I am up and out wandering the streets as the sky starts to lighten at 4:45. The streets are surprisingly busy with stumbling, drunken 20-somethings, and a few of the bars are still open. The cabs are doing great business. I walk through the square, over the bridge, enjoying the morning freshness and the sights. Amazing light. Everywhere you look it is a feast.
Gail eventually gets up and we eat a wonderful breakfast at 10:00 then head out to walk.
We are going to just keep following the suggestions for local cafés, so there is no need to check out places to eat. Andrea is batting 100% so far, bless her.
We walked out, down some streets, to the main square and turned into the Jewish Quarter. I wanted to see the Jewish cemetery, which I had heard was more moving than the one in Krakow. Well, it wasn't. It is interesting however. In a small area there are about 12,000 headstones, but over 100,000 people buried, up to ten layers deep (this is the only place in the city the Jews were allowed to be buried). The headstones are all tipping crazily into each other as the ground settles. The oldest headstone (they say) is from 1300 something, but it is not marked out. The cemetery is set up sort of like a tour, you pay to get in and stay on a path, in line, and walk through it. I think this is why I liked Krakow, it was more natural so to speak, you could just wander through and think.
There was a cool Synagogue we went through, called Pinkasova. It has the names of over 77,000 Czech Jews killed by the Nazis handwritten on the walls. While you walk through, they are continuously reading the names.
We head back to the square and get to the Astronomical clock in time to see the apostles walk by this time. Ok. The one in Strassbourg, France was better, but this one does have the cool trumpet player at the end. We wander past a church that has been converted into a concert hall, and stop and listen to rehearsals. The sound just reverberates, the huge chandelier hanging from the dome just adds to it. We take a beer stop, then move on, and as the clouds gather we duck into a mall so Gail can shop. We miss the rain, return to our room for a little rest, and head to dinner at 20:30. Andrea has recommended another local hangout to us.
I have venison in red wine sauce with rice, (it looks like a small portion at first, but then I realize the past few days the portions have been so huge that now a normal sized meal looks small. I am able to eat it all and am satisfied.) Gail has homemade spaghetti with cherry tomatoes. After dinner we walk the city and enjoy the lights, eventually we end up sitting in the square, marveling at the Tyn church towers, listening to all the music, and people watching.