I talk about what we have seen and heard. I learned that the best way to take notes is to only write what you do not know. I am learning that I don’t know a lot. When I jot something down, it usually means that I want to learn more about that topic. So here is a peak inside my brain.
Anatomy of a Post:
Walkative Tours have been very informative. One of the items that they hand out at the end of the tour is a map with lots of recommendations. Foods, language aids, hidden gems, books, movies, etc. Rob and I often search for foreign movies, but these suggestions are local. I look at their suggestions and then I look them up
Here are ones that I want to see:
Wroclaw
The Night Train by Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1959) stars the “Polish James Dean”
Ashes and Diamonds (1958) by Andrzej Wajda, an Academy Award winning director. He also directed Katyn.
To Kill a Priest (1988) by Agnieszka Holland about Solidarity. (Also, Europa Europa about living a double life and In Darkness about surviving the Holocaust by living in the sewers.)
80 Millions (2011) True story about a Wroclaw bank robbery. Highly recommended thriller.
Knife in the Water (1962) by Roman Polanski. This was his first and best reviewed film.
Isn’t he wanted in the USA?
Interview with Samantha Greimer
We met a young man named Jonathan from Texas who is taking 5 months to travel from London to Singapore without using air travel. Rob gave him a few tips about the ‘Stans.
Wroclaw Market Hall was built in 1909 with many modern innovations such as elevators, refrigeration, and keeping fish fresh by pumping oxygen into the tanks. When in a market, buy items in the interior for best prices (Stalls near the door have higher rent and more traffic.) In many ways, it was like the international market called Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, OH.
Swifts are flying everywhere and they make noises like a squeaky toy. They are known to fly for one year without stopping. They even mate in the air.
This merchant house on the main square has one window painted as if it were a window. Do you see it?
He used that room for food storage and wanted to prevent the sunlight from heating up the room. He didn’t want to throw off the symmetry because of horror vacui, the fear of the void.
What is that? This needed more research.
Where’s Waldo? is a modern example of kenophobia which originated in the visual arts.
Interesting facts about Where’s Waldo series
We arrive in Krakow and enter St. Mary’s Basilica.
Pigeon Photo Bomb
Every square inch inside the church is decorated. I guess they also had kenophobia.
There was a private family service taking place in one of the chapels.
Also, every hour a trumpeter plays a tune called Hejnał mariacki from a window at the top of the tallest tower to the north, south, east and west.
Each time the song stops short so you will need to read about why?
The American writer Eric Kelly won the 1929 Newberry Award for the book entitled The Trumpeter of Krakow. (In a quick fact check of Newberry Awards, I noted that the 1928 winner was called Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon. I think that this would be a good read for me!)
Krakow
Our train to Krakow ends in a mall. We are too early to check in so we eat at an Italian restaurant in the food court. Our waitresses are all petite and with long blonde hair. Our waitress took our order and then took my menu but then said that Rob could keep looking at his??
Our Krakow place is VERY spacious and modern. It even has a bath tub…good for soaking at the end of a long day of walking.
Well, now, you can see that this world adventure is really a journey of intellectual pursuits.
Rob is quick to google and my mind is filled with computer pop-ups of information previously unknown.
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