Shinglers List, Modern art and a side of tacos

First full day in Krakow, after 9 hours of sleep and an hour of yoga, I headed downstairs for breakfast in the cellar - will try and get a picture tomorrow as the room is very cool.  

My guidebook said the typical Polish breakfast is coffee and a cigarette, so wasn't sure what to expect.  It was breads, cheeses - lots of cheese, sliced meats, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and yogurt. I was offered scrambled eggs, but I had just dropped a big piece of cheese of the floor and was discretely sliding it under the tablecloth, so I said no thank you.

After breakfast, I headed off to Oscar Shindler's factory and arrived about 3 minutes before it opened.  There was this really obnoxious deaf tour group in front of me, that clearly didn't like one another as they kept flailing their arms around at each other in gestures that really needed no interpretation.  So I skipped the first few rooms and then I was on my own.

It's an incredible museum that tells the whole story of the war in Krakow.  The exhibits are expertly done and combine sounds and textures to tell the story.  For example the last room had a soft sponge rubber floor.  I stepped in and then stepped out; it made me uncomfortable.  The exhibits in the room were in small boxes and they were personal items of people that didn't make it through the war... a toy horse, a lace fan, and pair of spectacles.  

Without being too heavy, Krakow has been through a lot.  Before the war, a quarter of the population, 65,000 people, were Jewish; after the war, only a few thousand survived and only 200 live here today.  After the war, they were ruled by Russia.  This beautiful city was not appreciated because they weren't allowed to congregate and should be at home resting because a rested worker, works harder.  

They are crazy religious - which I guess makes sense given their history. I read this great story about a man recollecting Christmas during communism and how they were the best memories he had because everyone had time for one another and things were truly special - like the oranges from Cuba.  It does make you think.

It was a great museum, a gift I will not forget.

After this, I went to the modern art museum that was right next door.  There was some really wonderful and really awful art in here.  The video art rarely appeals to me, and this was no exception.  

There was a noose made out of dollars bills and a very tall slim cylinder made out of dollar bills, both of these cast a long shadow...get it?!?

I had a small rest and a piece of 'apple pie.' It was really dry, in a good way. 

I blogged a bit and admired the sunshine - the difference from yesterday was fairly shocking.  On the way back to the hotel, I wandered through the Jewish quarter and into the oldest cemetery and synagogue.  

Many of the Jewish building were desecrated during the war, and this was no different.  The cemetery has been rebuilt, so it is really not a cemetery, but a representation of a cemetery. The headstone bits that were too small were used to make a wall.

I dropped off my parcels and rested my feet before heading toward the square.  I heard the Hey Now, which is not how it is spelled, but it is how it is said and it's a bugler that plays a partial song every hour and on the hour from the tower.  

These guys are actually firemen first and buglers second.  They work a 24 hour shift every 3 days and pull fire watch and bugle duty.  They cut the song off in the middle because the legend says a bugler was shot in the neck by the Taters - the Taters did lots of bad thing to Krakow  - and so now they do that every time, but the other part of the legend is that a journalist - spit on the floor - made this story up.

I wander outside of the square in search of a family of real Mexicans that had opened a restaurant.  I had an early dinner of pork tacos, and they were worth every bite.  I spent the rest of the evening watching the sun go down and families, lovers, and friends walk by me.  

There was even a sing along where the police handed out the song books!  It was a very good day to be in Krakow.