On our way to Krakow from Berlin, which was a full day in a train. It was nice to enjoy the countryside, but we're excited to make the trek to Krakow. Mark and I are enjoying our first class train rides, the first train we had our own room, but this picture above we just had a larger area with lots of leg room. Mark is a big fan of that as he repeated it multiple times.
Poland Countryside
We didn't get to our hostel until about 9:30 or so, because there was a protest covering a section of the tram track right as we walked up the stairway outside. Luckily, we were just a 20 minute walk to our place, and a nice Pole stopped to help us find our hostel that was quite hidden. We ended up passing the tram that we would have taken, too as it remained at a stand-still.
After we unloaded our bags, we immediately asked for dinner recommendations, and the guy told us about this AMAZING pierogi place. We fell in love with the 24 hour place instantly. Not only was it cheap (10 pierogis for about $5 USD), but they tasted delicious! Needless to say, we went back again on our trip with another couple we met to introduce them, too.
When Mark and I began planning our Europe trip we both gave
at least one “must-see/do” for the trip, to help figure out where we wanted to
make sure we went. My “must-see” was
Auschwitz. Ever since I learned about
the Holocaust in middle school, it has always been a high interest of
mine. I’ve read several memoirs of
various survivors and had a passion to visit Auschwitz in person. Mark also thought it would be neat to see Auschwitz
and wanted to go to Poland, as one of his favorite student’s (Alexandra) family is from there and had a great impression of the country based on her family. I met them last summer and couldn't have agreed more about their welcoming and warm personalities.
On our first full day we took a tour around Auschwitz which had multiple sub camps both big and small. Walking around the grounds of the camp will remain an unforgettable experience. It was quite a somber
mood, but interesting to hear more about life on the camps while getting a
visual for everything I have read and learned about in the past.
To witness mounds of hair (4,000 pounds worth and that's not even close to all of it), shoes, suitcases, etc. from the victims was
so depressing. Walking the streets
through each barrack and thinking about the starvation, disease, and further atrocities that took place was numbing. I’m grateful
to have been able to visit the camp, as my heart continues to go out to the
millions who died during the Holocaust.
It's hard to see the sign that means "Work Makes One Free", which clearly wasn't the case here as this was just one of the sinister tactics employed by the Nazi's against those sent here.
View of where the train came in at Auschwitz--Birkenau Concentration Camp built to house up to 300,000 people
On our second full day in Poland, we visited Oscar Schindler's Factory & Museum in hopes to learn more about Oscar Schindler, as both of us enjoyed the movie "Schindler's List" with the more realistic portrayal of WWII events. Although there was some interesting information about the war and such, there was VERY little about Oscar Schindler and his factory which we found to be rather disappointing. I think both of us would have liked it better if our expectation wasn't to learn more about Oscar Schindler and his factory, which by the name of it and what we read that's what we thought it was mainly about.
Pictures of those Oscar Schindler saved
The pots and such the workers made in his factory
We walked pretty much everywhere in Poland, and on our walk back from the factory we couldn't help but laugh at the random pig in the river. We don't know the meaning behind it, but Mark stopped to model the statue in the river which was a pig with all legs pointing to the sky like it was ready to be roasted.
I seriously LOVE the architecture in Krakow and took quite a few pictures of the aesthetically pleasing buildings. A lot of the buildings are still from medieval times, and I appreciated that all the more. Although I loved the history in Berlin, Krakow was a lot prettier which made sense, because Berlin was heavily destroyed from the daily Allied bombing raids during WWII.
We went on a walking tour around Krakow and met at this beautiful St. Mary's Cathedral. We were there at the perfect time to hear the trumpeter peek his trumpet out and place a song to signal the top of the hour.
We are at the oldest gate in Krakow
This is where Pope John Paul II peeked his head out and spoke to the students and people of Krakow. He is from Poland and was Bishop of Krakow, so pictures and statues of him are throughout the city. We learned that when talking about Popes, in Krakow he is "the" Pope and all other Popes are "a" Pope.
