So I wasnt able to write on my blog in Krakow, which is why I havent responded to any of your lovley comments! Sorry about that. I guess I will try to sum up how Krakow was.
I had heard that Krakow was the new Prague, so since I had just been to the Old Prague, I was looking forward to see if it was actually true. I cant say that I agree with the thought. Krakow seems like a nice place to live and is generally pleasant, but I didnt think that it had the same charm or the same variety of things to do as Prague. I wouldnt say that I was disappointed, but I also dont feel the need to come back ASAP.
Our first day, we looked around a bit and realized that there wasnt a lot of action going on in the main square (it was raining) so we decided to head for the famous salt mines just outside the city that are a UNESCO world heritage site. They are cool in a Disney sort of way and completely unlike the silver mine we had visited earlier in the trip. They had huge caverns carved out and there were entire chapels and restaurants down there. They used to have areas for cocktail events and things like that. You can actually get married in the main chapel! I thought it was enjoyable and our tour guide was pretty cool. The tour is long though, so afterwards we ate at the salt mine restaurant. I would like to say it was good, but mom and I both accidentally ordered tripe soup...funny how much tripe looks like chicken (but doesnt taste like it!)
The next day we decided to take the long trip to Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. Suffice it to say, it is a sad, depressing place to visit. We had considered not going, but in the end felt that it was the most notorious of all the camps and we wanted to have a look at what was there. One of the unique things about the camp was the tour groups of Israeli students, most of whom draped the Israeli flag over their shoulders. One of the smaller groups began playing music from a handheld cd player (Id say boombox, but it wasnt really). I have to say it didnt feel apropriate to me and I made me feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Beyond that, our tour guide (for another long tour, 3 hrs) was excellent and full of information about the camps. Amongst the most touching and shocking things for me was one of the exhibits which filled a room with soley human hair. The Nazis had shaved the womens heads and kept all the hair in order to make it into things like blankets. Beyond being disgusting, it was beyond sad to think of each woman and her hair. I imagine myself and how my hair is a part of my identity and so much a part of who I am in a strange way and I think of all the women who were dehumanized in this way. An entire room filled with hair, and this is only a small portion of what had survived the SS attempts to cover their tracks at the end.
Of course there are no words to describe such a place.
Our final day in Krakow involved a quick look around the old Jewish quarter of the city. We popped into a couple of the Synagogues, but didnt spend too much time since weve seen plenty of Synagogues in Prague. We walked around a bit and also visited Wawels Castel, which was mostly closed, but from everything I read, not really worth much of a visit anyway. One thing that was fun was the fire breathing Dragon sculpture, which is based off a legend about the city in which some guy defeats a dragon to protect the city. The scuplture actually had fire coming out of its mouth which was pretty cool.
Yesterday was a full travel day from Krakow back to Prague and we met a couple with a baby who were interesting. We chatted them up for a good portion of the trip, which helped to pass the time.
Oh and in case you are wondering, the keyboard here is different so I cant find the apostrophe key or the quotation marks anywhere. So until I either figure it out or get to another computer, youll just have to live in an apostrophe free world (well, at least on my blog...which is really all you need to be reading anyways...)
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