Sky in Krakow

I wanted the family to come with me on my reporting trip to Poland, but various things got in the way - True is enrolled in a wonderful French soccer day camp that he loves, for one - and so Sky and I came on our own.

The picture above is an aerial view of the town's main square.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and as I didn't have any appointments until 5 p.m., we walked around. Poor Sky was starving.

So, what do you do with a hungry 12 year old in Poland? Eat Turkish! We had kebab sandwiches and Sky finished with soft ice cream for desert.

We ate on the street and I warned Sky to lean forward, so he doesn't dribble sauce on his shirt. A moment later, he pointed out this stain. It was on my shirt, not his.

This is a random picture of Sky in the square.

And another. We were just killing time.

Eventually, we went back to the hotel to change my shirt and meet the people I was supposed to meet. We went to a museum of Jewish life in Poland and then to a concert of Jewish music in the old synagogue in Krakow's former Jewish district, Kazimierz.

The main attraction was Theodore Bikel. He was great.

Sky met him briefly after the show, though there was a long line of people waiting to meet him so we didn't get to say much. We did get a picture, though.

Sky knew who he was because we had recently watched My Fair Lady at home.



Bikel played the Hungarian linguist who sets out to unmask Audrey Hepburn as a fraud and finally announces that she is a Hungarian Princess because her English is too perfect.

We got back to the hotel late. Sky had sphagetti Bolognese in the room and we went to bed.

We had to get up early this morning because we went to Auschwitz today. The hotel has a wonderful breakfast room and a nice buffet.

We spent most of the day at Auschwitz (see below).

This evening we went in search of a real Polish restaurant.

We wandered around the main square. A drop of bubble solution fell in Sky's hair while I was taking this picture.

It took a while to find a restaurant to our liking.

But Krakow is nice and there are always things to look at.

Finally, we settled into a restaurant with a roaring wood fire oven. I ordered all sorts of Polish dishes, from potato pancakes to perogis to a frying pan of meat and cabbage straight from the fire.

Sky had spaghetti Bolognese.