Day 12: Krakow, Poland. As we were all still fairly tired after yesterday, we took things easier today. We checked out Plac Centralny, an amazing example of Communist architecture and city planning. Functional, imposing, austere, grim, oppressive….these are all apt descriptors of the structures still standing in the area. Cafes, banks, and cheap shops now occupy these buildings, and not a lot appears to have been done to pretty things up. My ankle was hurting a lot today, so I sat and enjoyed a coffee in one of the cafes while the others explored on foot. Later we checked out a shopping center in the Jewish section…what an extreme contrast to Plac Centralny! Even though we didn’t really do anything touristy today, it was a real sobering reminder to me of the far-reaching effects of Socialism, and of the amazing progress the Poles have made since the re-introduction of Capitalism. It’s one thing to read about it in a history book, but entirely another to see it first hand. God forbid that we ever allow entrance to the incredible evil of Socialism in North America.
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| There’s that dragon again…he seems to be everywhere around here! |
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| A very modern shopping center just outside the Jewish quarter |