Krakow Day Two

A relaxed start to the day. Such comfy beds! A very nice breakfast spread too, complete with ‘bubbly’   ‘bubbles’ (actually - cider, but the thought was there). This is a ‘luxury’ hotel, but funnily enough, it’s about half the price of most the (non-luxurious) hotels on our North Coast 500 in Scotland this summer! After breakfast we checked out the gym, the spa and the little cocktail bar for later visits. (No, those are not curtains in the pool area, but gold mosaic tiles.)

The day was warmer than yesterday - and the sun almost came out. I was too warm in my big coat, my duffle coat would have been fine, but the days soon start getting very cold again in the early afternoon.

We wandered in to the main square, where it’s great to sit and people watch. I watched the woman in National Dress, making people strike different poses for photos. Most amusing. She made the men wear a silly traditional hat, and strike a flamboyant pose, holding her skirt out. But they all complied readily.

The pigeons appreciated the warmer weather, and were not huddled together on the ground as they were yesterday, but today they were being their usual annoying selves - swooping en masse if they saw a crumb dropping hundreds of yards away - swooshing past people at head height. Quite unnerving. The horses were as splendid as ever, waiting patiently for customers. The carriages today all had their roofs down.

I came back to the hotel (6,565 steps) when it started getting colder, but JR had a wander round a few shops. I wanted to use the pool in the hotel, and hoped it would be empty in the afternoon. And it was. It’s splendidly opulent. The first button I pressed, I was propelled into the middle of the pool, so strong was the torrent of water. If you managed to stay in the torrent, it was like someone was thumping you viciously on the back. T’was invigorating. I then sat in the sauna for about 5 minutes. I don’t really ‘get’ saunas…

We’ve booked a day trip to Zakopane in the mountains. And tomorrow we go to the Salt Mines.