On our tour we met another couple who was from the good ole' USA. We all left the tour early to catch the US vs Germany soccer game and went to a nearby Irish Pub to cheer on the Americans. Although we didn't see a victory, we continued to celebrate anyways. We went to a bar that served Belgium beer, and Mark and I had the Delirium beer that we fell in love with in Israel. Unfortunately, I don't think we got the same type of Delirium, so we'll have to try it again later in the trip.
On our last day, we went to the Krakow Salt Mine
I was super excited in this picture as we were descending down 50 flights of stairs...I'm just glad I didn't slip, as I tend to trip going both up/down stairs. The mine was interesting, as we saw entire sculptures made out of salt and different scenes of how they mined the salt back in the day. Although it was interesting, we thought it was pricey for what it was and probably wouldn't recommend it to someone else. Our tour guide mentioned how you could, at any point, take your finger and swipe it along the wall to sample the salt. However, Mark and I were rather deterred by the unimaginable germs left by who knows how many people who went before us. We decided to take the guide at her word.
They used to have 40 chapels in the Salt Mine, but currently just have 20 chapels. They are still used today and there is even a salt palace that was made where weddings are held...definitely a unique place to get married.
After the salt mine, Mark and I enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather, as it rained on and off most of the time we were there.
We took this picture to celebrate our 2nd Year Anniversary! This is the "Love Bridge" in Krakow, where you are supposed to put a lock around a piece of the bridge and throw the key into the river. I believe it's similar to the one in Paris.
Our lock (picture above) and us throwing the keys into the river (pictures below).
To end our time in Krakow we met up with a family friend of Mark's former student who I mentioned earlier. We actually met her daughter last summer as she was visiting the USA, and we were able to get in touch with her when we knew we would be going to Krakow. We went and enjoyed delicious Polish food (stuffed cabbage with rice and minced meat covered in a tomato sauce and green onion), followed by gelato (yum!), walked around, went to the Monument of National Remembrance at sunset, and finished the evening with a drink at a panoramic restaurant with the city in the background.
In the picture above we are with Paul (pronounced different in Polish) and Izabela (Alexandra's family friend), we are in the square of the oldest school in Krakow. The pictures below are on top of the Mount of Remembrance.
Beautiful view of the Wawel Royal Castle (pronounced: Vavel)
Enjoying our 1.5 hour stop in Katowice, Krakow and stopped for lunch outside. I had been craving a good salad, and Mark was craving pizza (which is pretty much all the time), so this place was perfect for us!
We are currently on our last train to Prague and are living it up in the 1st class. We were greeted with complimentary glasses of champagne, followed by complimentary tea/coffee/water, etc and a snack (sandwich/fruit/yogurt). In addition to all of that, we have free Wi-fi. This is the first time we've had Wi-fi on the train, so it's nice to get caught up on e-mails and the blog. :)
Random things we learned:
* When you are pronouncing a word, change your w sound to a v sound in Poland. For example: Karkow=Krakov, Wawel Castle=Vavel Castle
* Dubche (Dubshae) = good in Polish, but shouldn't be used interchangeably with the phrase "Thank You", it doesn't fit
* It is common to see brown toilet paper in Poland, so if you go, do not to be weirded out by the change in color
* If you visit Warsaw and tell people in Krakow, tell them you didn't like it or lie and say you haven't been there nor do you want to go (tip from our tour guide, but think she was half-teasing)
*Open containers (beer, etc) is illegal on the streets in Krakow unless you are hidden inside a sculpture on the street (we didn't test it out). It was a change coming from Berlin where it was common to see people walking around at all times of the day with beers in their hand, to Krakow where it being illegal. Not a hard transition, as it was quite a shock to see so many in Berlin drinking beer on the streets, especially coming from Doha where you need a license to be able to buy beer unless at a hotel.
Overall, we both LOVED Krakow and would definitely go back again.
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