Today we went to the Kazimierz district of Kraków. This is also known as the Jewish Quarter.
But first, cupcakes!
Seriously good cupcakes. Best cupcakes I've ever had I think.
Seriously good cupcakes. Best cupcakes I've ever had I think.
And now the Kazimierz.
We found some art.
And some more art that Dan was convinced was a street performer.
It was not. It was art.
Oddly enough we ended up doing a church tour of the Jewish district.
It was for a geocache that....we couldn't find.
This is from the Church of St. Catherine, which is confusing because all the signs say St. Augustine.
There's just a lot going on in this painting.
All I could find out about this church is that it was originally built in the 1300's.
It has a crazy crucifix.
And a pretty fancy altar area.
This wraps up St. Catherine's, or possibly St. Augustine's.
Church of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr.
There's a name for a church if I ever heard one.
It looks fancy from the outside.
It was built on the location where Bishop Stanislaus was slain by the king in 1079.
This is the holy water at the shrine of St. Stanislaus. The courtyard area is kind of weird. There's this pit of a holy water fountain/shrine and then there's a grassy area with huge monolithic statues in the back. It was pretty though. Weird, but pretty.
The shrine had neat lamps.
We tried to go into the church, but some sort of official ceremony was occurring. There were lots of people who were very nicely dressed and wearing all sorts of medals and official looking hardware.
So we investigated the crypt instead. It's a who's who of Poland in here. It's a burial place for notable Poles, especially those from Kraków. The only one I recognized is Stanisław Wyspiański.
The crypt had thistles! At least I think they're thistles.
This is the Holy Trinity Church. We just poked our heads in because it was closed. So I took this photo through the wrought iron gate. I think this is a Dominican Church.
Some fun Storm Trooper graffiti.
The art above the food truck area. The parking lot below this graffiti is full of food trucks.
More street art!
We messed up our numbers somewhere and were unable to find the final location of the geocache. Oh well, it happens.
But we found a cool fungus.
Next we went to the Stained Glass Museum and Factory.
Making stained glass has been a big part of Kraków's history for the last century.
These are all the glass color samples for the master glass maker to choose to fulfill their designs.
To the left is the 1/10th scale plan for a window.
On the right is the full scale print up to create templates for the glass windows.
This is a rose window featuring John Paul II.
It will take about 3 months to complete start to finish. I was surprised it was that quickly.
There is stained glass made by using different colors to achieve a design and there is painted stained glass. The painted stained glass works by putting patina on the glass and then removing it to create the desired effect. The glass is then baked so the patina becomes a part of the glass.
This is an example of cubism in stained glass....I think. I kind of forget. Either way it has corn in it!
This has something to do with Kraków having burned (maybe?) in 1861 and 1911.
And...something to do with a saint or something.
This was entered into a contest for a new church (that never got built). This is a 1/50th scale of what the actual size would be in the church. To give you an idea, this is 1/50th scale is probably...2 meters tall. If it had been built, it would be 100 meters (~330 feet) tall. It'd be a football field sized piece of stained glass. HUGE!
A modern art piece the factory created and won some awards.
So this piece was a showcase piece to let people know how good the factory was. You don't even really see the support pieces in the glasswork. Fancy!
Another 1/10th scale design.
The fancy ceiling above the stairs.
And this is the lovely glass on the factory door.
We went home for a bit before heading out to find dinner.
And then we found a random street market.
Meats! Of some sort...
Bread products? I'm not sure, but they were in all sorts of shapes.
ALL the candy!
And then there was this guy.
I'm not sure he was actually making things so much as being a display for tourists.
The place we tried to go for dinner was closed, so we went to the Dog in the Fog, but left after we couldn't get food or drinks ordered after about 20 minutes. So then we had burgers. Which were really good. We got home to realize Dan had lost his wallet somewhere.
This concludes our adventure for tonight.
