🙂 ) Miners had made sculptures of gnomes and other miners and world leaders and even Christ figures. A whole cathedral all carved out of salt! It was amazing! We had a great guide and had a lot of fun.
We spent the evening walking around the Old Town and eating hearty Polish cuisine–lots of cabbage. I got to try Borsch (a beet soup) and I liked it. We especially got a kick out of the ramekins of goose lard they would bring to the table with bread. Not too bad. We found some amber jewelry and laughed about how dumb it was that you had to pay to visit their church in the old square–it was very typical of our experience. We visited the former Jewish district. A small part of it was really nice but the majority of it looked plain scary.