International Messengers always schedules one day of sightseeing for the American teams that go over there, and so on Saturday after the week of presentations and before the English workshop, we took the train to Krakow. It was about a three hour train ride, so we had to be at the train station a little before 7:00, which meant we had to leave the apartment a little after 6:00. To give us a some extra energy, we stopped at the bakery at the train station before we left.
Overall, the Polish pastries and desserts are not as sweet as ours. I'm sure it's healthier, but I really prefer our sugar tradition here in America. :-)
Such a tough decision!
I got one of the
panczkes in the upper right corner. They had chocolate inside and a toffee glaze. The lady behind the counter emphasized that they were "really, really sweet" when I asked (through Bob) what they were. For those of you who know my sweet tooth, you know that it takes a lot for something to be too sweet for me, and this was far from it. It was still good, and I wouldn't refuse another one anytime!
Our train. It was older, I think, but comfortable enough.
This is not the most flattering picture of me ever taken, but I think the lights look cool above our heads. Each cabin could seat 8 people, so we divided between two of them. Even though it was a long ride early in the morning, it was another great time to connect with each other as a team.
We got off the train in Krakow and walked to the square. This is the original city gate.
Some streets are off limits to cars, which is very nice.
This is the big church on the square. If I remember right, the first time I was in Krakow 4 years ago, we went to a church service here. It was a good experience, but the 2 hour service (completely in Polish obviously) spoken by a very monotone priest was rather lost on the very jet-lagged Americans.
Every hour, a bugler comes out in the tower, and plays a little ditty to the north, east, south, and west. But he always cuts off abruptly at the end (all four times), because the story is that when a bugler was sounding the alarm from the tower that the city was being attacked, he was shot with an arrow in the throat, which puts a slight damper on finishing the piece with a flourish.
The square. We did most of our
souvenir shopping inside the building on the right. It is under construction right now, but there is an open hall with booths all along full of any Polish things you could want.
Another street around the square.
We also went into this store that sold Christmas ornaments, all of them made or at least painted in Poland. I was SO tempted to take home half the store, but I was concerned about them getting broken on they way. They were all so pretty.
Overall, the Polish pastries and desserts are not as sweet as ours. I'm sure it's healthier, but I really prefer our sugar tradition here in America. :-)
Such a tough decision!
I got one of the panczkes in the upper right corner. They had chocolate inside and a toffee glaze. The lady behind the counter emphasized that they were "really, really sweet" when I asked (through Bob) what they were. For those of you who know my sweet tooth, you know that it takes a lot for something to be too sweet for me, and this was far from it. It was still good, and I wouldn't refuse another one anytime!
Our train. It was older, I think, but comfortable enough.
This is not the most flattering picture of me ever taken, but I think the lights look cool above our heads. Each cabin could seat 8 people, so we divided between two of them. Even though it was a long ride early in the morning, it was another great time to connect with each other as a team.
We got off the train in Krakow and walked to the square. This is the original city gate.
Some streets are off limits to cars, which is very nice.
This is the big church on the square. If I remember right, the first time I was in Krakow 4 years ago, we went to a church service here. It was a good experience, but the 2 hour service (completely in Polish obviously) spoken by a very monotone priest was rather lost on the very jet-lagged Americans.
Every hour, a bugler comes out in the tower, and plays a little ditty to the north, east, south, and west. But he always cuts off abruptly at the end (all four times), because the story is that when a bugler was sounding the alarm from the tower that the city was being attacked, he was shot with an arrow in the throat, which puts a slight damper on finishing the piece with a flourish.
The square. We did most of our souvenir shopping inside the building on the right. It is under construction right now, but there is an open hall with booths all along full of any Polish things you could want.
Another street around the square.
We also went into this store that sold Christmas ornaments, all of them made or at least painted in Poland. I was SO tempted to take home half the store, but I was concerned about them getting broken on they way. They were all so pretty.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing so many pictures and stories about Poland! It's been so fun to hear about and see the places you've been while you were gone!
~Eliza
Wow! Why don't we have buildings like that?! I think I would actually prefer their pastries, wouldn't you guess? Thanks for sharing through your blog.
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