Through the Looking Glass

Today's is a picture that almost wasn't. Before heading off on my own for the summer of traveling in 2005 my parents and I headed around Eastern Europe for a couple weeks which was an incredible experience. I remember the Berlin Wall some (it came down in my senior year of high school) but my parents obviously remember the iron curtain much more vividly. The fact that we were able to freely wander around formerly closed countries was an experience none of us through we would have just a few years before. Of all the cities we visited in Eastern Europe, Kraków is probably my favorite. The castle, the university, the main square, the Jewish quarter, all of it made for a fantastic place to visit. While there we went to the Czartoryskich Museum which, among other things, has Da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine." ( You can see my picture of it here, or a web version here) The museum allows you to take pictures only if you pay for a 5 euro Photographer's sticker which my dad elected to do but I didn't. I saw this shot and asked him to take it, but he didn't think it would work out. Now, I think that my dad has a much better photographer's eye than I do, but I wanted this shot. So, I stole his photographer's sticker from him (well, he said it was OK, but stealing it makes for a better story) and headed back to get this shot. Still one of my favorites from that trip :-)