Auchwitz & Wieliczka

While we were in Krakow, Mom & I decided to take two different 'day trips' to Auchwitz & Wieliczka.  Both are great, both for very - VERY - different reasons.

AUCHWITZ

We went to Auchwitz first.  It was a much longer, sobering experience.  However we had an amazing tour guide!

 

When we got to Auchwitz-Birkenau it took a lot longer to walk from place to place so I caught up with the tour guide (Michal) and asked him some questions.  I asked him if it was hard working at Auchwitz everyday and if he ever got depressed or tired of it.  He opened right up to me and told me that he loved history and that the reason that he didn't mind coming every day was because his grandfather was sent to Auchwitz.  He said that his grandfather was sick one day and didn't show up to work and the Nazis came to his home to see why he didn't show up for work.  Apparently "being sick" wasn't an acceptable reason for not showing up to work - so they took him to Auchwitz.  He was there for 2 weeks and then transferred to another forced labor camp somewhere outside of Poland & Germany.  He returned home a few years later.  But our tour guide said that he wants to teach people about Auchwitz being a very real thing and not just one of those new "conspiracy theories" that few people think the Halocaust never happened.  I really appreciated his honesty and his personal story.  It made it that much more interesting for me.

This cattle car was an actual car used to transport Jews from Hungary.  It was erected here a few years ago in commemoration of those Hungarians who died here.

This is all that remains of the crematoriums.  They were blown to the ground upon the war ending and Nazis trying to cover their tracks.

 This is only 1/4 of a barrack where thousands of people lived.

 Okay this deserves a story.  This guy from England was super cute and chatted with us during the whole tour.  He walked so much and was such a trouper.  He has had both hips replaced and it has always been his dream to see Krakow.  He was super kind and gave us a ride back to Krakow so we didn't have to wait for a bus for forever.

 WIELICZKA

So, Wieliczka is this giant Salt Mine about 20 minutes away from the city center in Krakow.  It has been around for thousands of years - and it's kinda random that SALT is mined in the middle of nowhere.  

 Throughout the last hundreds of years, as an area of the mine is depleted of its salt - the miners make tribute to the area by creating statues - COMPLETELY made out of salt.  They tell stories of the area and of the history of the mine.

In these two pictures you can see the salt crystallizing on the ceiling of the various mine shafts.

Here's an interesting fact:  they used to bring horses down into the mine to help with the mining process.  Once a horse was brought down it stayed down there the remainder of its life.  Also I learned that as the salt left the mine, they replaced the area with wood.  This helped to prevent collapsing from happening.

On the left are some stairs that miners used to use to descend into the depths of the mine.  Such a work hazard.  Also, the mine contains a lot of water - which is a hazard that can cause collapsing.  Therefore they take precautions to make sure that it is pumped out efficiently.

St. Kinga's Chapel

The largest shaft is St. Kinga's Chapel.  Full of different relief carvings and salt statues (including SALT chandeliers).  The miners created this sanctuary because it was where many worshipped as they spent the majority of their day in the mine and it was the only time they had to break away and pray.

And this relief is over 15 inches deep.  Can you believe the amount of time and patience it took to create this (and preserve it).

The salt mine was interesting.  But a disappointment too.  We only got to see 1% of the mine, and during the tour I found out that they don't send miners down anymore - in fact - mining is done strictly through machinery and water extraction.  Blah.  I also felt like they really ripped off tourists.  It costed about $20 to see this mine + an extra $3 if you wanted to take pictures in the mine.  Such a rip off.  And the whole tour was only like 2 hours.  But, how many "shafts" can you really see before they all start looking the same?  The highlight of the mines was when we were done and waiting for an elevator to take us back up (we were 135m underground) - I met a group of Polish elementary kids who spoke NO english - and it was so fun for me to try to communicate with them.  They taught me Polish words and I taught them English words.  It was the best part of the whole tour.

My overall opinion - I'm glad I went.  Loved seeing both sites... but wouldn't particularly care to go again (due to the sadness of one, and the cost of the other).  But a fun little day trip and I love exploring and getting to know Poland just a little bit better.

