Today I will be telling about our visit to Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral in Krakow.  Unfortunately we could not take pictures in the main part of the Cathdral.  Otherwise, you would be seeing lots and lots of pictures.  It is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen!  St. Stanislaw's remains are in the cathedral in a huge silver reliquary that appears like a coffin.  It was made around 1670 and is stunning!  There are various chapels around the cathedral - one of the most well known is the Zygmunt Chapel which has a golden dome above it.  The Castle and Cathedral are on a high hill which has been inhabited since ancient times.  You can see the wall surrounding the bottom of the hill in this photo.

There were some special observances being held that day so there was a military parade and you can see the flags in the picture.  For awhile, on our return from visiting the Castle and Cathedral, we were walking right alongside the young people in the parade.  That was quite an experience!

This is a part of Wawel Castle.  We did not go inside it so I cannot tell you a lot about it. This view looks at the courtyard.  The castle itself is now a museum.  So much is special about Krakow but adding to this is that Krakow survived World War I and II without damage so you are looking at authentic buildings when you visit Krakow and UNESCO included the historic center of Krakow on its first list of world cultural heritage sites.

Here is a view of Wawel Cathedral.  You can see that it was a beautiful, sunny day there.  We were privileged to go to Mass at Wawel Cathedral.  I believe it was said by the Bishop that day.  Most incredible of all was that they announced that there were visitors at the Mass from Ohio, Michigan, and South Carolina!  (Yes, that was our small group.)  This is the place were the kings of Poland were crowned and where their funerals were held and they were buried, going back for about 1,000 years so I couldn't help but think about our small group from the U.S. and how we had just arrived days ago and here we were attending Mass where the kings once stood and they mentioned us!  It was humbling.

Sadly, here is a picture of the tomb of the president of Poland and his wife who were killed in the tragic plane crash earlier in the year while on their way to a ceremony related to Katyn.  They are buried below Wawel Cathedral.  The only places I saw people taking pictures were at this location and another location also below Wawel Cathedral where a heroic man from earlier days in Poland was buried.  I am very careful not to take pictures where they are not allowed.  When I was in Monoco years ago, a lady took a picture of a place that did not allow pictures and the guards took her camera from her and removed her entire roll of film.  Can you imagine how that would make you feel after you had a lots of once in a lifetime pictures?  I guess with digital these days, you might get your digital card removed from the camera.  Luckily we were all careful in Poland and I did not ever see that happen with visitors' cameras on this trip.

One last point about Wawel Castle is that there is the legend of the dragon.  When the king first established residence here, there was a dragon who lived in a cave at the bottom of the hill and ate the sheep and frightened the people in the town.  A cunning man was able to kill the dragon so the people could live in peace.  In memory of this legend, there is a huge bronze dragon outside the cave at the bottom of the hill.  We only saw him from the top of the hill and trees were in the way, but every once in a while, he breathes out actual fire.  Quite impressive!  With the poor view for my camera, I had to settle for a post card showing the fire breathing dragon.