Krakow

Wow. I did not know Poland could be so cool. I mean, I spent so much of my childhood trying to hide the fact that we were Polish (you know, all the Polish jokes, mom and dad spoke with a funny accent, it was uncool to be "different"). And of course, I eventually embraced the uniqueness of being first generation American, and began to appreciate being able to speak a second language fluently without having to struggle with learning verb congugation. But my visit here to Krakow transcends all of that. Krakow is just plain cool, amazing, awesome, you name it. It is unbelievably cosmopolitan and bohemian all at the same time. It has a vibe. It is "European" and shi-shi, without being full of itself. I am now embracing my heritage like never before (though apparently I've let my Polish get rusty enough that most Krakowians respond to me in English after I speak to them in Polish!)

The city is home to over 170,000 university students, and the cafe/restaurant/night life scene seem to reflect that... and actually, probably reflect more of the tourism industry which apparently is doubling year after year. It is truly amazing to walk into establishments that could be found in the heart of NYC or Chicago or any other major city. I guess that is capitalism and marketing at work - pretty powerful stuff, I tell you. I still remember visiting Poland in the second grade while it was still under communist rule -- everything was so gray, and the shelves in the stores were all empty as people waited in long lines with ration tickets. Much different today, though I wonder who is now paying the price (the street peddlers, homeless, those unable to take advantage of new times and economies, etc). What an interesting world we live in.

We are staying in a very neat apartment/room rental place just a few minutes walk outside of the city square. The couple that owns this is very nice, and they have been incredibly helpful. They are setting us up with a babysitter tomarrow night (one that watches their own son) so that Andy and I can have a night out on the town. We'll update you more on that later :)

In any case, enough of my babble... let me show you some pictures of this enchanted place.

Rynek Glowny (Main city square)

Palac Krolewski (Wawel Castle)

Needless to say, we've all fallen in love with this city.