In Krakow - Krakow to Salzburg 1999 - CycleBlaze

August 23, 1999

In Krakow

By the middle of the night it became clear that I was sick; and for the next two days coping with my illness and worrying over its consequences overshadowed our visit to Krakow.  It was never terrible, but I was chronically weary, intermittently feverish, and completely without an appetite.

During this time we did our best to salvage something from our stay.  After breakfast Monday morning we visited the tourist bureau and obtained tickets to two performances for the Music of Old Krakow festival, which stages performances almost nightly throughout August.  Afterwards we returned to the Rynek to visit the interior of Saint Mary’s Church and wander around a bit more, until I ran out of gas and we returned to our room where I slept until afternoon.  For dinner we ate in a safe-looking pizzeria and I did my best to eat my share and keep my strength up even though nothing sounded especially appealing.

We then took another outing, walking the banks of the Vistula where we spent several hours sitting on the grass on the bank by the river, just enjoying the flow of the passers-by along the boulevard.  It was a very pretty spot and one of my favorite memories from the city.

After dinner we walked to our concert.  One of the most attractive aspects of Krakow is that so much is close at hand in the dense old city.  The concert was a fine affair in a beautiful old church - a series of pieces for string orchestra and choir.  It was lovely, well performed music; but it was all I could do to make it through the first half of the program. We left at intermission and returned to our room.  It was a shame really - not only was it  fine concert, but Krakow, under a full moon on a warm summer night, it’s streets alive with buggies, musicians and reveled, was beautiful.

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