Four plus three from Poland

Weekend in Krakow

During our two week appeal period, you pretty much could sit and watch the clock slowly tick by each second, minute, hour, and day. To help Father Time along, we decided to go to the city of Krakow in southern Poland. It is about a four hour drive but thankfully it was all divided highway.

We stayed in a Novotel Hotel next to the river which had great views of the old castle. It was so nice. We had to get three rooms since there are now NINE of us Clements. Two of our older boys stayed in a room next to our other two rooms which had a connect door. Even with three rooms they still had to bring in roll-away beds for each room since most rooms in Poland are geared for two people.

After checking in at the front desk, the new kids had their very first experience on an elevator. Their eyes were so big as the doors closed and they could feel the elevator going up. It is fun to see them have such amazement over little things that we take granted.

After getting to the rooms and when we first looked out the window, we saw the big, old castle. Peter screamed in an excited voice, "DRAGON!!!" We of course thought that he must think that every castle must come with its own. He tried to explain to us in Polish and lots of hand motions that there is a dragon over there. OK, we will have to check this one out.

The hotel was $85 per night per room so a bit pricey since we needed three rooms but it was so nice. The beds were soft...I miss my bed at home. The internet actually worked. There was actually people on TV that spoke English. The bathrooms had instant hot water. We could adjust the thermostat. It was great.

After getting settled in, we walked over to the Market Square. Wow! It is this huge square in the middle of town that has restaurants, shops, and a big, beautiful church. We found a place that served sandwiches and sat outside under the big umbrellas and heat lamps. Our new kids sat in amazement at all the horse drawn carriages lined up.

So after our late lunch or early dinner, we took a carriage ride (everyone less Robyn and Sullivan). The new kids had these big smiles on their faces the entire 30 minute ride ($30 US). After returning, the driver was kind enough to allow us to pet the horses. More smiles and excitement from our new kids. Our original kids of course had a great time just watching the new ones getting excited.

On our way back to the hotel (and soft, comfortable beds), we headed by the castle. It is actually open to the public so we decided to walk around a bit. It has great views of the river and parts of the city. Then while looking down over the top of the castle walls, we saw it, a true fire breathing dragon! It was really breathing fire every few minutes. So we headed back out the gates and on to investigate. There at the bottom of the castle walls and near the river was a huge metal statue of a dragon and every few minutes or so it would breath out this big ball of fire -more screaming and jumping about by the new kids.