Krakow Day 2

Woke up feeling great and started off for the most notorious Krakow landmark, the Wawel Royal Castle.  The castle having been newly restored is beautiful.  There are some great vistas of the Wisla river from here.  Wawel was both a castle for the royals and a university.  Copernicus was perhaps it's most famous student.  The university section houses some of the old items owned buy the royal family and the most famous painting in Poland, Leonardo Da Vinci's Lady with the Ermine.  The architecture inside was beautiful, lots of hand carved wood and marble.  Inside there are old tapestries and chairs along with a plethora of classical art of the monarchs and their families.  The highlight was definitely the Da Vinci and is a must if visiting Krakow.  After the castle I went to have lunch at Momo Cafe.  Great place with vegan and vegetarian items.. Reminded me of restaurants in Santa Cruz and SF.  Very fresh, healthy and tasty.  I had the 4 item salad and Massala Dosa.  A different take on a Dosa, but still good.  The salads were excellent.  After lunch I took a taxi across the river to check out the Oskar Schindler factory museum.  The museum takes a long time to get through.  There is lots to read.  It focuses on life in Krakow during the occupation and not so much about Schindler or the factory.  I was expecting to see more of the enamel factory intact.  Instead this is a museum inside the old factory.  Nice, but not as cool as I thought it would be.  Nevertheless, it is very interesting to learn about Krakow city during that time.  Got a ride back into the square and went to another cafe similar to Nowa Prowincja called Piwnica pod Baranami.  This place was also established by a local artist.  It had a subterranean feel to it and is decorated with all kinds of local art.  Great place to grab a coffee, tea or drink.  The best part of the day was dinner at Restauracja pod Baranem.  The food here is excellent.  I really loved this place.  I had the cabbage stuffed with rice and mushroom along with a potatoe, tomato, mushroom cheese dish that was delightful.  Highly recommended.

http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_with_an_Ermine
http://www.oskarschindlersfactory.com
http://www.piwnicapodbaranami.pl
http://podbaranem.com