Krakow

Ben got a hair cut !
The Poles know how to make a peroggi! & they don’t mess around with their donut’s either.
We went crazy with the polish pottery! (& now are paying the price as we lug it all around Europe.) haha
Krakow is full of great coffee shops and cozy corners! & huge churches.
We participated in Polish Independence day! Woohoo. It was great to see some much patriotism — young and old.

Kraków has an extensive and powerful history — especially during WWII. The Kraków Ghetto was one of the five major Nazi ghettos established during this period. The city also had a labor camp, “Kraków–Płaszów,” which later became a concentration camp. Many of the Jews imprisoned in the Kraków Ghetto were deported either to Płaszów or to Auschwitz. (This camp, as well as Oskar Schindler’s efforts to save Jewish workers, is the basis for the film Schindler’s List. Today, Schindler’s factory still stands and can be visited near the site of the former Jewish ghetto.) Walking the streets of Kraków, knowing that thousands suffered and died here, was sombering and deeply moving. I appreciated the signs and memorials all around the city to honor the victims and ensure that the atrocities committed during the Nazi occupation are never forgotten.

We walked out of our place morning 1 and saw this big guy— Soon we discovered it was the Polish Independence day!

People in the main square waiting for a parade. Lots of Patriotism.

the aforementioned polish pottery! absolutely lovely.

loved seeing the kids perched up high to get a view in the crowd.

a stop in a cozy caffee — THICK hot chocolate!

my guy — Nicolaus Copernicus.

This is a map of the Jewish Ghetto confines from WWII when the Jewish population of Krakow, aprox. 18,000, were forced to reside.

Schindler’s List Passage — this was neat to walk through. It gives a history of some of the Krakow Jews and what happened within the city during WWII.