KRAKOW and the pope

in a drought

Marg and me at happy hour just after we arrived in Krakow..well just as well we enjoyed our beers as shortly after this, I set off uptown with some others to have dinner and en route ran into the pope- waiting crowds as per previous post. So after we'd seen his holiness we headed into the town square and sat down to eat. When the waiter arrived we ordered wine, which we were told we couldn't have "because of the pope" - well at least that's what we thought anyway.
so had dinner, got back to the hotel (Sheraton - nice) and there on our beds was a letter from the management telling us that as per" special rule dz u 200685588, the Polish government had made the decision to prohibit the sale and serving of alcohol in the city for 3 days in respect of the papal visit"!!!!!!!!!! Bugger!!!!!! 3 dry days in Krakow - not a bloody drink to be had and Aussies on holidays----what were they thinking?????????????The Romans don't live like this do they?

KRAKOW (cont)

The courtyard of the Royal Castle.

Coincidentally and much to everyone's surprise ( including the tour guide) the Pope was also visiting Krakow. (possibly why there were so many tourists in the cathedral while we were there).The entire country was decked out in yellow and white flags..every little cottage in the country had a flag and a poster of the pope in their front windows..their faith and enthusiasm was very touching so we joined the throngs on the side of the road, waved our flags and waited....the popemobile zoomed past at about the speed of light and we had a nanosecond to be impressed - so was all really a big non event, but the krakovians seemed happy about it all!

Security detail




Caroline Joan and Joe waiting for the Pope.


The pope arrives!!!
I have to confess that the popemobile zoomed past so fast I missed the photo and had to take this pic off the flag I was waving!!!!
Still I thought it looked sort of blurry like it could have been the real thing behind the glass of his popemobile..hahahah

KRAKOW



Wawel cathedral....
Outside..
and inside!! These are a couple of things I saw inside the cathedral, along with 10 million tourists and an enormous silver coffin.

Slovakia cont:

We drove through this little village somewhere near the Slovakian / Polish border. Loved the little wooden shingled houses complete with working wells and water wheels..couldn't figure out what the water wheel was used for - looked too small to do anything than be a slavakian front yard water feature!