in honor of Poland and her late President

The funeral for Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, will be held in the Wawel Cathedral. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Polish people as they remember their First family.

Wawel's Chakra

We live next door to a dragon, Hank has stated such in his travel blog. And we really do ! And the dragon lives in a cave, under the castle. Wawel Castle's Towers are within shouting distance of our apartment. But the most mysterious aspect of Wawel dwelling is the "chakra stone". To Buddhism, and Hindu followers, I think this would be considered an important site.

Chakra's are energy fields. A place of serenity and self knowledge. There are 7 chakras on the earth. And our dear Wawel Hill hides one of them. Any time that I go into this courtyard there are people standing in the corner, where the chakra is said to be. Or is said to be buried.

All you have to do is absorb the energy. But if you ask the guides about it, they may profess they know nothing about it! This is a Catholic nation, and since there is a national cathedral right here, on the castle grounds, not many believe in the "energy" of the stone.

In the photo, you can see a man leaning against the wall reading a paper. He may be a believer in the energy force. You can see that the area has been roped off. But look to see the wall and how it is discolored where people have been.

All I can say is that when I am there, my teeth rattle.

castle grounds on Wawel hill

I went to the post office on the castle grounds yesterday,
it is quiet there this time of year.
There is a small music shop there and the sound
of classical music made the scene even more calm.
The stacks of reeds are covers to protect the plants
from the cold temperatures.

Our fire breathing Dragon, our neighbor

his name is Smok, "dragon" in Polish

Castle spout

on the castle grounds

Dragon's Bone

a rib bone?

view from Castle

toward Old Town

Wawel Hill on the Vistula River

Golden Chain

This tree is on the castle grounds.

I think it is Laburnum, and may be poisonous, but so graceful.

Reminds me of wisteria.

Our First Visitor

While in Germany on business, Keith's brother John was able to fly in for the weekend. It was good to have family to share Krakow with, and to have someone to talk to in English! We took a trip out to Oswiecim to see the memorial at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It's difficult to say that it was the "highlight", but it is important to see, having traveled this far already.

We came across a tour guide, Marta, who helped make the trip quite pleasant. She drove us to the camps and answered all of our questions. When we asked her to give us tour of Krakow, she giggled and said since we lived here now, we had to discover the city for ourselves! Nice way of getting "the brush off"! She's right and we did head out the next day, on our own, in the snow! This place has been invaded and occupied so many times through the centuries, it's hard to keep track of it's history. We toured the castle cathedral and St. Mary's, even though the english audio would not be available until "next week". Having a description would have been nice, but we still marveled at the artistry.

The video below has John and Keith by the Ladislaus IV Bastion with the monument of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, listening to the Sigismund Bell. (John, we did a little research and found out that the guy on the horse was a Polish general who offered his services to the colonists in the American Revolution and among other things "fought with distinction under Gen. Nate Greene in the Carolina's campaign", Lad and Sig were Polish kings) In the next video we were watching the military enter the cathedral for the Independence Day Celebration.

John's visit was short and the weather left a little to be desired, but we enjoyed our time together and look forward to having more guests.