Krakow

The first things I will always think of when Krakow comes up will not be anything cultural or historical. No, I will always think Hard Rock Cafe and coffee. The first night in Krakow I think some of us girls had hit our "I miss America" slump and sought out an American experience. What better than the Hard Rock Cafe? We spent hours there eating plates and plates of food, talking, and being a little noisy as others quietly came and went. I'm sure that all of us felt much better after that little fix =) I also got plenty of my other necessity in Krakow; I'm fairly certain that most of my time there was spent consuming coffee. I lost track after about four visits to the cafe. Something about sitting down with a cappuccino and some friends is just so comforting!

Cafe!!

That was all great, but Krakow is more than just the Hard Rock and caffeine. One thing the area is well known for is its salt mining. We first visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines where we went hundreds of feet below the ground. The coolest part? I had cell service all the way down there (something you can't get in Eustis, NE)! No, the coolest part was the large chapel way down there which was made entirely from the salt it was built in. It's pretty dark in the miines so it's hard to take good pictures, but luckily it was well lit in the chapel.

The Chapel is massive!

In the front of the Chapel

The rest of the salt mines were interesting, but too dark. I did stumble across this cute little guy though...

We also visited a pharmacy museum (filled with bottles and tools) and another castle in Krakow and, like usual, no photos were allowed to be taken. It's ok though because once you've seen one castle, you've pretty much seen them all so the image begins to stick with you. Baroque, Rococco, etc. etc. etc.
And then finally, it was the day I'd been waiting for this whole entire trip. Our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau....