After very long travels from Newark, NJ -->Warsaw Airport --> Krakow Airport --> Rental Car --> Hotel, we finally made it in time to catch the end of the day here. Tonight we are staying in the old town of Kazimierz which is also known as the old Jewish District in Krakow. As soon as land I can't help but take in the friend spring like air due to all the surrounding mountains. The weather this time of year ranges in the 60's- mid 70's Fahrenheit so naturally I was very excited to get more use out of the brand new leather jacket I never got to wear in New York.
As we pull up to the hotel I see we are in a typical European Square like neighborhood complete with tree and flower lined blocks with cobblestone roads, Jewish/Yiddish bookstores, museums, Kosher cafe's with coinciding names in Hebrew, Klezmer music.. hey- even our hotel's is called the Klezmer hotel! In any case my Dad quickly pointed out to me that we're in the Polish equivalent of Disney World, only this time it was starring the Jews and not Mickey Mouse. I piped up out loud and asked in all seriousness if this area was called "Jew-Town" and he then ssh-ed me as he didn't want anyone to hear me ask that. I didn't think it was such an outlandish question because after all Jew-Town is also the name of a metro stop and neighborhood in Paris (Think the original Le Marais).
In any case I was a bit shocked to find out that all the physical Jewish culture I was just describing in Kazimierz was only developed in the past fifteen years. Why you ask? Because a little movie that came out in 1993 by Steven Spielberg called Schindlers List. A large part of Schindler's list actually took place in this very district of Krakow that I'm staying in. In the movie they depicted Jews expelled from their homes and killed in cold blooded murder. The Nazi's ransacked and destroyed most of the neighborhood until there was no one left. In the 1990's if you went to Kazimierz you were more likely to find Cocaine then Klezmer, I was told it was a total dump. After the movie came out, the entire area of Krakow received a lot of attention and renewed interest in visitors and tourists. They decided to revamp the area to replicate what the area used to look like combined of course with their perception of light and stereotypical Jewish fun. Although most of the restaurants advertise "Kosher Food" it is more so kosher style with misspelled Hebrew and some ham and cheese on the side. PS. Ariel Cafe, nice touch on the Matzah instead of bread, I'm sure everyone craves that ;)
Before I go to sleep I wanted to mention a little bit more about the hotel we are staying at, "The Klezmer Hotel" (Please see http://www.klezmer.pl/ for more of a visual.) We walk into the heimish smells of fried krepalach and Chulant while passing their first floor restaurant..yum. The hotel manager/waiter/clerk/bell boy then proceeds to carry all our luggage up the stairs of this Pre-War non elevator building. As soon as we walk in the room I immediately felt a presence, kind of life a Back to the Future moment (that is if Marty went to Krakow Part 4.) In all seriousness though, all the furniture and decor is designed to look like 1930's Poland era. Most of it looks very antique and may as well be the real deal. Where we are staying is actually more of a separate one and half bedroom suite with windows overlooking the town square. We soon left the room to take advantage of the setting sun and tour the neighborhood a bit (pictures coming soon) followed by a night cap at a nearby cafe. When we returned to the hotel I asked the Manager what this building used to be before it was renovated. He said the entire downstairs area was composed of Jewish Ritual Baths i.e Mikvahs. And what about upstairs? Before the war they were apartments. My gut feeling was correct. As we came back to the room I could hear the people socializing outside at the cafes listening and singing along to Klezmer music. The walls/skeleton of the hotel suite (formerly apartment) were all in tact. You can tell the room I'm sleeping in was the main bedroom and where my parents are sleeping with the desk, table, couches and other bed was the living and dining room area. There's another thing, after you are in the main room and before you enter the overly large bathroom(that probably housed a tub and not a shower) there is a narrow open room right off of it almost like an extended hallway with carpeting with a little mirror on a side table. It occurred to me while walking out of the shower that is narrow room with no real purpose used to be a kitchen. The whole history of what was most likely a Jewish Family owned apartment was unraveling before my imaginative eyes. I already could picture their whole lifestyle of going to the Mikvah downstairs, cafe's next door, Synagogue across the street and don't forget the two Yeshivah's around the corner. So my cute, clean and quaint hotel has now turned into a spiritual Jewish history flashback that's a little eerie but I hope I can only learn and take from tonight's sleepover experience. Going forward, It only inspires everything else on this journey to be more real than I ever thought possible.
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