Chill, art, walks and all that jazz...

 Starting the day in a hidden cafe, serving superb coffee, and playing great music from real lps- guess what it's called - Vinyl Cafe.. A superb breakfast served with my coffee , listening to 1950s jazz..

Then it was off to see an amazing 360 degree panoramic painting depicting a battle in the 18th century between the Poles and the Russians.

The Panorama of the Battle of Racławice. It's 15 metres high, and took 9 months to paint by Jan Styka, along with a few of his artist mates.  

It was accompanied by a very good audio description, with surround sound battle effects. I thought it was brilliant.

In the afternoon, I went on a guided walk, focussing on the Jews and WW2.  Really interesting that this city was German throughout the war, and only damaged in the final few months when the Soviets besieged it and then destroyed large parts it.

Some terrible things happened during WW2:

During the walk,we were shown this building with embedded cannon balls from the Napoleonic wars:

I finished off the day by spending the evening listening to live music in this basement jazz club, reminiscent of jazz clubs in New York or Chicago in the 1930s.   There was 2 hours of absolutely brilliant music by very talented musicians.

The drummer, particularly, was stunning. He gave a drum solo that was so very nearly as good as Buddy Rich's.  A great way to end the day.

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I'm sat in Vinyl Cafe writing this blog, and they've played some 60s Tamla Motown, and now playing Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

I can't help declaring that I really do wish my dear wife Pam was with me on this trip.