Group Trip to Krakow, Poland

I am sorry for the delay on the blog update; I hope you all will forgive me. Let me tell you about my visit to Krakow, Poland. So, we left Oct. 2nd at 6:30 in the morning (yawn!) and got back late Oct. 5th. Our group was traveling together in one bus this time, one smaller than your average Greyhound bus, but still big none the less. We had a driver that didn’t speak much English which proved to be pretty difficult for our professor at times since neither of them actually knew where we were going. In other words, good thing the bus wasn’t too big, because we did many U-turns. Haha.

We drove through Hungary and made a pit-stop in Slovakia to visit a big castle which sat high atop a stony peak. It was a pretty castle, but it had had some renovations done to it to make it more tourist friendly, which took away from its natural beauty. We had a guided tour of the place, but it was done in the Slovakian language, so none of us could understand what was going on, except we did learn that the castle was the sight of the filming of the film Nosferatu (a German movie about a Dracula like character). We trekked up and down the castle, and it was cool for a while, but we all reached a point when we just wanted to be done. So then it was off to Poland.

That night we made it to Poland, had dinner together, checked into our hostel, and called it a night. Our hostel, we found out, was actually a dormitory for college students, but it used certain rooms as guest rooms for travelers. The next day we went on a guided tour of Krakow, this time in English, in drizzly and cool weather. The weather was a bit of a let down, but the historic city of Krakow was not. It was so beautiful to see to various markets, churches, the castle, and places where Pope John Paul II lived for periods of his life. Yep, Pope John Paul II is everywhere in Krakow! We saw where he lived as Bishop and Cardinal of Krakow, and we even saw where he went to college. It was the same college that Copernicus went to for some time (he was the man who made the revelation that the planets revolve around the sun). After our tour, some girls and I went off to souvenir shop, of course, and then we headed to the old Jewish district. While we were there I wanted to go to Schindler’s factory, the factory where the actual Schindler worked and helped to save Jews from going to the concentration camps, like in the film Schindler’s list, but alas we were all wet and tired and it was just a little too far to go, so I didn’t make it there.

The next day was one I could not have prepared for, no matter how much I tried. It was the day where we visited the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, Auschwitz is chaotic with all the tourists walking, talking, and waiting around for tour guides. Our professor’s wife said this chaos could be intended to convey the chaos of the arrivals of the Jews to the camp. The buildings there were made of brick and had many floors. Inside those buildings there were exhibits of things left at the camps after the Nazi’s deserted near the end of WWII. We saw a case of glasses, suitcases, pots and pans, and shoes of both children and adults. Probably the most horrifying case contained the hair of the Jews of only blond or brunette color. Our guide told us this hair was collected after the people were killed in the gas chambers and was then used to make textiles that were sold to German families. He also said that some families could still own these products; that is something that really freaked me out.

Auschwitz was once a Polish soldier base before the Germans took it over and made it a concentration camp; this explains it “beauty” in comparison with Birkenau. Birkenau was more of what I was expecting in a concentration camp. It had some brick buildings and some wood buildings which were the sleeping quarters for the Jews and other minorities. The place was pretty desolate, and just like Auschwitz, was surrounded with barbed wire and guard stations. While Auschwitz had the entrance gate that said “work makes you free”, Birkenau had a large watch tower complex with an entrance path for the train tracks that led directly to the heart of the camp, near the crematoriums. While Birkenau was more what I expected, it was so much larger than I would have ever thought. From the watch tower, it seemed to go on forever. On foot, it was a 15 minute walk from the front of the camp to the back. We saw the crematoriums and went inside the living quarters. Because the weather was cool and misty, and the sky was clouded over, it was easy to get in the depressed mindset of those in the camps. The cold weather seemed to creep into our bones that much easier and we were all appreciative to be heading back to the warm bus. I know I left the camps that day wet, cold, and mentally exhausted. That evening my spirits were rejuvenated by a nap, a warm shower, and a Jewish meal.

On a lighter note, our last day in Krakow was spent exploring an old salt mine. We saw the various chambers created by the miners, learned about different mining techniques, and saw some beautiful sculptures carved by some of the miners in their free time. The sculptures were crafted so skillfully, they could have been done by a professional artist. There were elf sculptures, biblical scene reliefs of Jesus’ life, and a sculpture of Pope John Paul II. The mine contained 3 chapels for the miners, some of which are still in use today, one of which looks more like a big banquet hall instead of a chapel. After our visit to the salt mines, we headed toward the Slovakian border to a little ski town for lunch and a photo opportunity. The weather of course was beautiful, since it was the day we were leaving, but it made for a nice day of travel. We saw big hills and snow-capped mountains, color-changing trees and evergreens. After a long time on the road, we made it back to the dorms late in the evening and went to bed. It was a great trip, filled with new experiences above and below the ground. It was physically and mentally exhausting, but a great learning experience overall. I learned new disturbing facts about the Holocaust and those involved, and saw another place in Europe where the people smile and can speak English relatively well. It was a great trip.