Off To Krakow

Friday morning we had the opportunity to visit the museums inside of Opole University.  There were multiple museums consisting of automobiles, x-ray machines and other lenses.  There were pieces that were trials in NASA tests as well as detailed x-ray pieces that are no longer used.  The car museum was small compared to what we would consider a museum in the United States, but it was chocked full of information that you wouldn't believe!

As I mentioned, all of these museums were actually part of the university.  There was a small section of the entryway of the museum that showcased memorabilia about the university itself.  I found this most interesting because it really painted a picture of who the founders of the university were, and why they decided to form it.  Below are a few pictures of the Chinese Tea Room, the Automobile Museum and the Opole University Exhibit.

The picture below is of the Chinese Tea Room.  As you can see, the room was full of beautiful China, a silk screen worth over $20,000 and Chinese written on some walls.  It was nice to see a Polish University embrace another country's art and language.  America seems to be lacking some appreciation for those types of things.

 The machine pictured below was a part of the x-ray museum.  Although we were not able to know exactly where it came from, it is obvious that it was a very high-tech machine back in it's day.

 Here is a close up of the Chinese language, translated to Polish, on the walls of the Chinese Tea Room.

 This is the group of us viewing the Opole University Exhibit found in the museum building.

After the museum, we were off to Krakow!!

We arrived late in the afternoon, but had plenty of time to settle into our weekend get-away.  The Euro-Room hostel is where we stayed for the weekend, and it was so nice!!

 
One thing about Poland is that they rarely have elevators!  Five flights of stairs separated us from our beds, but luckily we didn't bring our entire suitcases!  Once we got settled in, we were allowed to roam the city and spend the night exploring Krakow.

A group of us ended up going to get some food and walking around the city.  We found a really nice castle, walked along the river, and explored a few of the things the city was known for.  We stumbled upon a giant dragon statue that actually shot fire out.  It was scary the first time it happened, but it was really neat!

 Before heading back to the Hostel, we came across this group of street performers who were dancing and singing along to some music.  It was really fun to watch and really showed the culture.  The first night in Krakow really encased the Polish hospitality to me.  It was just a bunch of friendly people spending time in the city center enjoying the company and beautiful night.  After the performance was over, we went back to our Hostel.  Tomorrow we were going to Auschwitz and to a salt mine.