Woke up to our last morning in Lithuania, if you can call 3:15am "morning". Taxi came and drove us to the airport. I realized the problem I was having with driving in Vilnius was all about timing. If I drove at 4am I think I would have no problem - as our taxi belted across cobble stones and narrow winding streets without another car in sight.
Rita and Olga turned up at 5am and Olga had presents for me at the airport. They have both been so kind to us. We then boarded the plane. A bus drove us across tarmacs to this short plane with propellers - but when we got in, although small, it was the most comfortable plane I have been in. Big leather seats and heaps of leg room. The 1 hour flight was very relaxed and we landed in Warsaw. We walked through the terminal to our connecting flight to Krakow. Again - comfortable trip, and an hour later we arrived. We had a pick up service booked and the taxi driver spoke English and gave us a quick history of Poland and Krakow. We dropped our bags off at the apartment office at 9am and had to wait until 1pm to get into the apartment so we went for a walk around the old square - had breakfast. It was cold and pretty damp so we took a one and a half hour tour of the city in a little electric car - sort if like a golf buggy that can carry 6 people. We got to see the major parts if the city including some incredible cathedrals, the Krakow castle and the Jewish quarter. There is a great sense of remembering what happened to the Jewish people here, with memorials to the horror of the holocaust. To stand in a square where people where routinely gunned down as a policy of the state is simply beyond words. We entered the ghetto where over half a million Jewish people were herded after they had their homes taken. In the midst of the sadness I felt as I heard what happened in those streets there is also a sense of justice to see Jewish communities there, with their food and shops and synagogues and statues. The Nazis were destroyed and that evil was wiped away.
By the time we got to our apartment the rain had stopped - and Romas, Lauren, Audrey and I went for a walk. This is a very cool city. There are around quarter of a million university students living here out of a population of about a million. Heaps of hip cafes, bars galleries and restaurants.
So we went out for dinner to a restaurant called Starka. Lauren found it on Trip Advisor - top rated restaurant in Krakow. Mains for 9 to 20 dollars. I had sautéed forest mushrooms for entree and they were the best ive ever eaten or even looked at. The turkey breast with dill sauce, potato and this amazing coleslaw cylinder was fantastic. And our waiter was the nicest man who ended up giving us free hazelnut vodka - beautiful. They make their own flavored vodkas at the restaurant. The whole experience was beyond delicious. I just wish Vanessa was here with us.