Kazmierz, finding a bit of Balance
Leaving Auschwitz, driving, decompressing and discussing, we stopped for what was our second best ever gas station meal. The first was in Pecos, NM with friends for burritos, sitting on a bench almost next to the pumps. This time, in the Polish countryside, was a lovely flowered deck around the corner from the pumps ( still attached to the gas station) and alongside a garden where a watermelon and mint cocktail and a duck breast salad and beer helped lighten the atmosphere.
We headed back into Krakow to the old Jewish quarter, where after years of dilapidation, a revival has occurred. Although there are not many Jews, the synagogues are being preserved, the cemeteries opened and the cafes alive with Klezmer music, a true melding of Polish and Jewish culture.
Walking through the New Cemetery, with many graves and headstones from the 15th Century, slanting rays of late afternoon sun stretching across the unique metal scrolls resting atop the stones, brought some serenity back to the day. At the far left, a hilly grassy mound of graves with no stones. At the far right, a mosaic wall made of the rescued pieces of the stones from those unmarked graves. A bit more symmetry and balance to the day.
There were cafes with hummus and cholent and latkes, charoset and borscht. We skipped on heavy food and went Asian for some Yom Tom soup and Yellow Tofu Curry, yum! Heading home to the Niebieski Spa Hotel to pack, we planned for a tomorrow full of chores- there was packing and a package to post and laundry to do before we could head back to Prague and await our flight to our next destination, Italy.
Early Monday, package on its way for about a third of the price of any other country, we settled into the Franzia Cafe, where you can listen to some decent music, sit on a comfy couch, have a latte or a beer and do your laundry.
We were probably the oldest people by about thirty years but the coffee was good, our clothes are clean and we are ready to move on.
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