Puffer Gets Brave

Things got a little busy yesterday, and we never made a post, so I'm catching it up today.  Readers might get two posts today for bonus!  My exploration of Krakow continued yesterday.  Before I went out to explore, I did some research on places I would like to see in my remaining time here.  I decided to begin the day with the old Town Hall Clock Tower.  It amazes me still that every building I go to see has centuries of rich history.  The Clock Tower has been around in one form or another since at least the 1400s.  It was at one time part of a larger building where the Krakow municipal authorities met.  It's a long way to get to the top, and you have to deal with scary dark, steep, narrow steps:

It also has several other rooms on the way to the top floor, which is right under the clock face.  Puffer of course came along to explore too.

After I left the tower, I saw one of the costumed Hussars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_hussar) in the square, and a brilliant idea struck me.  The result is the photo below.

He asked me to email him the photo and gave me his email address.

I had lunch in a little sandwich and coffee cafe tucked away from the main streets, and then I continued to the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul.  When I went in, the curators in the church handed me an audioguide in English, which was helpful but corny.  The inside of the church is decked out in Baroque style, part of the Counter Reformation effort to distinguish Catholicism as above Protestantism, I think.  There was also a crypt under the altar area where Skarga, a very important priest and royal advisor, was buried.

I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing my way around nearly the entire perimeter of the Planty.  I felt like I needed to orient myself as to what part of the Planty corresponded with which side of the Old Town and the Rynek Glowny.  It was a great day to be outside, but it was a lot of walking!

In the evening, Andy took me to the English meeting of the Language Exchange Club.  I tried a grapefruit beer and met some neat people.  In fact, I'm meeting one of those people soon today.  She needs to practice her English more, and I need someone to hang out with.

That's all for now.  Look for more later!