Trans Europa Day 26 Krakow Rest Day - 0km

A real rest day today. Wandered through the old town, the Jewish section and visited two musuems.

Galicia Jewish Museum

Very sad to learn that Chris Schwarz who established the Museum and whom I met in 2005 died in 2007. He was a great photographer.

Schindler Krakow Museum

A relatively new museum tracing the history of the City of Krakow on the site of Schindler's factory. There is also a new contemporary art museum next door.

As is the rest day custom, enjoy the photos!

And today's chicken soup: with matzoh balls.

Hitting the road again tomorrow for Slovakia with camping for 4 nights so you may not see me until Bratislava on 7 August. Bye for now.

Trans Europa Day 25 Krakow Rest Day - 0km

Seeing as we have two rest days in Krakow, today is a working rest day.

I spent most of the morning updating the blog and catching up with emails and I then had a meeting at the hotel with a local lawyer who is acting for a client of mine in relation to a property here in Krakow. After successfully having the property transferred into my client's and relatives' names as survivors, the government is attempting to have the property forfeited as it was "abandoned" in 1941 - coincidentally when the then owners were rounded up and sent to the ghetto, and worse.

In any event, once work was finished it was laundry time as is a ritual on rest days. I went by tram with John to a very cool laundry bar http://www.franiacafe.pl/en/ and we hung out there for 90 minutes or so. Daphne and Shirley happened to be there too.

There is a large shopping centre across the road from Hotel Polonia and I went over to Carrefour to stock up on snack bars and water.

I hadn't eaten much today so I wandered across the other road from the hotel into the edge of Old Town. Luckily I found a restaurant that had delicious chicken soup with kreplach AND chicken schnitzel with french fries. Most satisfying.

I am thinking about writing a guide book for chicken soups of Poland.... or not.

Trans Europa Day 24 Bobolice to Krakow - 91km

Did not sleep well and woke up with an uneasy stomach. Not a good sign...

Packed up the very dewy tent, had a little cereal for breakfast and set off into castle territory - and  HILLS!!!                          

I don't like hills at the best of times; and today was certainly not the best of times. Despite Merlin's best efforts, hill after hill after hill was taking its toll on my back and I had to walk  a few times. The morning was getting warmer and I stopped for an ice cream here and a Coke there. Not the best for an unsettled stomach. I finally had to what the bears do in the woods and I was glad to see the lunch truck at around 65km. I could not actually eat anything so decided to call it a day and vanned in to Krakow, thus avoiding the treacherous tram tracks which were waiting to grab my front tyre.
 
There were a few interesting little towns with their church and square along the way and another big castle at Skala.

                











The Polonia Hotel is camp for the next 3 nights and quite well located on the edge of the Old City and three tram stops from the Jewish area Kazimierz. John agreed to accompany me to dinner at Hotel Ester in Kazimierz and we shared a delicious meal of cholent, latkes with smoked salmon, green salad and desserts all to the accompaniment of a klezmer band - fabulous!

OCHI CHORNYA!!

                 

                             

Trans Europa Day 23 Smardzewice to Bobolice - 143km

Woke up feeling not bad and, with much cooler weather, I set out in the hope of riding a full day.

Not long out of camp, I rode past a Catholic cemetery with every wall graffitised with the Star of David and the initials "LKS" which I understand is the Lodz soccer team, known for its antisemitism.

I just don't get it. Not a Jew in sight and a long way from Lodz so what's the point. I just don't get it...

Onward through rolling terrain and I was feeling OK when I got to lunch at 75km. If not today, then when? So I bit the bullet and decided I would push on and break through the mental barrier.

A few interesting sights along the way and finally made it in to camp with 8 hours actual time in the saddle and 143km on the odometer. My longest ride in quite some time.

Set up the tent and had dinner before a nice warm shower and an early night. It got quite cool during the night and the dogs of the area decided to talk right through the night. Such is life in the countryside...
                                         
                                              

Trans Europa Day 22 Warsaw to Smardzewice - 142km

 

Although I saw a fair bit of of Warsaw trhis time I barely scratched the surface. I would like to come back when the new Jewish museum is completed and delve further into the historical landmarks. There is also a museum devoted to the Warsaw uprising of 1944 which one of our riders visited and recommended. Something for next time.

At breakfast we bade farewell to Rodney and Jules who are returning to Israel and I plan to meet up with them when I am on IsraelRide in November.

We convoyed out together for about 14km and as the sun got stronger I felt weaker. I made it to lunch at 75km but the thought of cycling a further 67km was too much for me. Walli threw in the towel at lunch (maybe we were both suffering from post katchke syndrome?) and we vanned in to camp where Miles was back on duty and made a very tasty dinner of gnocci with gorgonzola served with grilled chicken legs.

Retired to the tent for a good night's sleep and with the prospect of cooler weather tomorrow.

Trans Europa Day 21 Warsaw Rest Day - 0km

PART 2


My dad was born in Warsaw and grew up in an apartment building at Chlodna 20. I visited the building in 2005 and did not feel the need to revisit. That is until I read that a new illuminated footbridge had been erected in Chlodna in 2011.

Chlodna 20 still stands as it did in my father's day.. Not only is it an outstanding example of art nouveau Warsaw, but there’s also a bit of history behind it. Built in 1913 this is the former residence of Adam Czerniaków who assumed fame as head of the Judenrat (the Jewish led organization responsible for implementing Nazi orders in the Ghetto). After my father left for Australia in 1938 and when the ghetto was established in 1940, I gather the residents of the Building were evicted into the general ghetto and the building was taken over as Judenrat headquarters.

Chlodna 20 balcony

Outside Chlodna 20

One of the most recognizable images of life in the Warsaw Ghetto was that of the footbridge over Chlodna that linked the small and large Ghettos. Roughly 400,000 people (around 30 percent of the city’s population at the time) were wedged into an area that took up just 2.5 percent of the city itself and was divided into two areas with the footbridge the only link between them.

Original footbrige connecting the ghetto sections 1940-1942

There wasn’t much in the way of an official monument to mark the bridge’s former location on the street until in 2011 when the city unveiled Footbridge of Memory, an installation designed by Tomasz Tusch-Lec that is made up of two pairs of metal poles connected across the road by optical fibres. At night the fibres become illuminated and mimic the shape of the footbridge over Chlodna. During the day when the installation isn’t as striking visitors can peer through viewfinders at the base of each pole to see photographs of Ghetto life. Here's a link: New installation

Trans Europa Day 21 Warsaw Rest Day - 0km

PART 1

As is my custom on rest days, it's about the city, street art and people watching. And food, of course!

It was quite a warm day in Warsaw and, after doing laundry,  I wandered around the old town which has been fully reconstructed after the Germans bombed it to smithereens in 1944.

Six of us set off for dinner. Four felt like Italian but Walli and I opted for katchke (duck) which was absolutely delicious!

Just the katchke head remains..