While this is Jonathan's 3rd year at ASW, it's only his 2nd year on the futbol team. Sports were cancelled the first year due to covid and none of the teams traveled last year for the same reason. The team was divided into two and Jonathan was excited to make the A team, which was scheduled to travel to Krakow, Poland for it's first tournament. The A team was further split into two teams and Jonathan was on team 2 (team 1 being the boys who've been playing futbol since they could walk). Jonathan traveled down with the team on Friday via bus and had games Friday and Saturday. The rest of the family drove down Friday evening and got to watch a few games Saturday morning. There were 5 teams in the tournament: ASW 1, ASW 2, British school, Wroclaw, and Krakow. The British team finished 1st, ASW 1 team finished 2nd, and Jonathan's team finished 4th. We didn't get many pics from the tournament so we'll start with our favorite and only pic worth sharing :)
Here's the entry to the AibBnB we stayed at, it was a nice little place.
We headed out Friday evening to walk around the town and grab dinner.
The next morning I went for an early jog and snapped a few pics along the way.
Wawel Castle
On Sunday I went to the historic Wieliczka Salt Mine, where salt has been mined since the 13th century. Mining was terminated in 1996 due to falling salt prices and mine flooding. The mines go as deep as 1,073 feet and extend via horizontal passages and chambers for over 178 miles. Truly impressive and glad I made the trip (the others were not up for being that far down). All carvings you see are from the rocks or salt formations.
The tour started by walking down 53 flights of steps. This is a pic looking down the stairwell where you can't even see the bottom.
The guide explained that the pine wood beams were painted white to help light the passage ways since candles or torches were the only way to provide light for many years.
One of several chapels in the mine. As excavation moved further and further into the mines, new chapels were built to ensure works had a place to pray. Workers would frequently remain underground for months at a time due to the level of effort to get them in and out.
Two carvings below are from wood, not salt/rocks.
Below you can see where the head of the statue deteriorated due to the moisture and humidity. For this reason, they have to pump air conditioning through the mines. Fresh air was always circulated in but air conditioning is required to prevent the salt figures from deteriorating.
The Kinga Chapel is the largest and most impressive the chapels. Incredible what they were able to do here.
The guide pointed out the artist's flaw with the below carving. It's impossible for the donkey to have both legs on the right side up at the same time, he would simply fall over.
A salt water lake similar to the dead sea. You cannot drink it and nothing can live in it.
This pic was taken with my flash on and shows how long and dark the tunnels were without light.
This chamber was closed for many years since they thought the ceiling (which houses another room above it) was going to collapse. After many years of building support structures and reinforcing the ceiling, the room was reopened in 2010.
You can see where the salt crystals when you hold a flashlight up to walls, ceiling, or floor as the light disperses throughout the crystal. Some were much larger then the pic below.
Here's a banquet hall on the way out of the mine. It was a great tour and the only concern I had was about an hour in when I started wondering if there was a bathroom that far down :)
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