Jim and Kris's Wedded Bliss Thus Begins....: Krakow!

When the night train to Krakow pulled into the Prague station after a long snowstorm delay, we thought it didn't look as nice from the outside as we had hoped. Say hello to the Soviet Train.

Our romantic visions of a perfect two person sleeper cabin were quickly dashed when the train matron (a.k.a. 1980 Soviet shot put Olympian) escorted us to the "vintage" cabin of the Kruschev era train. The photos do not adequately capture the smell.

We found ourselves surrounded by Cyrillic and incomprehensible icons that seemed to have no bearing on what the dial actually controlled. Guess which one is the actual light switch.....hint: look for the only one that doesn't have an icon that seems to indicate a light. (The matron had to show us after our cabin was cast into complete darkness once the train left the station.)

It was a long night that felt like we were in a sustained 11 hour long earthquake. This shows Jim in his bunk in our second cabin of the night -- which the matron moved us to after a panel in the ceiling came loose and threatened to fall on Jim's sleeping head. Above is Jim in his velvet pull down upper bunk, vowing that he will not sleep a wink.

The next morning. We survived. Jim did sleep (although he awoke at one point thinking the world was coming to an end.) Kris also woke him after she woke up in a panic convinced that the train was going backwards. Jim had to explain that during a long stopover, we'd clearly been recoupled and were being pulled from the other direction. We were happy to get off....and eager for showers and fresh clothes. We don't even want to think about the train bathroom at this point. That was a whole different saga best illustrated with Jim's pantomimes and sound effects.

Krakow! Getting off the train and walking the short distance into the old town, we were immediately captivated and knew the night on the Soviet train had been worth it. The building in the center is our pension -- a great place in a central location. We were able to check in right away and get freshened up from the night on the train.

After breakfast and showers, we headed to the main square, where we caught the end of the Christmas crib display. People construct elaborate nativity cribs and bring them to the square on a the first thursday of December for judging. Eventually the best end up in the city museum.

Not sure who these guys were, but around the corner they came!

The architecture of the Old Town was magnificent. It was one of the few major cities in central Europe that survived World War II in tact (like Prague). This building is a tower in the old medieval wall.

The great Christmas market took place in the Main Square -- we loved it. Fantastic food. We weren't sure what these were -- but we ordered two because they seemed popular. They turned out to be pieces of grilled sheep's milk cheese served with a dollop of currant sauce. Delicious!

Medieval Krakow covered in fresh snow was breathtaking. The building to the left is the old cloth guild hall.

St. Mary's Cathedral was also impressive. One tower is the church tower; the other is municipal. Every hour a trumpeteer climbs up there and trumpets from the window over the city, but does not finish the song. This recalls when a trumpeteer was signalling the approaching mongols and was hit. That was in the 13th century and it was the last time it was destroyed.

A clock tower in the City Hall in the Main Square.

Jim in the Main Square pondering whether to try the Polish version of gluhwein, sold by a person standing inside the big barrel. He did -- and reported it to be strong, clearly spiked with vodka.

After dusk, the market was even more sparkling and charming.

Our first night's dinner was at a "country kitchen" type restaurant down the street from the hotel. Kris tried the "wheat purse" cooked in a wood oven.

Jim had goulash with what he reported were the "best potato pancakes ever."

The next day was a rough day. We wanted to go to Auschwitz early in our stay so we wouldn' t end our honeymoon on a down note. We headed there by bus on a very snowy second day in Krakow. It snowed hard throughout our visit. Luckily because it was the off season, we were not required to take a guided tour. Instead we got materials at the bookstore and made our own way around, avoiding other groups at all costs (especially the inappropriately boisterous who kept stopping to get pictures of themselves taken, smiling, in front of various tragic places, such as the "Work will make you free" entry gate, above.)

After several hours at Auschwitz, we felt drained and were beginning to worry about the weather conditions on the way back to Krakow, since the snow had intensified. We managed to catch a bus back to Krakow, but unfortunately we chose a "local" bus rather than the more tourist oriented express buses. It stopped frequently.....

