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Published: February 17th 2010
After packing up (which took forever in a slightly hungover state) we were in desperate need of greasy food! We made it onto the highway where we saw a glimmering sign, which was like a mirage in the desert, reading “K F C”. As we came so close to this glorious little find we veered off on the road, only to realise we had taken the wrong exit and were headed onto another highway. Tempers roared as Vince swore like a trooper and yelled in pain at the hunger that was fuelling his rage. After driving for another 20 minutes (in the wrong direction mind you) it seemed like a lifetime until we finally made it back to the start and into the KFC. More drama followed as we entered the KFC with not a skerrick of money, only to establish that it was cash only. So we were off again walking to the other end of the shopping complex to find a damn ATM. Back again and wasting away at the seams after what seemed like a lifetime, at long last we sat down to our delicious feed of greasy hot chicken, mmmmm (Dad, I know you will be so
unimpressed he he)!
With the hunger finally cured it was time for Vince to have a power nap while Furby and I did a top up shop at Tesco’s. In between Furby being as fussy as a 5 year old, I managed to get the shop done with food for the next few days to satisfy the clan. Slightly refreshed from his 45 minute nap Vince took his rightful place in the driving seat and we headed to Auschwitz. We drove for 3.5 hours and decided to call it a day, as we were all weary and tired, still suffering the effects from the night before.
Friday morning we were up and off again by 9am, thinking that was plenty of time to get to Auschwitz to make the morning tour. Well, clearly we were wrong as we scurried through backstreets trying desperately to make the 11am tour. We arrived in the car park and fled like wild animals into the reception, only to find that the tours run every half hour and there was no actual need to rush at all - typical!
We booked ourselves in for the 4 hour tour of the Auschwitz camp
and Auschwitz II Birkineau camp. It was an icy cold, dreary day in Auschwitz and it really set the mood for what we were about to see. Firstly, was the Auschwitz camp which upon first impressions seemed enormous - little did we know that Auschwitz II Birkenau (which was yet to come) dwarfed this camp! We passed watch towers, check points and many other buildings where the prisoners were kept. However, the exhibitions were the most shocking. The most distressing was the 3.5 tonnes of human hair - and when you really think about how much your hair on your head weighs (next to nothing) you can imagine just how mammoth 3.5 tonnes is. The worst part of this exhibit wasn’t just the hair, it was the story behind it. The Nazi’s shaved all the women’s hair after killing them in gas chambers so that they could use them for textiles to make and sell products such as carpet. We also saw 2000 pairs of children’s (toddlers) shoes which shockingly only accounts for 1% of children killed there, and many more exhibits including people’s shoes, brushes and everyday personal items such as face glasses. These were all things that were
taken from the people brought to the camps to be murdered. The exhibits just scraped the surface of what actually happened in Auschwitz, however it really did help to represent the shear scale of the atrocities that took place.
From that camp we were taken on a shuttle to the next camp nearby - Auschwitz II Birkenau. It was an absolutely mind boggling place, as soon as you stepped off the bus the lifelessness of the area smacked you straight in the face. Everything was still and empty, with not even a single chirp from a bird to break the tension. As I mentioned earlier the size of the concentration camp at Birkenau is chilling, just being there sent shivers down my spine. To compact this feeling of being surrounded by death, the guide took us on a step by step tour of what is what like to be a prisoner in this camp. Keeping in mind that people sent here had pretty much no idea that they were on the journey to their death.
The tour started with an explanation of what it would’ve been like arriving on the train (which entered right into the middle of
the camp so there was no way of escaping) and then being chosen by Nazi officials, as either a solider for the army or being chosen to go straight to the gas chamber. We then saw the living quarters of those as many say “unlucky” enough to have been chosen to live. The living areas were enormous wooden barnhouse like structures where bunk beds (sleeping 8 people per bed - which really would fit only 3 comfortably) were on extreme angles so that more beds could fit in the rooms. Along with this we saw the wash room/toilet areas where the “toilets” were just holes lined up one by one next to each other. This meant no privacy or dignity going to the toilet, which mind you, you were only allowed to go to twice a day. Going to the toilet when it was not the designated time equalled being shot. It was just disgusting to see and hear how these innocent people were treated.
Although these images can invoke some pretty strong emotions and it is unpleasant to hear, the tour was very eye opening and something we feel everyone should see. The history is so important to
Execution wall
Where many prisoners were lined up and shot - note the grey part is made of soft material so bullets don't bounce back from the brick to possibly hit the shooterremember so that these atrocities never happen again. The sad thing is our generation knows very little about what really happened, and in time it will all seem like an exaggerated story if the history is not learnt. It may sound extreme to say that this could happen again - but while there are still Neo-Nazi groups marching the streets in Berlin bellowing their beliefs, anything is possible.
The tour ended around 3pm, and by 3.30pm we were back on the road again. We arrived in Krakow that afternoon, it was still very overcast and as the sun disappeared on the horizon, the freezing Polish night set in. Saturday morning we made our way into town. We had no real game plan as to what to do in Krakow so we decided to just wander and follow our nose. First stop was the main town square and the neighbouring streets. One thing I did know about Krakow was the old marketplace right in the middle of the square, and once again because I wanted to see it, it was closed for re-furbishments! Luckily there was a very talented puppet performer not far away that diverted our attention. Puppets are
huge in Eastern Europe (there are puppet shops everywhere), and this guy was amazing, he had the most intricate puppets ever. Strings were attached to every part you can imagine, mouth, eyelids, elbows, knees, accessories like hats, and the list goes on. Two very memorable puppets were Tina Turner (with her wobbly knees and unorthodox walk) and the Michael Jackson puppet (complete with a string to his crotch so he could do the famous MJ “oooW” move).
From there we moved on to explore Wawell Hill and the lush grounds which included the castle, churches and other museums. After exploring the area we decided it was time for a lunch break at a typical polish pub. Unfortunately for us the pub wasn’t serving food as the chef was hungover and hadn’t turned up for work. So we stayed for a pint and watched the F1 qualifying. By the time it finished we were quite hungry and to our dismay there were no other typical polish places close by, so we had to settle for what we could get quickly……Mexican!
In true style we did a mini afternoon pub crawl. We decided that to really get to know a
city you should check out the pubs. So we hopped between about 4 or 5 places, meeting some very strange characters in between. From a chubby jolly old man dressed up in some renaissance Edwardian outfit promoting a pub (I think he may have been indulging in too much of the pubs booze), to bar staff that had the serious giggles and everytime they looked at us they cracked up laughing, we definitely came across some strange ones! By 8pm it was time to grab a hot KFC bucket of chicken and scurry home out of the cold.
Sunday, we left by around midday and headed for Wroclaw. Once again it was raining and cold, Poland was really turning on the weather for us, not! We arrived in Wroclaw rather unmotivated, with the weather not on our side and Sunday afternoon being like a ghost town, there was not much activity to get us excited. We caught the tram in and arrived at the town square around 5pm. As we had only eaten breakfast all day (trying to get all the driving done), we were starving, sadly for us none of the good restaurants were open at that time. So
our traditional polish dinner we were craving went out the window - very disappointing. Wroclaw in its favour was very pretty and it had a charming city centre and a picturesque riverside. I guess it was just the wrong time for us to be there.
We free camped in a parking lot for the night and woke up Sunday morning ready to head to Berlin. All in all Poland was a lovely country. It had beautiful scenery and its history is definitely worth learning. Maybe next time we’ll go when it’s warmer and not going to rain on us so much!
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