Krakow day 2

The Krakow stare mistro is probably one of the best town squares I have ever been to in Europe! The square is bustling with people, beautiful monuments adorn the town square and it is humongous! :) there is also a Christmas market and it was really lively. ;) I love pâté (if I interpret it correctly)! It is a pastry, hot and filled with cheese with cranberry sauce on it! Singaporeans will use the word SHIOK when they taste it during winter! So I spent the night at the Krakow old town square after returning from Auschwitz and the Salt mine.

I guess the salt mine is really a major highlight of my visit to Poland! I learnt a lot of general knowledge when I was there. Owing to Singapore being a tropical country and consequently we do not experience snow. As such, our understanding of the use of salt is limited to only cooking. So when the guide told us that salt is an extremely important commodity in Poland, especially during winter, my mind was filled with question marks! Apparently, salt is used to break the snow or build snow (either one, I did not really understand her explanation). So I told myself that when I get back to Singapore, I should google and find out about this. Another interesting fact: salt is used as a form of money i.e. wages and the word salary is derived from the word salt.

The visit is the first time I enter a mine and there were a lot of things that I did not understand. I ended up like a student on a field trip and kept posing the guide questions. She did the job duly and explained to me the complicated processes to her best knowledge. One of the issues was how salt is being derived. Being a mountain tortoise who lives in a country with no natural resources, I had always thought that salt comes from the sea. We heat up the seawater and through some chemical processes like evaporation, crystallisation and filtration, we end up with pure WHITE salt. But actually, salt is not always dissolved in seawater! Salt can come in solid blocks and can be grey in colour. That is because they are mixed with impurities therefore they do not appear to be white. However, if they come into contact with water, water vapour in the air inclusive, they will then dissolve in it and form white salt. The Polish guide call it cauliflower! :) while in the mine, the guide allowed us to touch the walls or even lick them to convince ourself that we are actually surrounded by salt! Even the floors are made of salt!! I had no reservations when it comes to pursuing the truth. So I rubbed my fingers against the wall then smell and taste it! OMG, it's really salty! I have indeed learnt a lot in the salt mine!