Poland Trip-Day Four: Krakow

Tuesday June 24th, 2014

Our fourth day started with breakfast at Magda's parents house.  It was so delicious, more ham, more kielbasa, and these delicious eggs.  They were kind of like deviled eggs but it wasn't ha-they were so good!!  After breakfast we loaded back up into the cars are headed back into Krakow.  Rod and Julie had arrived the night before and Monte, Angie, Nicolle, Drew and Nicole were arriving around 1:00 and we were picking them up from the airport.  The plan was to pick them up and then head to check into our apartment in Krakow where we would be staying for the next two night.  Then we planned to go to Wawel Royal Castle.  

We arrived at the airport and we waited for the five of them to come walking through the doors from baggage claim but soon the airport got very empty and they were yet to emerge.  Then we found out they never made their flight.  Their original flight from Chicago was delayed and they missed the connection in Germany.  Three of them were for sure on the next flight out and the other two were on standby.  Either way, none of them would be arriving until after 5:00 PM so we headed back into the city, checked into our apartment and then made a quick dash to the castle because we had a 3:00 Tour set up with and English speaking guide.  

Magda did such a wonderful job of setting up tours.  With such a large group it made things so much easier to have everything planned ahead of time, especially with such a short amount of time in Krakow.  

We ended up being a little late to our tour but got the bulk of it, although rushed.  Honestly, I don't remember much about the castle (this is what happens when you try to recall information from six weeks ago!)  It was old (dates back to the 11th century) and houses very old artifacts including one collection of tapestries that is the largest collection.  One thing to note is that when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany quite a bit of art and historical artifacts had to be hidden or sent away.  Many things were lost during this time.  

Its hard to tell from the pictures but John thought these dragon head downspouts were pretty neat.  

Legend says that in the cave picture below there was a dragon that lived beneath Wawel Hill.  This is the hill the castle sits on.  (pronouced "Vavel").  Apparently it was a terible dragon that would ravage the country side.  Long story short, a young man named Krak destroyed the dragon, married the princess, and became King.  The city of Krakow is named after him-at least that is what the story says.  

You could tour his cave if you want-we did not.  

After the castle tour, we walked our way to the restaraunt which was called "Pod Wawelem" which I think means something along the lines of being at the foot of Wawel Castle.   Here is thier website.  Pod Wawelem

We had reservations and arrived on time but the Chicago group had just arrived so we were waiting for them to make their way to the restaurant.  So we drank while we waited :). After everyone arrived we order our food and it was soo good!  

Had to get a picture of this. . . I guess people in Poland drink so much they need puke sinks in the bathroom. They only have this in the men's bathroom so I guess women know how to handle their alcohol ;)

I ordered the Kabob-and I can not believe how big it was!!! Seriously!  But it was SO delicious!!!! I could not stop eating it! 

My parents ordered the meat platter and it too was HUGE!!  

After dinner and drinks we walked to Krakow's Old Town Square which is the historical center of Krakow. It is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dates back to 1257.    Although some of the buildings have gone under some renovations it was still so beautiful! 

All around the outside of the square there were bars/restaurants with outdoor seating complete with blankets in case you get chilly.  

I ordered a Mulled Wine and it was delicious!  After a drink or two, we made our way back to the apartment we were staying at a few blocks away.  

George Strait-April Date Night

Way back in November, John and I decided right before tickets went on sale to get tickets for George Strait.  We figured it would be a wonderful date night idea.  So we got tickets for just the two of us.  Not long after, we discovered that there was a bunch of us that all got separate tickets so we decided to all ride down together.  We wanted to get a limo but it was going to be too expensive for the amount of time actually using the limo so we ended up renting a 15 passenger van and hired some friends to drive us and pick us up!  It was the perfect arrangement.  

The crew!  

Me and my honey :)  I just love this guy

Our seats were decent.  Not on the floor but in one of the first few rows of the 100 Level.  The concert overall was okay.  It was his farewell tour and was happy that we went since I have always wanted to see him.  Ronnie Dunn (from Brooks and Dunn) was his opener and I really enjoyed that part because I knew all the songs.  With George he has so many older songs that I think I only recognized like half of them.  I think I was mainly dissapointed because he didn't sing "I Cross My Heart" which is John and my wedding song (and it inscribed in his wedding band).  Oh and when he came back on for his encore he sang a song that really isn't well known and the crowd totally died down.  So I guess that is my honest review of his performance.  Super glad we went, had an awesome time, loved spending time with my honey as well as our friends and was happy to finally see this guy in concert! 

August Date Night-Iowa State Fair and Dierks Bentley Concert

Two weekends ago John and I spent the afternoon and night at the Iowa State Fair for our date night.  We aren't huge fair people, although this will probably change now that we have a child but up until this point, we only go to the fair when we have a concert at night.  Lets look back a little at the previous years...

2007-No Fair-we were getting married

2008- No Fair-No Excuse :)

2009-State Fair with the our good friends Adam and Ruth and Marc and Amber.  We had tickets to go see Gary Allan!  

2010-State Fair with our good friends RAndi and Joe and Marc and Amber.  We had tickets to go see Sugarland

2011-No fair-I had tickets to see Sugarland but they ended up cancelling the concert because the night before they had that big storm in Indiana and their stage/set collapsed.  We did end up going to the Minnesota State Fair with my family that year instead. 

2012-No Fair

2013-Well here we are this year.  We had a great time walking around the fair and enjoying one of the best concerts ever! 

The one thing I look forward to enjoying the most is "Pork Chop on a Stick"  It seriously is the best ever!  I had a pork chop on-a-stick at the MN State Fair and it definitely did not compare the ones at the Iowa State Fair-so it was the first thing we did when we got there. 

After that we spent some time in the Craft Beer Tent sampling a variety of yummy beer.  

I loved the little 5oz cups :)  Then off to check out the "Biggest Bull". 

Then on to the "Biggest Boar"

We ate some more food including:  Ribbon Taters, Deep Fried Pickle Dogs, Mini Donuts, Corn Dog, Lemonade, and Bacon-wrapped Smokies on a Stick (which were terrible and we agreed was the worst decision we made). John also got some ice cream in Ag Building. 

Also in the Ag Building we visited we had to visit the butter sculptures.  This year it highlighted the 100th Anniversary of Lincoln Highway-if you remember from my trip to Idaho we live along the Lincoln Highway and I love learning about the history of it.  

And of course the classic "Butter Cow"

We also came across this window display which immediately reminded us of Elsie-She is obsessed with peppers right now and will go to the fridge begging for "peppas".  I think if she saw this she would go nuts :)

We walked around for a little bit more before heading to the Grandstand for the concert!  

I was so excited for our concert.  I know I mentioned this before but we had AWESOME seats.  We were in Row 1 center stage in the Grandstand.  So yes there were all the seats on the floor but we had a clear line straight to the performer.  Nothing obstructing our view.  We also had 4-5 feet in front of us between our seats and the little fence which means I had plenty of room to dance ;)

Although I was excited for the concert I was excited to be spending time with John :)  I just love our monthly date nights.  

The opening act was Justin Moore and he was REALLY good too!  Definitely enjoyed his performance. 

The out came Dierks.  It was such a good show!  So much fun and of course he know how to entertain the crowd!  I never sat down and never stopped moving!  

I just had to take a pic of this.  During his perfomance of "Home" he asked everyone to take out their phones and light them up.  The whole grandstand was lit up! 

I was so sad when it was all over.  I will seriosuly see him again the next time he comes around.  Hopefully, that will be sooner than later.