Saturday Potpourri: Kraków at Its Finest

Today marked a good start to weekends in Kraków like I remember from last year.  We did a little bit of a variety of things.  We began the day with our first run here this year.  It was nice being able to track our exact distance with our new smartphones. 
After cleaning up and resting a bit, we trekked over to  Kraków Główny and the mall to run some errands.  First we bought our train tickets to Vienna!  Then, we went into the Galeria Krakowska (the mall) for lunch and to brave the infamous grocery store Carrefour  (see last year's post).  It's amazing how much easier doing these transactions is when you've had a little experience under your belt.  Or we may have just gotten lucky in finding people who speak more English.  Buying the train tickets could have been a language disaster.  As we left the mall, we saw that a mountain biking or perhaps extreme cycling contest was going on in the plaza outside the front doors.  There were obstacle courses set up made of giant logs, huge concrete drainage cylinders, and other large building materials.  A cyclist was "climbing" over these objects on his bike!  It was fascinating, but we couldn't really stop and watch with all of the food we'd just bought.

We were in the apartment for much of the rest of the day.  However, other cool sights and sounds seemed to keep finding their way to us.  For example, a marching band paraded right by our apartment building.

For dinner, we headed down to a Ukrainian place Andy had on his list of restaurants to show me.  It was definitely like dining in an authentic Ukrainian cellar-kitchen.

Finally, we finished the evening by scoping out the main square.  It just so happened that a free performance was not too far away from starting when we arrived, so we stayed and watched.  It was a non-verbal acting and dance performance telling the story of Janie Więnci, a fanciful man who dreamed of flying.  I don't know if this is a Polish legend or if the performance was an original story.  Either way, it was entertaining to watch.

 Here, Janie is lying on his bed, dreaming of how angels fly.

He finally achieves his goal!

I'm definitely ready for bed after this very interesting day.  I've actually had a bit of a sore throat, so sleep sounds great for both resting and healing.  After all, who knows what we'll encounter tomorrow?