Advertisement
Published: October 15th 2007
Taking a Break
Some friends at the rest stop in Germany.So, I have just gotten back from my school trip and I am ready to tell you all about it. I'm breaking it up into two entries since there is so much to write about and so many pictures. So, where to start?
On Monday I woke up at 6:00, so early! I ate breakfast and made sure that I had everything that I needed for my trip. Then at 6:40 we left for the airport for my 7:50 plane. The airport in Vaasa is so small that flights only go to and from Helsinki. Therefore, you don't even need a boarding pass for the plane. Also, you could just sit anywhere you wanted on the plane, it was so weird. I sat next to these two girls, Andrea and Sofia, who I had met before at some of the meetings and sort of knew. Then we flew from Helsinki to Berlin. I was pleasantly surprised that on both flights we were served food and a drink. I mean the flight to Helsinki was only like 45 minutes and the flight to Berlin was only 2 hours and we got a whole sandwich. Airplane service is apparently way better here
in Europe. Then, when we got to Berlin, we got on a bus to drive to Krakow. I sat next to Sofia on the bus. The trip was soooooooo long. We left Berlin at like 11:30 and we got to Krakow at like 9:00. Of course we did have about two 45 minute breaks and we were stopped at the Polish border for about an hour. The border was pretty ridiculous. The border people got on the bus and looked at everyone's passports. They then took all the passports that weren't EU (There was me, a boy from Cameron, and 3 siblings from Iran, although they only took the passports from the girls from Iran and not from their brother, weird). Anyway, then it took them an hour to let us through. It really sucked. However, when I got my passport back I found that I had a stamp in mine and none of my friends got stamps in theirs, so I guess I'm special. Even though the bus trip was long, it was an nice way to get to see alot of the German and Polish countryside. They are very different. Germany was kind of like Finland with tons
The Hotel
They're REALLY proud of their 3 stars. and tons of trees everywhere, whereas Poland had lots of fields, rolling hills, and these little villages with quaint looking old houses. It was really neat. When we finally got to the hotel in Krakow, Motel Morawica which was very proud to be the only 3 star hotel in the area, we ate dinner. Then we all sort of just hung out and went to sleep.
On Tuesday I woke up and took a shower. The water was cold! So much for those 3 stars. Then we had breakfast and headed to Auschwitz. It took us about an hour to get to Auschwitz I, which was the first built of the three Auschwitz camps and was used primarily as a work camp not as a death camp. We split up into two groups and had a guided tour of Auschwitz. In English! I was really happy about that part. I don't think I would have gotten much out of it if it hadn't been in English. Although, the guide's English really wasn't very good, and sometimes he would say things and I would have to keep myself from laughing at how ridiculous his Englsih was. Because, I mean, you
Iron Irony
This is the entry gate to Auschwitz I. It says, "Arbeit Macht Frei" which means something like "work makes you free" in German. can't laugh in Auschwitz. Anyway, besides from the bad English, the tour was really interesting. Auschwitz I is really like a museum. All the buildings from the original camp are there, but the interiors of all the buildings have been modernized and made into a museum. Only one building has its original interior, and that's the prison building. I don't want to get into too many details about what I saw because it's all very depressing and everything. However, I would say that the most affecting display, for me, was the room filled with human hair. The Nazis shaved all the prisoners' heads and used the hair to make fabric and other things. There is a room in Auschwitz I with a case about 40 feet long and at least 10 feet wide filled with human hair that was found when the camp was liberated. It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. Next we went to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Auschwitz II is the camp that most people refer to when they talk about Auschwitz. It was a camp used almost exclusively for the extermination of over a million people, mostly Jews. Auschwitz II is left almost completely
Barracks
Barracks from Auschwitz I. as it was when it was liberated by the Russians in 1945. All the buildings there are the originals inside and out, and, really, the only new thing in the entire place is the memorial for the people imprisoned there. We had another tour there by the same guy who gave us the tour at Auschwitz I. After the tour we had a flower ceremony at the memorial for the prisoners. On Tuesday night, after dinner, most of us took a bus into the center of Krakow. Since it was nighttime there really wasn't much to see so we all went to the new shopping center, Galleria Krakowska. It was alot of fun. I didn't buy anything, but I had fun hanging out with people there.
On Wednesday we went to the Wieliczka salt mines about an hour from Krakow. The salt mines have been worked continuously since the 13th Century. The mines were really cool. There were rooms in the mines that had been carved by the miners and made into chapels. They were really neat. The miners had carved elaborate sculptures and things into walls. There were also huge chandeliers made from salt crystals. It is even
Firing Wall
Part of the original firing wall was reconstructed. This is where many prisoners were executed. possible to get married in the chapel and have your wedding reception in another chamber of the mine. We had to pay to take pictures of the mines so I didn't take any. I wish I could have though because it's really difficult to describe it well. Anyway, when we were leaving the mine we had to take an elevator back up to the top, seeing as we were 135 meters underground and no one was particularly inclined to walk up all the stairs that we had just gone down. They told us that the elevator was made for nine people, but I would say it was more likely built for about 4 people. We were seriously packed inside like sardines in a sardine can. It was very interesting. After the salt mines we went to spend the rest of the day in Krakow. First we all ate lunch at the mall. Then we set out to explore the city. I went around with my friends Sofia, Aleksi, and Calle. We weren't really sure what to do, but we decided that we wanted to explore the "left side" of Krakow (as in on the left side of the map). Krakow
No Escape
A guard tower and halt sign from Auschwitz I. is a beautiful city in my opinion. All the buildings are really old and pretty. So, we basically just walked around town and looked at stuff. Aleksi and Sofia both got caricatures made, which is always entertaining. At one point we went to this like outdoor beer garden place because Calle was thirsty (he's 18 so it's legal for him to drink). Anyway, at the table right next to ours was this American guy talking to this British couple. He was the perfect stereotypical American: loud, obnoxious, rude, and stupid. He was totally ridiculous. We basically just spent an hour sitting there listening to what he was saying and making fun of him in Swedish. It was so funny. After that we wandered around some more and then we went to Wawel Hill. Wawel was an old castle and there's also a really cool church there. You had to pay to go into the castle and the church so we just looked at the outsides. There's also a pretty cool view of the city from up there. Then we had about 45 minutes left before we had to be back to the bus so we went to the center of
No Escape 2
Even if you could somehow manage to make it through one barbed wire fence you would still have another to go. Not to mention the fact that they were both electrified. the city. There's a big market hall there (I had been there earlier and bought this really neat hand-carved chess board for 24 zlotys or less than $10). Anyway, in the market hall they sell tons of amber jewelry. I think maybe Krakow is famous for it or maybe Poland is. I'm not really sure, but they were selling it everywhere and very cheap. Calle wanted to buy something for his girlfriend, but he was very indecisive and we ended up having to run all the way back to the bus and we only made it with like one minute to spare. Then we all went to dinner. We went to one of those places where you sit and eat while there's some people doing like traditional entertainment. In this case they were doing traditional Polish dancing. It was pretty fun. At one point they were picking people out of the crowd to dance with them and my friend Saara got to dance. Then we went back to the hotel.
Be sure to notice the second page of pictures!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.179s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 58; dbt: 0.1383s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mallory
non-member comment
Amber!
Sweet! It sounds like you had a really nice time. Obviously parts of it were hard to stomach, but I am sure it was very interesting. I am glad that you've gotten to see so much while you're there. I just got home from Maine! I miss you and I love you!