Krakow, Poland...Day 3

May 6, 2012 - Krakow, Poland - Day 3

Our final day in Krakow, how sad that is.  I really do love this city.  I cannot explain it but there is something about this place.  The outdoor cafes were everywhere.  Jade, Elin, Yolima and myself started our day out with some warm drinks and pastries.  They even had blankets on the chairs if you got chilly, very cool.

My lovely, hot chocolate. Yum!

The street performers were out and about early that morning.  These ones were some of my favorites because they did the living statue thing.  The girl with the pet, the angel, and the joker/pilot were all my favorites!  The joker/pilot guy made us laugh a lot, he liked to do things behind people's backs.

All smiles as we started our final day in Krakow!

The only group activity we had for the last day was a visit to the pharmacy museum.  It was amazing how much stuff they had in there.  I appreciated how they had guide sheets in English in each room we went into so we would know what we were looking at.  That is something I found in many places we went, English seemed to be the universal language.  Generally we could find someone who spoke English, if we didn't, most could grasp what we were trying to communicate.

Later after the pharmacy museum, we wandered past the place where we had dinner the first night we were in Krakow.  Had to get a quick picture of it so I remembered it!

This is the old wall that surrounds the city center, still standing in all its glory.

Along the city wall there were artists displaying their works.  Many of them were outstanding...wish I would have had a bit more money to purchase a couple of them with.

We found a nice place to eat that Laura had already been to on the first night in Krakow.  It was in the basement of the building but the decor was beautiful and the food was delicious!

Creamy tomato soup and one of the best salads I've ever had!

So the perogie is a traditional Polish food.  Jed is Polish and was in absolute heaven when his pile of perogies came on a giant pizza type bread.  I think that one bite of the base was all he took.

The weather was lovely that afternoon as we ventured out and explored.  We found amazing architecture, street performers performing with the pan flute, some random castle looking thing, a park, fountains, a statue/monument, and the best fountain EVER!

Of course, if there are pillars, they will stand on them!

This was a cool monument, it was different on each side, we couldn't help but take pictures and admire it.

Jed and Evan were actually recreating one of the poses (see below)
but when it is in picture form, it kinda looks a bit wrong.

We walked through this nice park full of statues, pathways, and a fountain in a pond.

Bubble break!

Just outside of the park on the way back into the city center we came across the fountain.
It is one of those fountains that you are encouraged (at least we thought so) to play in.
The water shoots up from the ground in patterns and we noticed that they were lit so we made the decision that we had to return later that night to see what it looked like.

Yes, we are adults but we still love bubbles!!!

We really couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

We stopped and had an ice cream and drink break.

Mine was called the Pinocchio, can you see it?

Laura LOVED her ice cream!

And yes, we had to go back to the cupcake place.  They have standard flavors every day and then special ones they make certain days of the week.  We got some to go for later too!

We ran into Abby and Hayley perched in the window seats enjoying their own cupcakes and coffees.

That night after we rested for a bit at our hostel, we wet out to eat at this brewery.  Breweries seem to have the best food.  The atmosphere was great and the food was once again, delicious.

I got a dish that was barbecued duck, it was great!

Laura loves her schnitzel!

Nothing better than food and friends!

We went in search of our beloved fountain and noticed as we got closer to the city center that there were a lot of police out and large police vehicles.  We knew there was a soccer game earlier that day because we saw all of the groups of people coming through the city center.  That night was a different story, it may look a bit violent but it was actually a celebration ... the police were ready for violence if a riot broke out.

My favorite video!

After leaving the city center safely, we found our fountain!  It was lit up in every color out there.  It had gotten a bit chilly that night but that did not stop us from having a great time!

Like I said, it was chilly...add a lot of water and it's even colder.  We found an outdoor cafe (yay!) that had heat laps (double yay) and blankets on the chairs (triple yay!).  I enjoyed a huge hot chocolate to warm me up before we made our way back to our hostel.

Everyone else enjoyed something a little stronger to warm themselves up.

After we left, Laura and I were so cold that Evan gave Laura his jacket and Caleb gave me his.  Such gentlemen!  This was by far one of my absolute favorite days in Europe.  It was relaxing and adventurous and all around fun!  I really couldn't have asked for better people to have this adventure with.