Pensjonat Nautic Wegorzewo

... past the landing so that the bottom cage is unloaded first. People into the first cage are unlucky in that they are first in and last out. Our cage had 9 people, two of which were large people. We had to squeeze to get the doors shut and before that happen, a mine official got in with us so we are ten in the cage, squeezed so that we cannot move, and have to wait for 2 more cars to load before we go up ...

... until I walked around the city for one and half hour and exhausted. It was a longer ride to reach Auschwitz than I had expected. But I was lucky to catch a direct bus for Auschwitz museum, not Auschwitz. In fact, the two bus stops were very far away, and if I took a bus for Auschwitsz, I might have been lost in the city. The museum was admission free like Dachau, but I took a guided tour. The tour was excellent with an English-speaking guide and a useful handset ...

... and see blue sky and breath fresh air at the end. My pictures probably doesn't do justice for the actual space since it's quite dark and lowly lit (or else, all statue will melt away... it is salt after all!!) By the way, within the caves, it has the world largest underground chapel and it still holds services there every Sunday and you can reserve it for wedding and other banquet functions as there's is a functional restaurant down there as well....

Day 6--Silesian House, Collegium Maius, and around Krakow Today was our catchup day for sites around Krakow that we haven't visited yet. Last night, Laura found an entry, in the Lonely Planet guide, for the Silesian House, which is a museum located in the former Gestapo headquarters. It was a bit of a walk from our hotel, but we decided to make the hike. First, though, we went to breakfast at Polskie Smaki. We both ordered the Menu II breakfast, which comes with bacon and eggs ...

... hot outside and if anything were to happen to her there! But yea, Kalwaria is a sanctuary that was created in the 1600s to create a place for Catholics to pilgrammage to instead of Jerusalem. PJPII was a frequent pilgrammager. So this lady and I headed up this huge hill through the forest. Finally we saw our destination! It was this beautiful church with a statue of PJPII welcoming us! After spending some time in the church I decided to explore the lands. This ...

... we didn't have any jackets because the weather had been so nice. we dried off in the hotel lounge and played card games while drinking hot chocolate and eating creme bu le. it was very nice. we are on our way to the airport right now to greet Taylore's parents. they get in tonight and we are staying with them at the Marriott Hotel which will be a nice change from the hostels. i'm sure tomorrow we'll go see more of the tourist attractions and big sites of Prague.

... carriage ride, I mean). We prefer to wear our legs out instead. We have visited the humungous castle on the hill, gone inside the stupendously elaborate 14th century cathedral in the town, seen Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Lady with an Ermine", walked round the Jewish quarter with its old synagogues (Jewish New Year's day today, so they were all closed to visitors!), and had some good authentic Polish food, mainly involving potatoes and beetroot. Krakow is very ...

... Gdansk! It will be nice to move on. Krakow is really lovely, but I am getting ansy to go explore a new city. Well, I am getting hungry. I might go try to find some dinner. Keep the messages coming, it's nice to hear from someone familiar. I will keep posting new info if I do anything exciting. Thanks for checking in on me...I'm having a blast! Leisa

... night before. They all slept in until about 4 in the afternoon, unlike me obviously, and the thought of going out was a turn off in general. I gave them a couple of hours and took another nap. By 11pm, they all changed their minds like I knew they would and we went out to a jazz club for a little, and then back to the hostel for pool and beer-I don't like beer as much as sleep, and I had another long day ahead so I passed out earlier than usual.

... who need visas. When they need a teacher, they just send home for one it seems. It's disheartening but we are determined to make the best of this, even if that means getting jobs elsewhere in Poland for this term and returning to Krakow in september with EU passports for the high hiring season. Now that it's the weekend, we're determined to start enjoying this city. Walking around has really reminded us why we love it here and why we want to live here.