Off To The Salt Mines

Sept. 21/18

Today, Mary and Wendy went out for any early morning stroll and I stayed back for a slower start.  Today we were heading out for the Wieliczka Salt Mines just outside of Kraków.  These mines were started in the 13th century and reach to a depth of 327 metres (we only got as deep as 183m).  We headed out to the Kraków Glowny train station but we could not find a train for Wieliczka and we were later told that there was no train on this day.  We went back to the info centre to get some bus information and were able to run upstairs and manage to get on the bus just before it pulled out.  Forty minutes later, we were at the mines.  

Our tour started with some 400 steps down to the first level.  There are over 100 km of tunnels and shafts and we seemed to have covered most of them by the end of our tour.  This was all about the salt.  Floors, walls and statues were all made of salt.

When we finished the tour we were guided to an elevator that was about a km away and were lifted back to the top.  When we got out we were in a totally different part of the town.  So we stumbled our way around looking for the bus stop when we came upon a train!  We checked it out and were able to buy tickets back to Krakow in well air-conditioned car.  Back in Krakow we took a different walking route back and ended up near the Barbican

Krakow Calling

Mary and I woke up early and walked down to the square to have a look around before the crowds showed up.  It was a beautiful morning with the city just waking up.  There are food places everywhere, especially bakeries, so on our way back we picked up some tasty breakfast pastries.

We went back to our place to get ready for the day and then the three of us headed out to find the National Museum and Da Vinci’s “Lady with the Ermine”.  We found an info booth, bought some tickets for a concert later in our stay, and headed out for the museum armed with the map and directions and pretty much got lost right away.  After many turns and diversions we actually ended up outside Wawel Castle.  So, change of plans and off we went to the castle.  We wandered around the grounds for awhile and then Mary found the office to buy the tickets to view the state rooms, which we did.  Lots of ornate furnishings, enormous tapestries interesting ceilings and beautiful floors.  

Our next stop was Wawel Cathedral, all in the same complex. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Cathedral

We toured the cathedral and then went down into the tombs.

From there we trekked to and around the Old Jewish Quarter. We stopped for an early dinner at Restaurant Ester then toured the old Jewish Cemetery.

Krakow

We landed at the Kraków airport around noon on September 19.  We had left Vancouver the day before at 2:00 in the afternoon.  We had met John and Kevin and gone through security together and were waiting for Wendy as her flight out of Victoria had been delayed.  Boarding was about to be announced and we were discussing what Wendy would do if she missed the flight when she appeared having just run through the airport to make the flight.  All was good.

We landed in Frankfurt around 8:00 am and left John and Kevin as they went off to their flight for Budapest.  We went off through security, where I was given a very thorough going over, and then we took off for our short flight to Kraków, already feeling early stages of jet lag.

Mary had arranged a pick up at the airport with a service called Kraków Direct and our driver, Peter, was waiting to take us into the city.  He was a fount of information as he drove us to our apartment, Crystal Suites.  We met the manager, Anna, who took us up to our apartment where we changed and headed out, hoping to stay awake until at least 9:00 so we could go to bed and wake up to the new day rested and ready to go with no signs of jet lag.

We walked down and through the Old Town square which is beautiful.  We ended at at a small cafe for some snacks and drinks and headed back to our place where we crashed.

Follow the Bouncing Ball Pt. 2

Jan. 17

Second day at the Aussie Open.  We took the free tram down to Flinders St., bought our $.70 bottle of water at Coles and headed for the free tram to the tennis......which were so crowded we decided just to do the 20 minute walk.  When we got in we stood in line to upgrade our ground passes to the Margaret Court Arena to watch our 18 year old phenom, Denis Shapovalov play France’s Jo Wilfred Tsonga.  It was a great match going the full 5 sets with Denis showing his youth at the end of the match as Tsonga showed his veteran skills to come back and finish it off.  During the match a camera man came up and filmed us for the stadium screen and at the end of the match a French fan came and asked for a picture with us.  We have got into some great conversations with people on this trip and the people of Australia are very friendly.  After the match went for a drink on the grounds and had an interesting conversation with two young guys; one was a teacher and the other was a Victoria state policeman.

After the tennis we headed off for the Melbourne Night Market which is only a block from our place.  This is at the site of the Queen Victoria market which happens every day except Wednesday.  On that day they have the night market.  The market has hundreds of food and drink vendors along with merchants and their quirky wares.  There is music and street performers and thousands of happy people and...sangria.  Everyone should experience Melbourne’s night market at least once!

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Jan. 16 - 17

These two days were mostly spent at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.  On the first day there were two Canadians playing back to back on Show Court 2.  We took the tram down to Flinders Station and then did a twenty minute walk to the park where we greeted with a massive crowd of people flooding the entrance gates.  We eventually got in and made our way to the Court where we sat in 30 degree heat and watched Raonic lose in four to Lucas Lacko and Genie Bouchard win her match in 2 sets.  In all went spent 4 hours there.  

We then left the park and went off to move to our new place on Elizabeth St. And then back to the tennis.

We watched a match with Ales De Minaur and another one with Dominic Thiem.  We then took the crowded free tram back to Flinders then did a 20 minute back to our place getting back at around 11:00.  A very full day.

The Long and Wining Road

Jan, 15, 2018

Today was our wine tour with Australian Wine Tours.  We were picked up at St. Paul’s cathedral which is on Flinders Street right across from Federation Square.  Our guide was John (not Ron) Murphy and we traveled with 19 other winos to the Yarra Valley.  The Yarra Valley is much like the Okanagan known for its wine growing but it has been established since the mid 1800s.  It took about an hour to get to our first winery, Punt Road.  Here we were given some wine tasting instruction and were treated to some Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cab Franc, and a Shiraz.  Then we were off to Balgownie Estate for our next tasting.  We had a Cuvée Brut (sparkling Chardonnay), Merlot, Shiraz and then a sparkling Shiraz which was quite good.  We had a great lunch here, as well.  Mary had Flathead(fish and chips) and I had an excellent lamb shank ( when in Australia, right?). Our next stop was at Yering Estate, a much smaller, laid back, family run winery.  All the wine was good and they also make a tasty cider with Pink Lady apples.  Our final stop was at Chandon, a winery that specializes in champagne.  Beautiful building and surroundings and an aging cellar with 70000 bottles.  In total we had 30 tastings!  We were dropped off back our staring point, walked back to our place and crashed....at least I did.