Saying goodbye to a new love, Krakow

   I've been hanging out in Krakow since Saturday when the five-day retreat at Auschwitz ended and most people headed for home. I've done some writing about the time I spent at Auschwitz and Birkenau--117 people from 20 countries, meditating and listening to the voices that arise out of the silence of that place--but life kept pulling me away from the computer and out into wonderful Krakow. Some people from the retreat have also stayed on, and the opportunities to continue the rich conversation about our diverse reasons to be here and our experiences on retreat proved to be irresistible. Even the unusually mild weather has drawn me outside for long walks on the winding cobblestone streets, around the corner to the Old Town Square and into Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter. 

   It seems that by making Shindler's List, Steven Spielberg has single-handedly revived Krakow as a tourist destination, and the restaurateurs, tour operators, hotel proprietors, as well as musicians and artists have responded with offerings catering especially to an interest in Jewish life and the history of Jews in Poland. Add to this the fact that the city has a huge number of students (350,000 out of a total population of one million) and that its beautiful old buildings were not destroyed during the war, and you end up with a wonderful mix of picturesque European city, university town, and cafe society. Very lively, charming, and small (and flat!) enough to walk just about everywhere. And did I mention cheap delicious food? Poland is in the European Union but still uses the Polish zloty. Perhaps that is keeping the exchange rate favorable to American tourists.

   So enough gushing about Krakow. I've fallen in love, and here are a few photos taken today, to show you some of its charms. No time for captions, but I don't think you'll need them to get the picture. I fly back tomorrow to New York, spend the night with Jim in Nyack and wind up this two-month adventure on Thursday when I land in San Francisco. There will be more blogging, I hope, especially about the retreat. That, by the way, was everything I'd hoped for. And even more.