KRAKOW, POLAND

Poland is one of those countries that I have always known was out there, but could tell you practically nothing about it. So when April casually mentioned heading to Krakow for a weekend, of course I said, “Let’s go!”

freezing but smiley!

Johnny Quest, our appropriately-named pilot, landed us safely in Krakow on Friday morning, and after arriving at our hostel, the girl working the desk lead us to an entirely different building. We stayed in a four person room with kitchen and bathroom, all alone, in a separate building on a floor with no other hostel tenants. Talk about privacy!

Friday was our day to take in the sights and eat pierogis. I’m not sure how I feel about pierogis, but if anyone can tell me what they are normally topped with, I would be most grateful. April and I have decided on either bacon, white beets, onions, or perhaps just chucks of fat. Krakow is the only major city in Poland that wasn’t destroyed in the wake of WWII, and the ancientness of the place can almost be felt. The city to me smelled old, like bricks, smog, and campfire, but in the best way possible, and right across from where we were staying, in a park that circled all around the city, were ancient medieval wall ruins. St. Mary’s Basilica is known for it’s ornate wallpaper and blue ceiling, but both were trends in all of the churches (and restaurants!). We made out way to the Oskar Schindler Factory in the former jewish ghetto of Krakow, and loved the museum there. The interactive museum around the Nazi reign in all of Poland, whose strict and horrible leadership to normal Polish citizens tends to get overshadowed by the monstrosities committed against the jewish population.  We ended the evening drinking beers out of straws in a jazz bar downstairs in the main square, or what we thought to be downstairs. 

Any guesses about what is topping these babies?

Beet root soup!

So many birds. I don't enjoy birds.

blue ceiling #1

blue ceiling #2

blue ceiling #3

blue ceiling #4

Oskar Schindler Factory, same one from Schindler's List

The next day on our free walking tour, we learned that the medieval ground level of Krakow, like most cities in Europe, would be considered the basement today. We learned that one of the Earth’s Seven Chakra points in Hinduism happens be on a wall of their castle, and that the authorities don’t particularly enjoy the number of people who come to hug the wall every year. We walked all over the city, got to see the famous Fire-Breathing Dragon statue, were mistakenly identified as Australians by Australians, and even happened to better our Polish along the way. (“Dziekuje” means “thank you” and “Masz piekne miesnie” means “your muscles are beautiful.”) I found it very interesting how little our guide spoke about the communist reign of Poland, but figured it was probably too close for comfort. 

The wall in the process of providing Chakra

It was kind of a little sunny!

Sunday was the day I’d been secretly anxious about, and at 9:30 our tour guide picked us up in front of our hostel and we drove the hour to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. I have never had a very good track record with car sickness, and this day proved to be no exception, as our driver swerved in both lanes, passing cars and blasting heat in the van at 100˚Celsius, not even Fahrenheit. While fighting my sickness furiously by scratching an orange and sniffing it with all of my might, the addition of a beyond graphic video of what the Soviet Army discovered upon arriving at the concentration cramp put me over the edge. I can proudly report that the first thing I did upon arrive at Auschwitz is loose my breakfast.

entrance to Auschwitz

In the end, my tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau was nothing to have worried over. I had pictured people crying everywhere, graphic pictures, and moving collections of all that remains of the victims. While there are startling photo galleries and there are entire building devoted to the leftover shoes, toys, prayer clothes, and hair of the Jews, I barely saw anyone crying. There were times when I would walk through the only standing gas chamber and crematory and want so badly to feel pain of what the millions of people had been through. Or I would look out on the over two miles of Birkenau and the field of only chimneys, all that remains of the hundreds of barracks, and want to cry about how lonely it felt. Or I would stand on the sorting platform where thousands of people were sent to the crematories before even recording their names. Or see how small the train cars were by which they were delivered 80 at a time. Or the black-and-white photos lining hallways. The list of misery and desolation goes on and on, but my feelings on my visit wouldn’t change. It’s too impossible to feel empathetic, or even sympathetic. I don’t know if humans are capable of physically or emotionally experiencing sorrow on such a scale. I do know, however, that it was difficult to shake the feeling of hopelessness that took over only moments after walking through to the other side of the electric fence. Hopelessness to the point of worthlessness. I guess Auschwitz-Birkenau still serves the purpose it was built to accomplish.  

signs surrounding the perimeter

prosthetics 

piles of children's shoes

hallways of photos 

gas chamber

train car

memorial 

Birkenau

My favorite part of Krakow was Kazimierz, the former jewish district. After experiencing such a feeling of hopelessness that Auschwitz-Birkenau can allocate, it was refreshing to walk around Kazimierz and see a place that’s up and coming and full of life. There were galleries on every corner, and of course any new art scene is extra exciting for me, but I think that Kazimierz is on the verge of being something very exciting to the art world, and Krakow is very well on it’s way to being the next Prague, or place that everyone loves to visit in Eastern Europe. Plus they have a breakfast place with fresh bagels, an absolute godsend for any American traveling after living in Europe for awhile. 

Kazimierz

street art

In other news, I’m taking a baking-super-sweet-American-desserts fast until Valentine’s Day in hopes of not draining our entire house of sugar at such an alarming rate. Already counting down. 5 more days!