July 8, 2012
Thanks to Helise and Magda, who wrote “Free day in Krakow to
relax and explore.” We needed it. Shayna slept until 10:45 am. Rebecca climbed out of bed close to
noon. And now, I have a chance to catch
up on four days of blogs!
I must say that planning this trip took a great deal of
work, numerous Skype calls with Helise, detail after detail after detail.. I write this for a little rachmanut (mercy)
on the fact that spaced when it came to packing shirts… All it took was a pile of T-shirts and I
would have been set. Alas, 5-6 collared
sport shirts, a few button downs for Shabbat and by week 2 of the trip, I was
done. No time for laundry mats with this
itinerary and hotels charge more than it costs to buy the clothes new. ($8 for a pair of socks,
EXCUSSSSSSEEEEEE MEEEEE!).
We’re off to find cheap T-shirts in Krakow.. While you may not consider me a fan of
European football (soccer) or the EuroCup but you may see me jogging around
Marin with one of my several new (on sale because the games ended last week)
EuroCup T-shirts.
(photos when I wear the shirts!)
(photos when I wear the shirts!)
We indulged in one of Krakow’s famed chocolate cafes (I
settled for yoghurt and fruit).
We learned that "lody" means ice cream
We learned that "lody" means ice cream
We walked back to the Jewish Museum of Galicia. It was for each of us a powerful and profound
visit. While the museum has just one
permanent and one temporary exhibit, it is so well done…and so well timed for
the four of us to spend some alone time walking around, reading about the
history of Krakow, then of the Holocaust, and reflecting. Rebecca pulled me over to two images she
found meaningful and troubling. Marci
got a giant dose of reality with the images of Auschwitz. The one that broke my heart….and still haunts
me…was a single line from a young girl to her mom: “When they kill us, mommy, will it
hurt?” Mother’s reply: “No dear, it will
only a take a minute and then it will be over.”
It still pains me…and pisses me off…as I write it now.
Shayna asked each of us to pick our favorite image from their temporary exhibit of a Polish photographer who made aliyah and took pictures of both Warsaw and mandate Palestine.
Shayna asked each of us to pick our favorite image from their temporary exhibit of a Polish photographer who made aliyah and took pictures of both Warsaw and mandate Palestine.
We took in dinner at one of the Jewish restaurants on the
same square that hosted the Jewish Woodstock concert. Happy to say that the prices were on the
menu. Sorry to say the food was overpriced
and not so good. (Someone tell them that
a potato latke shouldn’t look like potato koogle).
We flirted with the idea of a night time boat ride but
instead decided we’d had enough. We went
back to the hotel to pack and get ready for a week’s worth of 1 and 2 nighters
across Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania.
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