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Friday is a short work day in Krakow, so Scott got back to the hotel around 2 PM. I spent time researching and and booking our tour of Auschwitz for Saturday. We took a taxi to Wawel Castle. Taxi drivers in Krakow are SCARY. They drive fast, almost run over unsuspecting people on foot, tailgate, pass other cars and buses on city streets, and generally scare the hell out of you. All while listening to Paula Abdul or Celine Dion on the radio.
Wawel castle is a proper castle from medieval times. Way back in the day all of Krakow was surround by a fortress wall (parts of which still stand) and a drawbridge. Wawel castle sets atop a hill that overlooks the Visla River. We walked through the Wawel cathedral and around the main courtyard. I took lots of pics. We didn't have time to go through the actual rooms in the castle, but that was ok. We also walked down to the sculpture of a dragon that breathes fire every so often. Another exchange rate update...there was a woman selling giant hot pretzels at a little stand near the sculpture that would have cost around $.35 US.
We were hungry so we ate at this cute little restaurant called Pod Wawelem. "Pod" is Polish for "under", and we sat in this little room that was all windows with a view of the castle on the hill. Food was really good here. We had pierogies that we quite tasty. Another custom we encounted in Krakow was that they bring you shots of vodka with the check. We had cherry vodka at this restaurant. It was super tasty, albeit weak. We walked back through the Jewish district (Kazimierz) to the hotel.
I was fully expecting to fall asleep at a reasonable hour this night as well, but there were a ton of tornado watches and scary weather approaching Cincinnati. Scotts brother, Dan, was staying at our house, but had to work that night so we had him put Emmy in the basement before he left. Scott and I spend a large part of the evening watching 9 news stream on our iPhones to see how bad it was going to get. I also Skyped with mom, Tanya and Alli for awhile. Video skyping with Alli is an interesting experience. She's really good at being 3. She was also ready to go into the basement when the "buzzards" arrived. That actually meant when the alert went off on the TV. So I was up again until around 5 AM that night. Or morning. Whatever.
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