Commies!

From the Jewish cemetery in Prague where 12,000 Jews are buried 12 deep to buildings and people and shoes, there is still a great deal of the "old way". Poland has only been free from Communist rule since 1989.

Don't worry - things will get brighter - but the Communist (Russia) presence is such recent history and so much was done to this part of Europe. These are the guides for the Wieliczka Salt Mine a little away from center of Krakow. They were very structured and did not like it if anyone strayed from the tourist path!

These are some of the many high-rise apartment buildings we have seen in both the Czech Republic and the Republic of Poland - half the people in Prague still live in these. They are everywhere.

One of the many train stations we passed from Prague to Krakow - these people were so cute that when I took a picture they waved and smiled - in the not so olden days they would not have been allowed to travel at all.

A typical train station in the countryside of Poland - there is still a lot of work to be done and it will require lots of money - like Greece, Spain and Portugal the richer countries of the EU (ex. Germany, Sweden) etc will need to financially support all this.

I'm trying to get some rhyme or reason to these posts - I think I will do groups - places we stayed, foods we ate, things we saw!!! Right now have just had dinner in a restaurant in Krakow where dignitaries dined along with George HW Bush and Steven Spielberg and Kate Moss - we had a lovely view. Also today we found it quite a challenge even after asking - how to get where we wanted to go. Met the cutest old guy on a public bus who looked at our map and got us to Wawel Cathedral. This is where the President of Poland and His wife are entombed after they were killed in the recent plane crash in Russia.