Anna and Frans met us this early afternoon for a full day of sightseeing! We all headed back into the Main Square walking through the town we made our to the city hall. Outside the president of Kraków was enjoying a music festival that was going on since Anna is the mayor of her district we were able to go a see the president. Today is the one day of the year that the Kraków City Hall is all open it the general public. So we were able to step inside and sit in on the introduction of a bill and socialize with the officials. Well at least Anna and Frans were working the room, especially since they are all her coworkers. With the language barrier Andrea and I followed in tow, but we really don’t know who we all met in the end.
Later we then walked through the park, originally this park that circles the old town use to be where the city walls were but now the park marks the perimeter. Along edge of the park is where one of the oldest universities of Europe and the oldest and most prestigious of Kraków is. Sadly it was closed so we weren’t able to go inside. We then kept walking along the gardens and ended up to the Bishops Palace otherwise known as the prior residency of Polish Pope John Paul II We went through and viewed the exhibition that was about about him and the chronology of his time at Vatican City.
Afterwards we went through to the other side of the Main Square to end up by the Wawel River. We had a drink on a river boat and soaked up the sunshine. It has been the warmest day for us yet! Apparently it was also one of the warmest days for those in Kraków. In order to avoid walking in the heat we ended up hoping on another boat and doing a river boat cruise. Along the river there was a marathon or some sort occurring. It looked like so much fun, everyone had to complete different tasks doing going along. Some had to climb to the roof of a bus, storm up a wall, jump across a huge inflatable obstacle course and run up teeter totters. It provided additional entertainment on the boat cruise, I felt so bad that out of all days this marathon had to be during the honest time of the day in at least early 30 degree temperature! Once our cruise ended we started to walk up the pavement to the castle. However, as we were walking up I realized the pavement was melting! So not only did I leave my foot prints in Kraków I put my hand in the pavement as well and now the streets of Kraków have my finger prints, or until the next time the pavement melts!
Once we all finally hiked up to the top of the hill we went inside the castle where we saw exhibitions that had the beautiful ceilings, exquisite wallpaper, furniture and paintings. Walking through the upper terrace went to a room that was holding Da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine. It is apparently the most beautiful that he’s painted. Once we finished we then went down the hill back into the city square to have some dinner. Of course I tried to have perogies again but it was an Italian restaurant sadly. It’s astonishing how cheap good is here compared to back at home. After dinner we went back to Anna’s for some drinks and cake. We said our goodbyes since this is the last time we would see them and they took us back home. After all the sun we got today we were able to go to sleep easily!