Exploring Krakow

While my mom was in Poland, we decided to visit Krakow and Wroclaw.

This is the famous Krakow Pretzel.  They cost like a quarter and keep your tummy from growling since you're constantly walking and exploring the city.  They have these little pretzel stands at nearly every corner - making them a very convenient finger food.

Krakow was our first stop.  We did a lot of exploring.  I had been here 8 years ago, and wow, so much has changed in 8 years.  This city is way more touristy than I remember it being the last time I was here.   I also remember Krakow being a massive city - but this time that I came, I didn't feel like it was that big or easy to get lost in.  

One of my favorite places in Krakow is the sukiennice.  It means "cloth hall" in Polish.  It used to house a trading system for - cloth.  During the war it was destroyed - and alas - has been rebuilt.  The inside houses a museum and lots of little Polish souvenirs and trinkets that are all homemade and symbolize the heart of Poland's cultural style in arts & crafts.

  I love all the little finds inside of here.  I'm pretty sure that 19 year old Katie bought all the souvenirs pictured above the first time that she was in Krakow.  But I still have my eye set on a few that I really want to buy to display in my home in America one day.

  Around the outside of the Rynek is absolutely beautiful and full of life.  There are hundreds of children from all over Europe - here on field trips to explore the city (and the surrounding areas - more to come on that later) and lots of cute little flower shops with bright yellow canopies.  

But, by far, my favorite was the street performers.

Seriously, I need to find out how she does this and become a street vendor here in Warsaw.  This is great!

I laughed so hard when my mom wanted her picture taken next to the silver statue.  She thought it was an odd statue to be placed in the Rynek - but hey - Lionardo's "Lady with an Ermine" is housed in Krakow so maybe it is a tribute to his work.  As we got closer, the statue blinked and scared my mom.  I laughed so hard.  It was great.  But then it gets better - she wanted her picture next to another "street performer" which actually was a statue.  Just a regular mannequin showing off a traditional Polish cultural outfit. 

After exploring the Rynek we decided to explore the Wawel Castle.  They only sell so many tickets a day and since there were so many field trips - they were sold out for that day. Instead we just wandered around in the inside of the castle walls.  It's really pretty and I don't feel like we missed out on anything except seeing the Royal Treasury - which, like I said - I don't feel like we missed out on anything.

Every night my mom wandered around the Rynek trying to connect to the local Wi-fi (which worked, but wasn't strong enough since too many people were using it) to show her 2nd graders back in Layton the beautiful city and let them have a "cultural experience."

(Move over Provo, the "boots" in Krakow seem way more serious).

One of the days there we went to Schindler's Factory (from Schindler's List).  They turned the whole factory into a museum so you don't really get to see any of the actual "factory" but you do get to see the desk that Oskar Schindler worked at.  After reading about him, from the museum, I have very mixed feelings about this Mr. Schindler.  Don't get me wrong - he was a great guy for saving as many Jews as he could.... but... it talked about how he was a womanizer and not faithful to his wife.  Also talked about how shady his life was before he got into this position of power.  It seemed like he would do anything to knock other people down just to make himself look better and raise his stature in life.  That doesn't seem like your typical person who reaches out to others and tries to save others lives.  Somewhere, somehow the dots don't connect for me and I don't have a good picture of who he really was.

Near Schindler's Factory there is an outside display of art.  It's pictures of chairs in a square.  I think that the empty square and empty chairs are supposed to symbolize the people who lived in Krakow who died during WWII and what their life could have turned out.  The chairs are empty because these ghosts will never get to fulfill their dreams or make an impact in someone's life because their life was cut short by the war.  They represent what could have been and instead what is missing in Krakow.

I had a lot of fun exploring in Krakow.  Exploring is my favorite.  That's why I love traveling so much with Michal because we just go exploring together.  When I realized that's what my mom loved to also do (explore) it made it so enjoyable.  We were able to find our way around, laugh at our mistakes, and go where we wanted to, when we wanted to and how we wanted to.  It was great. 

More to come...