Today in Poland it's Constitution Day, celebrating the declaration of its constitution on May 3, 1791. It's the second oldest constitution in the world, next to that of the USA. The constitution was "delisted" during the era of Soviet Communist domination, but re-established after the fall of communism in 1989.
So as we set off on our site seeing walk (only about 16,000 steps today), we planned on a quick visit to the cathedral near the national museum, then a stroll through a local park along the way to an area boasting natural caves within an urban setting.
But as we strolled toward the museum we soon discover the gathering of participants in the Constitution Day parade and decide to wait for the parade to begin.
It appeared that parade participants were dressed in period costumes representing numerous eras of Polish history.
Current military forces also joined the celebrations.
Once the parade is done we stroll around the National Museum and its beautiful walkways and gardens.
We continue our walk to the caves through this park which appears to be dedicated to "the arts".
Bust of the likes of Pablo Picaso, George Gershwin, Marilyn Monroe and many others line the walkways. Poets, musicians, authors and artists from many eras are represented but the next two in particular stand out for me.
We finally arrive at the park which boasts the caves and as we walk the pathway we see these two stones etched with Roman numerals from 1 to 10. We wonder what they are for but then realize, with Poland being the very, very Christian country it is, these two "tablets" likely represent the ten commandments. Why they are placed here, nowhere near a religious edifice is beyond me.
A little further along, we find the caves. Everything is locked up and nobody near to take our money or allow entry. Of course... It's a national holiday. Why would you even think to open a tourist attraction on a day when the majority of the population has the day off? What were we thinking?
As we wander this "cave attraction" a little further, we see a couple of young men making use of the craggy rock face for their own thrills and entertainment. I couldn't watch.
Our day ended with a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. We stopped to buy a couple of parting gifts for our new found family members but then retired to the bar lounge to sooth our aching muscles with some liquid pain killer.
Tomorrow we return to the land registry office in Pawlow to continue our quest for family history. Then we'll pay another visit to Nieczulice for a few more photos and to say goodbye to those new found relatives, before returning to Krakow to join the formal Insight Vacations tour on Friday.
Even if we are unable to further our understanding of the Kopys family history, I think we would still consider this leg of our journey, a huge success. But for now to quote a famous Canadian musician, "let's just see what the morrow brings".
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