Yesterday was the day to go to Wawel Castle, which is on the hill in Krakow. Wawel is a magnificent castle on the hill in Krakow, which was occupied by Poland Rulers in the 1300s's (Poland's Capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596). Later on, the castle was used as the Nazi's headquarters for these parts.
Anyway, Wawel is the place to go in Warsaw. A beautiful castle with long lines to boot. As one of my final days here in Krakow (I am staying one additional day-which is today), I figured it was time to check it out.
After waiting on line for about 30-40 minutes in the hot sun, I finally arrived at the ticket window. Like many museums, you don't just request a ticket to the castle. There are 5 different parts of the castle to check out, each with separate ticket prices (In addition to temporary expositions, which are other prices). I asked the ticket lady which she would recommend-she mentioned the state rooms. After a quick snack, I walked to the far end of the castle and looked at the state rooms.
Frankly, they are standard issue European-castle state rooms. Very beautiful with antique furnishings. The requisite paintings of the Virgin Mary and child-but nothing more. Nothing unique from other European cities.
After the tour-I went to have my free lunch. What free lunch? When I bought the ticket to Auschwitz-the offer from the tour company included a free lunch at a nearby restaurant (I only had to buy a beverage).
So I went in-the restaurant was more like a bar in a hostel (hard to imagine that any restaurant offering a free lunch wouldn't be that nice). I was given a free lunch menu, which included 3 options, some type of pork (which I don't eat), Hungarian Goulash (I eat meat very rarely, and salad, so I chose the salad. That salad was fine (hard to mess up). The seats we're actually leather sofas (or maybe imitation leather), and we're very comfortable, so I stayed for a 2nd beer. I then went back to the hostel and took a nap. After a few hours In went to a herring place in the Jewish quarter for dinner, and then wandered around the town square.
