Advertisement
Main Square
This is a gorgeous, very lively squre Currently am in Krakow. A very cool town – bohemian in comparison to Warsaw – a big university town. Super rich in culture and history – it seems like every building is one of great significance – religious or otherwise. Visited Schindler’s factory today, which I did not realize was here. As anyone can imagine, this was interesting – and moving. Spent all day after that (the museum was about 3 hours to fully see) covering the city by foot – lots of people watching and gaping in awe at amazing buildings. I’m staying at a hostel here, which is just o.k. – it’s cheap, so that’s good.
Today - visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. I think it's what I expected - I remember visiting Dachau in Germany - although Auschwitz was a death camp. I spent about 4 hours there - that's about all I could handle in a day. It's a lot to absorb. I was walking back along the railway in Birkenau (the place where they got off the train and folks and families were separated into who was going to work or go directly to gas chamber) to get the shuttle back to Auschwitz - and at a certain
moment I realized there were not many people around me - and directly to my right was the women's camp - I was all of a sudden overcome with emotion - I couldn't believe how lucky (I guess) I was to be able to walk freely there - or anywhere - I've been so sheltered - and can't imagine what these people had to endure. The other place in the camp that really got me was in Auschwitz where they had an entire room full of human hair piled in huge heaps - the germans gathered the hair and made textiles, etc. out of it. I was by myself for the day - maybe it was for the best - I don't know if my emotions would have hit me in the same way otherwise. I never saw anyone else in tears though - I felt a bit detached being with a group of people (it was easier to go through as a guided tour).
So anyway - I am writing this from a social bar in Krakow now and need to get ready to go and meet an American couple I met earlier today on the bus for
Swastika
at Schindler's factory a beer (they are from Philadelphia) - more later.
Next day - today visited a monstrous salt mine outside of the city of Krakow. Holy moly! 135 meters under the earth - I think that's over 300 feet. Huge rooms, carvings, chapels, and banquet hall - all out of salt deep in the earth - it's like an entire city down there. I never considered myself claustrophobic, but I felt quite dizzy the whole time - I tried to not think too much about how horrific it would be if everything came crashing in at the mine. It was interesting. On the way out there, I took public transportation bus to get there - and did not have a bus ticket as I couldn't see where to purchase the ticket. Just my luck, that control came on the bus and I was penalized 100 zloty (about $30) for not having ticket. It was pretty humiliating - although I think people on the bus had pity for the dumb American girl. The 2 control people got off the bus with me - and asked me to have a seat - then the one guy offered me a cigarette - it
reminded me of one of those scenes in a movie where an interrogation takes place and they offer the person being interrogated a cigarette. I was even more feeling this way when I had to explain why I didn't have my passport on me since it is at the Russian embassy awaiting a visa - then they wanted to know where I was going after Krakow and I explained back to Warsaw - then Russia and Mongolia - I was starting to think that the story was sounding a bit fishy myself. Anyway - they were kind enough about it - they gave me a couple of tickets to validate on my ride back, - i had to pay the 100 zloty right there - otherwise they were going to call the police on me.
I apologize for some dismal pictures that I'm uploading - it's history - and important.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.044s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.022s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Tracey
non-member comment
So much history in these pics
Hey Becky, Thanks for the pictures. They are amazing. I can only imagine what it was like to walk through the museum. I probably would have cried too.