more sights to see

 

Up and in the restaurant early, and with a very unhealthy amount of cheese consumed as well as 'cakes'  under my belt  ( which if I wore a belt would have had to be taken off), I set off for a walk up to Wawel Royal Castle.

Heading out with the dog walkers along the river, and speaking to every dog I passed, I found the Polish equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I arrived at the castle and headed off to the Crown Treasury. Each area of the castle is payable by ticket   (you can buy one for all the areas), all of the outside areas are free to roam around and it really is a beauty.

The crown treasury consisted of 12 rooms of exhibits, all information given and lots of films explaining the history of them. I was fascinated, (obviously) and the one thing that really surprised me was the back of a bejewelled shield. It was fabric lined at the back and had a little cushion for your  fingers/knuckles to rest on. I really think that I need to get out more when this is the stuff that amazes me!!!!

There was a miniature that had about  4 rows of diamonds around it, the photo does not do justice to the sparkle of them, I was peering in the cabinet to get a good look at the diamonds just seeing how they were cut (looked very roughly).

I sat through a film about the crown jewels and how they were lost, melted down, remade, lost, melted down, remade........ I was totally in seventh heaven.

The castle itself , with its  multi building area and  Wawel Cathedral (closed due to a church service) was a morning well spent.

I walked back 'the long way' and  came through the old town, stopping off for a beer in the square. By this point it was past 1pm and I was a bit tired, so I made my way back to the hotel for a nap.

45mins later I was up and raring to go. However the weather had taken a real turn with lashing rain and what felt like a wind chill factor of -100. I headed out to the river with the intension of walking to the Jewish Quarter, but it really was filthy weather and so I headed back to the hotel to dry off  and unfreeze my cheeks and have a glass of champers.

I had also forgotten that it was Sunday and  the supermarkets were closed ( civilised), there were a couple of Carrefour Express, but having been into one I didn't think another soaking was worth it as they had a very small wine selection. So my chance of sampling another bottle of Polish wine was lost.

The remainder of my afternoon was spent watching Netflix, to be honest I was tired with over 45000 steps since Friday, I thought I deserved a bit of feet up time.

I then had a long soak in the fabulous, deep bath and covering myself in the fabulous Rituals toiletries supplied by the hotel, I floated out of the bathroom in a haze of lotus flower & white tea.

Time for dinner and a meal that I had been looking forward to for a couple of months after reading the menu online. I headed up to the roof top restaurant and decided against a starter. I ordered slow roasted beef cheeks with wild mushrooms and flaked almonds, sweet potato puree with roasted peaches and I order a side of roasted potatoes, too many for one person.

After that I couldn't even think about dessert, so two glasses of champagne  and then I went for a walk by the river ( to try to aid digestion), and half an hour later I was back in my room watching Netflix.

What a day.

And now I am preparing for another wet and windy walk to the basilica which I didn't do yesterday.