Notte Bianca and Amaizing Music

Back in Todi, tonight was the "notte bianca" ("white night") which means all-night street party (until dawn, hence "white"). There were long picnic tables and benches in the entire piazza, booths selling beer and snacks, and a stage at one end.

The act started around 11, I think, and had us in stitches. Picture this: five men, one woman dressed in country/mild grunge, black banner that had the Iron Maiden font spelling out Iron Mais (Mais means "corn" or "maize") with an ear of corn. In other words: a hard rock band with a country sound. Hard to picture? Trust me, we were in stitches.

Ever thought about what Mick Jagger would sound like using a banjo accompaniment? Yup, we heard that tonight (along with a light show/display throughout the piazza and onto the Duomo). And much more.

The bass player had a special paint job that made his instrument look like a shark. Next to the microphone was a miniature barbecue grill on which were resting a pink rubber pig and green rubber chicken.

At one point, interspersed with the English-language hard-rock-with-a-twang, they played a song (in Italian, called "Pop Porco") which was essentially a ballad to the pig. Yes, this was about the pig-as-food: they waxed lyrical about the "aroma of the crackling skin" and "panini" and "porchetta" (a local specialty of roast pig), and more. In between singing, the lead singer picked up the pig from the spit and had it squeak into the mike. Absolutely priceless.

We were looking them up to show Eleanor, and it turns out they've actually been on the Italian version of X-factor!

They also later played a song (in English) which talked about how delicious pig is, as well.

All in all, it was a hilarious concert. And it was just delightful because everyone's out and about and the shops are open. People of all ages (from 5 days old to easily in their 90s) are meeting and greeting and enjoying the slightly cooler evening.

Love,

Alexandra

Rynek Underground and Final Glimpses

One of the things that made me fall in love with Krakow was the ring of parkland around the old city. You can walk entirely in park (not very wide, but wide enough!) all the way around, emerging only in order to cross intersecting streets. There were little ponds, sandboxes, play areas, and the like, and it was shady and cool.

 The old city itself is really lovely, too, with lots of architectural interest. 

The old cloth market, now a set of stalls for local merchandise,
including amber (found in Poland), wooden items, and some leather goods

 Krakow, like many European cities, has been built up over the centuries. We had the opportunity to go into the relatively new underground museum that is a curated archaeological site and a display of artifacts found in the area.  The lights were very low for protective purposes (I assume), so unfortunately the photos aren't as clear as they might have been, but I hope they retain a feel for the space.

It was quite large, and included soil strata that were marked and interpreted to help the lay observer see the different levels. There were also the in situ foundations of the much earlier cloth market/wool market, including the very small (6 feet by 3 feet?) stalls used during the Medieval period.

Soil strata

Medieval knife with bone handle

Recreation of goldsmith's premises

Remains of housing after a fire during the Medieval.  

A collection of keys. 

To the left on the doorway is a hinge fragment.
This is an upper level, much more modern (1500s?)
but still below current ground level.

Horses! 

I thought the exception of chess (which according to Jeremy
was a very different game from today's version) interesting.

Sparklies! Despite anti-luxury laws,
the percentage of artifacts that were purely for purposes of appearance
indicated that self-adornment was alive and well during these times

The lower strata, with some of the larger areas

This is a photo of the outside of the church
where we attended the concert (in the main square)
while the excavations were being carried out as late as 2007

This is an outer barbican;
there were many of these protective structures, and a wall,
 incorporated into the ring parkland

Love,

Alexandra

Wawel Castle

We spent nearly all day today at Wawel Castle. First erected in the 15th century, it is a traditional fortress in the sense that it is a ring wall that contained essentially a whole town. The palace was one smallish part of it (though still plenty big to vacuum and dust); there was also a cathedral, houses, warehouses, and more. The smaller houses no longer remain, but the foundations of some can be seen in the main lawn.

Entry gate into castle walls

 Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take any interior photographs, so those who are interested will have to go see for themselves! While much of the palace had been damaged during various occupations, the recent restorations have included refurnishing (with artifacts original to the castle where possible, and period where not) to the different time periods. The guide pointed out that of course the castle was not a stagnant property, and had been redecorated and overhauled during the years.

A few rooms were absolutely stupendous, covered in embossed and painted leather. The metallic paints positively gleamed to marvellous effect. Others had frescoes, and the ceilings were uniformly gorgeous, with deep, heavy wood beams and carved panels in the latticework formed by the beams. Absolutely fantastic! This was all present both in the living quarters and the state rooms. A couple of notes that I'd neve heard: since Renaissance children were typically dressed alike (and had long hair) regardless of gender, artists typically painted boys with a dog and girls with either a cat or a caged bird. That way, you'd at least have a clue as to the identity of the kid if you found the painting later. The second comment was that artists were very much commodity items and were not commonly known by name. In fact, paintings of the time were often mass-produced, with one family member in a workshop painting the background, another painting trees, a third buildings, and so on.  In this way, a single painting could be a committee effort.

In the armoury, I learned the word "spontoon" (which, yes, is English and means "half-pike"). They had some really ornate crossbows, and I was struck by some of the leather armour with overlapping scales.

