Five go to Krakow (December 2013)

Regina, Bego, Phil, Lorenzo and I visited Krakow for their tango marathon. We were a great team and did not just dance at the marathon but in a street in the Jewish quarter when some Klezmer music wafted out from a shop, and in the restaurant attached to the hotel. Here there was a 3 piece live band and met our request for a tango instantly. How do they do that without any music. Regina and I danced in a little space between two parts of the restaurant and managed to avoid the many waiters who were carrying loaded trays of drinks!
Krakow is a wonderful city with so many splendid buildings and is wonderful to wander around, being fortified with hot spiced wine against the bitter cold. There is the bugler playing from high in the tower, every hour on the hour, but stopping mid-phrase, just at the point when the original bugler, warning of invasion, was shot! Now into the best chocolate shop in the world. I had a hot white chocolate with cherries. Divine!
Then there is the Smocza Dragon!
For some totally irrational reason I was not looking forward to the food. But I was so wrong! The food was great, lovely fish, potato pancakes filled with tender beef, some amazing soups. My only complaint was that the portions were so large!
The tango was good but not inspirational. There were many lovely partners and it was my fault that I did not dance with many more. The cabaceo was not really operating which throws me off my axis a bit.
On our first evening we braved driving hail to go to a moored boat where we had been promised a milonga. In fact it was Salsa, Bachacha and other amazing Latin dances. The average age until we arrived was about 25! The kind DJ had one tango track which he played twice for us. The other four were dancing and justly earned some applause. We managed tango to some other tracks. However watching the hip movements of some of the dancers would have had those who think twerking is worth watching, returning to the dance studio.

Three of us visited Auschwitz. Memories of Kracow and the tango will fade. I will not forget Auschwitz. It was an experience that I could not attempt to describe, nor would I take any photos. I do not need any to jog my memory and it would not make sense to show them to anyone. Please visit.