DOWN, DOWN, UNDER THE GROUND IN POLAND

                                                    


GOOD MORNING FROM WARSAW!! December 31
And it IS a good morning. We thought we would never get our
stamina and enthusiasm back after that meeting at the American Embassy last night. But we are awake now and feeling wonderful after a good night's rest.  Even Ania.




Since money is no object, when you have a bottomless pit of monopoly money, we hired an English speaking tour driver,
Bernard, and a limo to take us to Krakow. It will be a three hour drive.  Bernard, our driver ( facsimile)
                           


  (Former) CIA Agent, Larry, gave instructions for us to be at the salt mine by 1:20 pm so we can get in on the l:45 English speaking tour.  Someone, unbeknownst to us, will be watching; so when I drop the handkerchief, it will be quickly retrieved.  The handkerchief is in my purse. Hope I don't mess this up!?!!


    


  We arrived in Krakow in exactly three hours. It was noon. 
                                 Krakow
 Until then Bernard had said little because we we were napping all the way. But once in this beautiful city, he talked constantly.
Bernard began, "Poland is the largest East European country with a population of around 39 million. It is about the size of Italy or Germany. And in your America a little larger than, say, New Mexico." To us strangers it seemed huge!
                                Krakow


Bernard continued, "I don't say this just because I was born here, but Krakow is the most beautiful and fascinating city in Poland.  The attraction is not just the splendid architecture and the treasures of art, reminders of when it was the royal capital city, before 1596,-- but also the unique ambience of the former  Jewish district and the masterpieces of Polish Art."


Ania asked how many people live here? Bernard said 750,000.


Bernard delivered his prepared speech in an interesting way.
"Fortunately,  it escaped WWII with no major fighting or bombing. It remains almost unscathed even after 50 years of communist rule. Of course, Poland is a democracy now." 


" I think you will find this interesting,"Bernard continued, The first written record of Krakow was made by a Jewish merchant from Cordoba. It was already an established city in 965!!  The legend is that the founder was named Krak, and he ruled happily until a terrible dragon appeared and moved into a cave under Wawel hill. It was eventually defeated by a clever cobbler."

Bernard was a delight!! We only wished we were REAL TOURISTS and could walk, not be driven. But there wasn't time for that. We did stop at a few places and got out to get a better look. Wawell Castle and Cathedral next door.

 

v            

We also stopped at two churches and went inside, even sat down a few minutes.  A calming preparation for the task ahead.
 St. Ann's      St. Mary's






  Mostly we drove up and down streets as Bernard gave us  more information than we could ever remember. But we did enjoy all of it.
              


 You will see in one picture there is a McDonald's. Naturally we got the driver to stop so we could buy some hamburgers. They were somehow different from the ones in Memphis, but still delicious to these far from home travelers. 
  huge square!! Bernard then said we needed to move on. Nervously, we agreed.
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Then we went to southeast part of Krakow to the little town of
Wieliczka of 20,000 people.

Bernard told us, "This mine has been worked for 900 years. Millions of people have gone through it--Gothe, Sarah Bernhardt, Chopin, even former President Clinton." We will see and learn much more once we start the English speaking tour at 1:45. Bernard said he had been down there many times, but today he would stay above ground and visit friends. Then Bernard will return for us when it is over. 


We arrived at l:20 as instructed. I began to wonder if it had been a good idea to hire this limo; we stuck out. Not like spies would stick out, but like rich or important people would stick out. Oh well, too late now.  


The mine wasn't impressive from the outside. 



Very simple. All the glories were far down, down, under the ground.




A duke had founded it centuries ago to mine salt.  The miners did more than mine salt as we would soon see. We couldn't wait.  I don't think Ania was totally relieved of her fear, but she was distracted by all we were seeing today. Also, she knew about the handkerchief drop and was excited to be in on it.


Right on the dot, 1:45 pm our English speaking tour guide led us down MANY steps, until we got down to the first area we would see.  We were going down under the town in picture below. 


The guide's English wasn't as good as Bernard's, but just fine. We understood everything. "This tour will last three hours. Feel free to ask questions as we move along. We are 64 m deep right now. You will see twenty chambers; the tour will end at 135 m below the earth surface. Glad you could make it today, because it will be closed tomorrow for New Years Day."
              
 old drawing of miners

Light                            Statues Passage                       Chapel
 Staircase                      Pond
 Chapel Madonna        
 
 

There was a cafe in the mine, about l/3 of the way down. People had their jackets thrown across their chairs. The temperature in the mine is 59 degrees year round.

We had just heard the tour guide explain about the chandeliers. "Amazingly, the chandeliers in the cathedral are made of salt...not simply hewn from the ground and thrown together. The rock was disolved and then reconstituted with the impurities taken out so it achieved this glass like finish." Ben, Ania, and I lagged behind, looking up at the chandeliers. Suddenly, someone ran toward us and grabbed my big purse. Ben took his walking cane and hit the robber's left arm, causing him to drop my purse. As I grabbed it back, Ania kicked him in a place that would hurt the most. He fled.  So two old people and a sixteen year old girl won out over a robber. Guess he hadn't heard about folks from Memphis. We started laughing. The acoustics in the mine are known for being fabulous. Our merry sounds carried a long way.  Soon we would reach the assignment destination. In the chapel. We sat on the front row. Ben on one side of me and Ania on the other. I pulled out two handkerchiefs together. I faked a cough and put my own handkerchief to my mouth and discreetly dropped the special handkerchief on the floor. No one noticed and the group moved on for one more hour of the tour. For us our mission was accomplished and we could relax.                               

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Although we had enjoyed the tour immensely, we were delighted to see Bernard standing by the limo. There was a note under the windshield wiper.  "Dziekuje."  
Thank you in Polish.


 Ania exclaimed, "Look!"
                     
We passed a fence with many handkerchiefs on it, as if someone placed them there to catch our eye?! By it was an old woman waving the very handkerchief I dropped just an hour ago. She was throwing kisses. Ania and I thew some back to her. . 
Suddenly she vanished. It made us feel wonderful to know we had a small part in giving her peace about her brother. She might not know where he is, but she knows he is fine!!!


We went an hour further. We wanted to see Auschwitz very much. When we arrived, it had closed for the day and tomorrow. It was dark but we could see a little through the fence. We stood a few moments in silent respect for the people who died here. 


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Then we said, "Hotel, Bernard!!!" Soon we were laughing and singing and having a wonderful time. We started singing songs Elvis made famous;  Bernard joined in. Dudn't that beat all?
The club sandwiches from Bojangles, we had brought from the hotel l2 hours ago, tasted pretty good.


Tomorrow we'll wind up this story. It is mostly about Ania and will be the shortest blog entry so far.
 Til then, goodnight from the road back to Warsaw!!
v
ben and annie
If you are enjoying this story, look for conclusion:
GOODBYE WARSAW, HELLO MEMPHIS
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