Warsaw to krakow

Leaving Warsaw early in the morning we saw the urban sprawl of offices reaching to the out skirts of the city along the major highway. People were pouring out of their Russian style block apartments into the factories and offices. Our guide gave us an idea of salaries ($1000) per month vs rent ($350) plus about 48% tax with free health care and universities. He felt the young generation were paying to rebuild the country since it was destroyed in ww11.
We stopped at "hotel Gorsky" - a "typical" bohemian hall for food and music, and a regular stop along the major highway to krakow. The roads are all recent since 1989, after the fall of communism. Countryside was flat, farm land, old style homes with very little color
We stopped in  Czestochowa to visit

the church of the black Madonna, a pilgrimage sight were during mass at 11 am the black Madonna icon is revealed by the some 40 priests and magical powers are released to cure illness etc. the church was packed with old and young, seriously praying, sitting and contemplating this holy place. We walked the rampart around the church for a view of the city and monastery.
Passed the turnoff to Kielce!
We arrived in krakow at 2 pm - a medieval city beautifully preserved around a central square. Just beautiful!
A quick stop for a perogie and beet soup, quick walk around the old streets and back in the bus to visit the salt mines. The city has 9 universities with 200,000 students and plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants.  On our way we passed a monument to the jewish"prisoners" who worked in the chemical factories and for Schindler. Too dark to see at this point. The street is now a commercial hub of shops and offices.
Salt mines were incredible!  We walked down some 443 ft underground into multiple chambers - some narrow, some enormously high. Built in 1300 century, it still has 900 mile of tunnels (we only walked 1.9 miles) Many rooms displayed statues made of salt but there were chandeliers, banquet halls, a lake, gift shop, restaurant and even a hotel!  Amazing. The ride back up was in a four tiered elevator, with 9 people crammed into a very small space!