Warsaw to Krakow; Dinner; Piano Recital

We left Warsaw for Krakow a day early.  We had planned to attend a "Chopin in the Park" concert, but heavy all-day rain washed that out.  It took us about 5 hours to drive from Warsaw to Krakow, in the driving rain.  Highlights from the trip:

Andel's Hotel, where we are staying, is every bit as nice as the Polonia Palace in Warsaw, but with much more glass and chrome.  Combination lunch and dinner was at 4 p.m. at Restauracya Jarema, just around the corner from our hotel.  A terrific meal, with two kinds of borscht, three choices of entree, and an amazing "nougat" dessert.

After dinner we made a mad dash (or several mad dashes, really -- in 6 taxis) to get to the Filharmonia concert hall in time for a piano recital by Olga Kern.  No pictures of the concert, of course, but I took one of the stage during intermission.  The big "65" is for the symphony's 65th year.

Ms. Kern is a prodigious talent, playing sonatas by Haydn, Chopin (of course), and Rachmaninoff, and a rhapsody by Liszt.  Truly beautiful playing, and the audience insisted on 4 encores (or was it 5; we lost count).  If she comes to a performance hall near you, run -- don't walk -- to the box office for tickets.  Tickets to this performance were 50 zł, which is about $16.50 US.

We all took the tram back to the hotel, which was another experience.  A great start to our visit to Krakow.