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Published: October 22nd 2006
Overview
1. We arrived in Poland and it was FREEZING...hence the Austin Powers reference "its frickin freezing in here Mr. Bigglesworth"
2. We ate a true Polish bagel...more like a pretzel, but still delicious.
3. We vistied Auschwitz and Birkenau one day...very sobering
4. (Christina):"english?"
(lady at the polish pension): No. Deutch??? (German)
(Christina): "YES! Thank goodness!"...
Words I never thought I would say, but turns out that spending so much time in germany was a really good idea because we picked up the necessary words to get around.
We drove from Berlin to Krakow and decided to stay at a pension because it was really cold in Poland. THis ended up being genius because we woke up to frost the next morning and were glad we werent in our tent. We got into town and let me tell you, Krakow is awesome. So far one of our top 3 stops. What was so neat about it was that it is so unknown. We had no idea what it was going to look like at all so it was like exploring a truly foreign gem. Plus most people dont speak english, so that was fun.
We took another walking tour (FASINATING) and fell in love with the city. Their history is so interesting. Here is a quick overview.
They were an independent country...successful, happy, wealthy. Then they were invaded by the Turks and had things burned. Then they were doing ok again, and then the Swedes (THE SWEDES of all people!!!) invaded and stole national treasures and again burned things. Short while of peace, and then the Austro-Hungarian empire invaded them and made them part of their country. They also stole things. Then they got freedom again after WW1. Peace lasted...for only a few years because then the Nazis took over and stole the rest of their things. Finally Russia got into the act after WW2 and stole whatever was left (almost nothing). Now Poland is independent once again and is trying to get back all its national treasures from all the people who stole them.
We also visited a really cool salt mine outside the city, where miners got bored in the 17th century and decided to start carving things out of big salt blocks. First they made a church so they didnt always have to resurface everytime one of them died. Then one thing led to another and now they have a cathedral, statues of Pope John Paul II, two restaurants, a muesum, a spa, bungi jumping, and water shows. Pretty amazing.
We also visited Auschwitz and Birkenau (also known as Auschwitz II, or the bigger of the two camps and what most of you have seen in movies i.e. Schindlers List). It was a fascinating tour and they do a great job of simply presenting facts and educating. The facts are overwhelming enough.
Onto Vienna.
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Tim
non-member comment
Salt Mine
I'm so jealous, that salt mine was one of the places in Europe I've always wanted to get to and have never been able to. Poland also for that matter. I'm glad you got to experience poland in the way I experienced much of Eastern Europe, as a truly foreign evironment with no idea how it would look or feel. That was my absolute favorite discovery I made. Eastern Europe has just as much if not more interesting history (because you haven't read much about it) and beautiful buildings (because you've never seen tons of photos of them) for 1/2 the PRICE! I hope you guys are going to make it to Budapest, that town was pretty cool. I'd recommend Hrvatska (Croatia) but it's more of a summer country. Keep the journals coming!