Beauty and the Beast

---

We arrived around noon yesterday (Thursday I think) on a plane with propellers. This was our first propeller plane trip ever. Again, a nice man with a Cramer sign greeted us at the airport. It is unbelievable to me that this whole porter thing is actually working. He drove us for about 20 minutes to Hotel Polski located just inside of Florian’s Gate (Gothic Tower built in the 1300’s at the entrance of old town). What a beautiful hotel! It was clear to us immediately that the exchange rate for US Dollars must be quite good. The hotel is very old and is on the UNESCO list of historical treasures. It is the first thing you see when you enter the old town of Krakow (inside of a wall the surrounds the entire old town). It includes two skylights, a couple of sitting areas, a really fancy bathroom complete with towel warmers, etc. Probably the best place we will stay on this trip.

Our walk outside of the hotel is like walking into every medieval novel you have ever read. The streets are narrow and winding, each turn is adorned with a HUGE ORNATE church, some with a castle, and wonderful people and shops are everywhere! We were immediately taken by how romantic it felt. Musicians and street performers, flowers on most windowsills, fresh baked goods, open air bars and restaurants, all in a truly medieval atmosphere—it is as if nothing has changed around here in hundreds of years! Of course, you don’t have to know much about Polish history to know that things have changed around here a lot. For some reason, Krakow has been mostly spared by each invasion and occupation. Instead of destroying the castle (Wawel), each successive king added to it and made it his own. Given how we feel about the city we think this was a good policy. This is the most wonderful place we have ever been together (of course Prague and Paris are to come).

We visited Wawel Castle St. Mary’s Basilica during our first day. Wawel was as huge and ominous as you one expect it to be. Complete with a gothic cathedral, gargoyles, staterooms, a dragon’s lair, spike doors, and more! I have to say it was difficult to get to the castle even without fire arrows and steaming hot black tar being poured over out heads. It is on a huge acropolis and surrounded by a large wall. What a structure! We saw thrones, tapestries, gold, furniture more ornate than our State Capitol, and carved faces on the ceiling. Following our exit from Wawel we took a short cruise on the Vistula River.

For dinner last night we sat under the stars in the main square of the city and enjoyed Polish cuisine (bread bowl soups, cheeses, potato pancakes, and great salad). We watched people and horse drawn carriages pass by. We were told by a friend that Poles may try to strike up a conversation with you—and some did! We spent several minutes conversing with an elderly Polish couple from Krakow. The two of them had lived in an apartment very near the Main Market Square when Poland was overrun in 1939. In some way affiliated with the Polish army, they moved from Siberia, back to Europe and finally to Newcastle. They have lived in England for 63 years but make it back to Krakow as often as they can. What nice folks. They complimented us on our President and wanted to tell us about their life. We listened. According to them Krakow has not changed in at least 63 years—I think it hasn’t probably changed in hundreds of years.

Today we went to Oswiecm and Brzezinka, the towns that the Nazi’s turned into Auschwitz and Birkenau Death Camps during World War II. We woke up to cloud cover, rain, and cold. There is no good day to visit the largest Nazi Death Camp during WWII and today certainly was not it. We trudged on, as this was the main reason for visiting Krakow. Why? That is difficult to answer. I guess we think that when you are close to something this terrible that you have the obligation to witness it, remember it, and do everything within your power to make sure nothing like it ever happens again.

We traveled about an hour on a bus with others. The ride was marked by a video recorded by a member of the Russian (“Red”) Army who liberated the Camps in 1945. It was itself unbelievable. Pictures of autopsies performed by Russian doctors upon liberation to determine the cause of death (mostly starvation, fatigue, and poisoning as a result of experimentation—however, many were killed in many other terrible ways). Then we arrived.

I am not even sure what to share. It was hard to control our emotions as we passed through “the cemetery” (words used by our guide to describe the entire grounds). Everything was profound and terrible. A raw journey through the darkest moments of the 20th century. We passed through “standing cells” and “suffocation cells” in basements, saw ONE TON of human hair, saw thousands of shoes (with a separate display of children’s shoes), suitcases (because as the tour guide said people thought they were going to have a new life at Auschwitz), hair brushes, memorial urns of ashes, Israeli visitors shrouded in their flags and so many other unforgettable things. We saw a wall that thousands of Jews, Poles, Roma’s, and others were executed against. We saw…we saw. We walked through a gas chamber and crematorium and had to dust off our shoes at the end. The number killed at Auschwitz is estimated to be between 1.3 and 1.5 million. We were in it; we smelled it and we will certainly never forget it. Four hours after we began we returned to our hotel.

Tonight we will reflect and enjoy each other’s company. Tomorrow, weather permitting; we will take a walking tour of Kazimierz. Prague awaits…

---

Comments

[Auntie Ann]

How humbling
I don't know that I could control my emotions. Just reading the books, seeing films and movies, hearing testimonials of people who were there at the time, none could convey the feelings you had when you were there. I've not been to the Holocaust Museum, but Melissa and Katie have. They said there was a lot of crying and theirs were among the tears. One can only hope that humankind has learned many lessons from the WWII era. It is difficult to think that we are better when we read, hear and see the atrocities that are going on around the world today. We continue to say our prayers for good to conquer evil! xxxooo