Thief!

A couple of days ago Michelle found a man's wallet left on a table outside a restaurant. She went in and gave it to the owner (who didn't seem very interested in getting it). Today someone found Michelle's digital camera in its bag hanging from the back of the chair we had just walked away from on a neighborhood square a couple of minutes earlier. He/she took it and kept it. We asked everyone we could think of asking. No one saw anything. The only bright spot in this sad tale is that I also have a camera, as do the children. So we didn't completely lose the photo record of any of our locations. But of course, Michelle had some unique shots, as well as a nice camera she liked.

We started the day by packing up our stuff and checking out of our room after breakfast. But the hostel not only let us store our bags there for the day, but also invited us to join them for dinner again at 7PM. Our night train doesn't leave until 10PM so that was a great deal. We walked through the old town oval to the Wawel castle hill complex. There we saw the national cathedral (top photo) and some grand stone architecture. Most of the interiors are supposedly mediocre, though, so we skipped them. Then we walked on, out of the old town ring to the Kazimierz neighborhood - the old Jewish area, but now with some 200 or so Jews remaining, I don't think the description still holds. There we visited both the old (pre-1800) and new (post-1800) cemeteries. Both were vandalized by the Nazi's during the war. Headstones were broken or taken away for building projects elsewhere. Now many have been returned. The ones too damaged to identify were used in reconstruction of the cemetery walls (middle photo). Both cemeteries, however, still show major signs of damage and neglect. There are simply too few people (or funds) remaining to care for them.

Then we had a small lunch on Kazimierz's Place Nowy (market square) and that is where Michelle's camera was taken...

After spending some time trying to hunt the camera down and then process the loss, we walked on to the bridge over the river that marked the entry to the Jewish Ghetto created by the Nazi's in Krakow and depicted in the movies "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist". There is nothing there noteworthy to see that connects with the movies, but it was clear from the newer buildings surrounding some weeded, unused plots of land, that this area was partly destroyed and not refurbished, but simple rebuilt in a modern, but haphazard style.

Then we returned to the hostel for some refreshment (bottom photo) and rest before going out again souvenir hunting. I cannot say enough about the friendly and generous atmosphere of Greg and Tom's Hostel in Krakow. What an amazing bargain! The only thing that could have been an improvement was air conditioning...