Cracow's Royal pedigree may be indelible, but it's no thrusting metropolis these days. Four hundred years have passed since Cracow's capital status was transfered to Warsaw, and today, a slightly sleepy air is one of the city's most endearing characteristics. This is more of a cafe city than a ball-busting business mecca.
Thus, in spite of the gravity of the occasion, there has often been a faintly otherworldly edge to the gargantuan security machine that has kicked into gear over the last few days.
Presidential delegations from all over the world have descended on Cracow for the ceremonies recalling the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Amongst the key figures, Vladimir Putin is expected today, whilst newly installed Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrived yesterday, alongside US Vice President Dick Cheney and Israeli President Moshe Kastsav.
Not since Poland's Golden Age five hundred years ago have so many national delegations descended on the city. Snow has been falling consistently for the last two days and roads are slippery. Cracow resounds with the constant whine of police sirens, whilst large sections of the Old Town have been fenced off entirely.
Neverending fleets of police cars continue to descend on the city, and due to the extraordinary number of important guests, the absurd situation of presidential fleets stuck in jams on the fringe of the Old Town is now a commonplace occurence.
It seems that sombre occasions can never entirely escape the mischevous hand of comedy. Indeed, the last time central Cracow came to a standstill was for the funeral of Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, exactly 6 months ago this day. Besides worthy speeches by luminaries from across the world, the open-air closing ceremony was memorable for the pigeons who kept trying to land on the heads of the crowd, and the young soldiers in 1930's uniforms who seemed to fall like dominos as the service drew on.
However, in one key respect the atmosphere is suitably sharp for a memorial of this importance - the weather. With temperatures well into the minuses it reminds us all of the horrendous reality of the camps, when the long Polish Winter claimed thousands of lives each year.
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