And an hour and a half into the trip in an undisclosed village location, had a head on collision with a car, then ran off the road into a concrete utility pole. Luckily the pole stopped our bus from going over the embankment and into the nearby house. There was considerable confusion and we struggled to ascertain what would happen. Eventually, after 45 minutes or so of waiting in the snow, another bus came and took us back to Krakow (on occasion not stopping at stop signs and red lights because the road was so slippery.) All in all, it was fairly harrowing.

The courtyard of our hotel, the Globtroter.

Lenin! The next day we headed out before noon for our Crazy Communism Tour. Our guide, Tim, who was born under martial law in the early 1980s, arrived in an orange East German Trabant to escort us to Nowa Huta, one of Stalin's planned Soviet model cities from the 1950s. Our first stop was the Stylish Restaurant, whose decor had not changed since that era. It was a more upscale place for party members and other "more equal" people.

The Trabant! A fiberglass shell surrounding a steel box that encased an unheated and frost coated tiny interior.

At the Stylish Restaurant, we sat for a long time hearing Tim's introductory spiel to the history of Communism in Poland and specifically the story of the development of Nowa Huta (New Forge) and the eventual fall of Communism. Although Stalin's regime planned multiple model cities throughout the empire, only Nowa Huta was built with most of the initial features, such as parks, schools and amenities. Krakow was chosen because of its history as a university town and center of liberalism. The idea was to show that as old-fashioned in the wake of Communism.

The tram lines were extended to connect Nowa Huta to downtown Krakow. The party encouraged peasants from rural areas to move here, attracting them with central heating and indoor plumbing in the apartments.

We visited an original store that also remained largely unchanged from the early days of Nowa Huta.

As we drove around in the Trabant, Jim had to help Tim keep the windows clear of frost by passing an ice scraper back and forth.

The Trabant did not provide the smoothest ride. Kris rode in the back, where it would be ostensibly safer. (Tim early on in the day said, "They think I can actually stop this thing?" after some pedestrians stepped out into the street in front of him. )

At times, Tim made use of the frosted window by using his gloved finger to draw diagrams and maps in the frost to illustrate his points.

Here's the Trabant at the steel factory. Most of Nowa Huta's residents used to be employed by the factory. Nowadays, it's an Arcelor Mittal working factory, but it is mechanized enough that it only provides jobs for a fraction of the original workforce.

At the steel forge with the Trabant.

The push-button start, toggle switch couture interior of the Trabant. Notice that the gas gauge was not standard, but only worked after turning everything else off in the car.

We at lunch at a vintage "Milk Bar" - a Soviet era cafeteria. Tim is ordering our food (pierogies, beetroot soup and stuffed cabbage) at the small window to the left. Minimalist decor; era-appropriately looking fellow diners. Our entire meal cost around $3.00 for three people (total, not each).

And then came the highlight of the day. We drove to a vacant, snow and ice-covered lot and each got to test drive the Trabant. We both learned to drive stick on the fly, but neither of us were able to downshift, leading to engine stalling. To start up again, you had to frantically pump the gas pedal repeatedly while pressing the engine start push button.

The road conditions for our test drive.

We went to see a worker's apartment in the residential section of Nowa Huta.

Jim got a welcome shot of vodka in the apartment. The former owner moved in in the 1960s and little had been changed since. Most of the furniture was remarkably similar to current day Ikea offerings. The communism tour FAR exceeded our expectations and remains a highlight of the entire trip.

Back in Krakow, we headed to another Svejk pub! There was a cellar Svejk restaurant on one of the Old Town streets, with a gent dressed as Svejk welcoming people in.

We awoke on our last morning to bitter, grueling cold, but it had transformed Krakow overnight into even more of a winter wonderland.

Our plan that morning was to head to breakfast at a restaurant Tim had recommended in newly trendy Kazmierz -- the former Jewish quarter. We decided to walk, despite the cold.

We warmed up with large coffees and "traditional" breakfast plates at the restaurant.

Unfortunately the cold prohibited us from doing much exploring of Kazmierz. Next time we are in Krakow! On the way back to the Old Town, we stopped off at Wawel Castle, which looked stunning in the frosty snow.