Entry into palace 

Part of the entry into the palace

Palace courtyard

Remaining frescoes

The stonework was lovely; check out the end of the
banisters, the window carving, etc.

Gargoyles are always fun!

   

DIY steak tartare for Jeremy.
Condiments include raw egg, sardine, mustard, onion, mushrooms,
and a few others that I don't remember 

The Cathedral was very busy, with many lovely bits. I found the building in its entirety to be a bit overwhelming, but that happens in a lot of older churches. As things progress, stuff is forever being added, crammed in, etc. We went up the bell tower (of course), and it was one of the most unusual bell towers I've been in. Rather than masonry, there was an interior scaffolding of wood and the bells were hung starting rather low down in the structure. Rather than all being near the top of the tower, they were quite scattered. It was also rather a short tower, as bell towers go. However, that is probably due to Wawel's position on a steepish hill in an otherwise flat floodplain.

There was an exhibition called "Lost Wawel" which might have been my favorite part. The visitor got to see the excavations of Wawel's foundations, dating to the Medieval period. These included a church dating to 1000, early walls, a Medieval burial, and more. Absolutely fascinating and well laid out with interior walkways, this was a fantastic part of the trip.

The cathedral has had several side chapel additions/renovations over the years

Jeremy photobombing me; I get the last laugh by publishing the result!

A trip up the tower (obligatory if you're with Jeremy, and fun even if you're not) for a great view and the joy of the climb, and then leaving via the Dragon's Den. From the upper terrace entrance, I was rather disappointed, because it appeared that the Dragon's Den was merely marketing for ... a spiral staircase down to the river bank. Woo hoo! At least I hadn't paid much for the privilege, and spiral staircases (particularly long, steep, narrow ones) are a great thing. But. We emerged into the most delightful set of caves formed out of porous rock (limestone, I'm guessing) with all sorts of nifty pockets and chasms and high points in the ceiling. It was truly a fairytale setting.

Ceiling of the tower we were allowed to climb (and in which we could take photos!)

Upper room of the tower

The cathedral and other buildings, seen from the tower

Downtown Krakow from the tower

Looking up into the crevices of the ceiling in the Dragon's Den

Since it was rather late in the afternoon by then, we puttered around the main square a bit and then back to the hotel for a break before dinner.

Love,

Alexandra 

Walking in Warsaw

(Sorry! This got out of order in the blog, but was the first Poland post)

Notes about Warsaw: I had not realized this specifically, but Warsaw was flattened during the second world war. As in, complete rubble. As a result, it had to be rebuilt. The citizens made the decision to rebuild the city as it had been prior to the war rather than using more modern architecture and materials.

Having experienced the earthquakes and having debates about whether and how to rebuild (and, in the case of rebuilding, whether one could call it the "historic" building), I was curious how Warsaw would "feel." Would it be like Disneyland, completely artificial? Would it seem "real"?

I came away from today feeling that the choice they made was good. In a way, it was a defiant statement of "You can't take away our heritage. This is ours and we will prevail." Not really the phoenix, but it works as a beautiful testament to the courage of the survivors. During the course of the day, we visited reconstructions of various buildings and saw photos of what the starting point had been in the early 1950s; looking at what is there now, you would never guess.

A little pond just outside the walls

We started our day at the Citadel, a fortress built in the 1830s to maintain Russian domination. It is now a military base and a museum to commemorate the Katyn Massacre of 1940. This event (actually, the massacres occurr was just shocking in its enormity, even in the context of WWII, which had so many atrocities. Approximately 22,000 Polish prisoners (officers, intelligentsia, and some everyday citizens) were executed by Russian soldiers one by one, with a level of documentation that really personalizes it. The Russian executioners reportedly took each prisoner, wrote down name and date of birth, sentenced death automatically, and took to an execution chamber where the prisoner was killed via a pistol shot to the head. And, next in line! The killing was deliberate and methodical and absolutely horrific.

 The bodies were then buried in mass graves. Of course, the coverups began immediately. The Russians blamed the Nazis. The Nazis publicized the massacres as a warning of the dangers of communism, and so on. It was only in the 1990s that Russia acknowledged culpability and permitted excavation of the sites.

The museum was beautifully done, although not speaking Polish was a hindrance. One of the really interesting aspects of the display technique was the use of square clay pipe to make cells in which individual artifacts were housed. The sheer number of combs, toothbrushes, religious items, and more spoke volumes for the individuals who died in this event.

After this was a series of memorial plaques for victims of the gas chambers (we think; that wasn't entirely clear).

This way of displaying the artifacts was so effective:
moving just because of the sheer volume of cases,
as well as some of the very prosaic items that were
carried: it really personalized the horror.

One of the halls

We thought the snails were just lovely!

Heading into "New Town"

We then took a lovely walk to New Town (actually architecturally seemingly Napoleonic), where we had lunch. We wandered back through Old Town, including the reconstructed 14th-century fort, and ended up back at the apartment, thoroughly wiped out! Fortunately, we found a fruit vendor on the way who had fresh raspberries...

Portions of New Town

About to enter the Barbican...outskirts of Old Town

In the Barbican. The photos from the 1950s showed rubble.

Just inside Old Town

Not obvious in the photo, but the stucco work was really interesting!

Love,

Alexandra