We are currently in a hostel in Krakow. Tomorrow we plan to buy a new camera (so I can have some pictures to post along with the emails) and visit Wawel Castle. Then, the next day, we will be heading to Auschwitz. I'll tell you more about those however, after I visit them.
We caught a train from Prague to Krakow today, after getting my passport. As some of you already know, I had my purse stolen, and with it, my camera, iPod, passport and money. Amanda also had her camera and about half of her money stolen as well. We were eating breakfast when a man "staying" at our hostel who appeared to be sleeping walked out with our things. We were only out of the room for at most two minutes, but apparently, that was enough time to grab our things. The timing of it was very poor, because we were just about to leave and I just put my last few things into the purse.
So yesterday, instead of visiting the Jewish Quarter and taking a Ghost Town Tour, we spend the day emailing to cancel cards, and visiting both the police station and US Embassy. The embassy was only open until 11:30, but they said I could come up and do it as an emergency, cause we had planned to leave early the next day. But because I didn't have any money, Amanda had to pay for the new one, and she wasn't allowed up. So instead of getting the passport yesterday, we went to the police station. We weren't the only people there. There was a group of English tourists who had also had a purse stolen. They waited over an hour. We waited over two. We filled out all the paper work, and I now have a police report all in Czech!
The passport took a bit. We came back this morning. We wanted to try to get there by 8:30, when they opened, and when we did, we found we had bought the wrong passport pictures. We had gotten them the day before, but apparently they were the size needed for the Czech passports, and too small. So we had to wait till a little after nine for this other photo shop to open and get the correct size. (Of course, I look completely terrible in them. But whatever, it's a temporary passport.) So I can now get back into the country. However, I am really sad to lose my other passport with all my stamps, at least one a year from 2002 on. And both my visas.
However, before all this happened, we did manage to enjoy a goodly bit of Prague. It boasts the claim of being the only capital city in Europe that wasn't bombed during the wars. It's not a huge city, and lovely to walk around, though absolutely freezing. That first day, I don't think I had ever been as cold. Eventually, after my legs and face went numb it wasn't so bad, but it's was the kind of cold I associate with Russia. So far, Poland hasn't been as cold as Prague. Though it is still snowy here.
We walked through Old Town Square, displaying a very picturesque astronomical clock, saw a statue of King Wenceslas, and crossed Charles Bridge, bearing statues all along it's length. (I had a picture of me touching one of them, just like everyone before me.) We walked up the King's Walk to Prague Castle. We split an audio guide and wandered around the grounds for as long as our bodies would bear the cold.
We learned all about how "King" Wenceslas was really not a king, but a duke. He did a lot for the Czech people and the church, and was killed by his brother in front of a church. He was made a saint, and his remains are buried in the cathedral in Prague Castle (which includes the chamber door he might have died touching). He is also considered the only true king of the Czech people, all the others just borrow the right from him, as well as his crown. The cathedral is very pretty, with statues and stained glass, and stonework. It's also free to go in.
We had tickets for part of it, and so got to wander down the Gold Smith's Lane, though I would skip that in the future. We also got to look into a crypt and see where some of the founders were buried. And finally, we went into a tower. Inside there was all sorts of torture equipment. It looked awful. We were nearly locked inside because they were closing. That would have been a very creepy and cold night.
The views from up on the hill there are amazing. You can see all the rooftops of Prague, red tiled and snow covered, with numerous spires poking out, and the river cutting through the town with it's many bridges. It's a very lovely city, with cobblestone streets and sidewalks and millions of little shops holding jewelry, puppets, and warm clothing. I enjoyed it, and would like to go back someday and take some pictures, as well as visit the famous Jewish Quarter. (Apparently this was the place Hitler had decided to create a museum to the "exterminated" race, so the synagogues there weren't all destroyed.)
Anyways, overall, a very nice city. It's easy to navigate for the most part, unless you get stuck on the little side streets. The people are fairly friendly, and I'd recommend going, though don't get anything stolen. I did get to see inside my first ever US embassy, as well as inside three police stations. And with all that walking, I found a lovely wedding dress in the shop by our hostel.
Not exactly it, but closeOn the train on the way here, we had some time to plan and plot, and Amanda and I figured that with the money we have, we should be able to make it to Paris. If the exchange rate it good, we can make it farther. And this is with our money that hadn't been stolen. We were thinking of ending the trip there, postponing England, Wales and Ireland for another time. However, we've had a lot of support and encouragement to do the whole thing, as well as numerous offers of funding. I just wanted to say thank you very much for your support in this. It really has made a difference. We haven't crunched the numbers yet, but we will see what how far we can get on what. If we can do it without using other people's money, I would feel better about it, but we will see what happens. All the same, thank you very much for your thoughts and generosity in this when I know things are tight.
[I'm including pictures off the internet. Because I lost my camera, I don't have any pictures myself, but these pictures are all things I got the chance to see, so just to give you a flavor, they're included.]
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