Christmas Market Opens
It may have been difficult to make much out under the heavy morning fog, but the Christmas Market opened today in all its glory. By lunchtime, the giant barrels of mulled wine were doing a brisk trade, and it's fair to say that one or two Cracovians won't be working quite as lucidly this afternoon as they might do normally.
The only notable absence thus far has been that rather elusive white element - snow. The only white stuff that Cracow has seen in the last week has been a blanket of snow substitute that was spread across Mikolajska Street for a couple of days. The artificial snow is being used by Oscar-winning director Andzej Wajda for his major new film 'Post Mortem'.
As usual, the Christmas Market will be open daily throughout December and well into January. Father Christmas is not as ubiquitous a figure here as in many European cities, and this may be the reason why he has escaped the ire that has erupted in Germany and Austria this year. Indeed, Vienna is banning Santa Claus from their main Christmas Market, claiming that the red-coated fellow is nothing more than a Coca-Cola character.