Krakow, Poland
My trip to Krakow was my first time to Eastern Europe, and I loved it! Everything was so cheap, the food was great, and the people were fun. I flew to Krakow from Paris CDG and took a bus to city center where my hostel was right down the street. When we checked in, I overheard some people talking about New Orleans and popped in and introduced myself as being from there. They were other Americans who were studying abroad in Prague and were on a trip to Krakow too. I ate dinner at the hostel. They had pizza, chicken, cauliflower, potatoes, and some other options. The food was amazing! That night, I went on a club crawl with the hostel and had a lot of fun. I always enjoy pub/bar/club crawls because everyone on them is looking to make new friends and that makes it easy to have a good time!
The next day, I got up and went to Auschwitz and Birkenau. The first part of the tour was at Auschwitz then we took a bus to Birkenau (the main extermination camp). Just a little geography and information for people who want to know more, Auschwitz I was the first camp built by the Nazis and was used as their headquarters. It held around 16,000 prisoners at a time. Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was the biggest camp, just 3 km away from Auschwitz I. It was here where millions of people died in the gas chambers and due to inhumane living conditions. It held more than 90,000 prisoners at a time and more than 1.5 million people were killed there. It was very sad to walk through the infamous Arbeit Macht Frei gate, the same gate that millions of people marched through to their death. I noticed a sign that pointed out the area where the orchestra sat. My first thought was oh how nice, at least they had some music. No, our guide said the orchestra played while the prisoners marched in tempo through the Arbeit Macht Frei gate in rows of five to be counted as the returned from their day of labor.
There were buildings with different names to show the visitors the horrors that took place during the Holocaust with pictures and artifacts. The hardest thing for me to see was the mountain of suitcases with names and birthdays written on them, one of them belonged to a boy just five years old. It made me realize these people had hope of getting out of there alive. Many of them brought pots and pans and china to have when they were set free. I didn’t take pictures of any of the personal belongings because I felt that wouldn’t be appropriate.
I saw a lot of places I had read about including the starvation cell where Maximilian Kolbe was held prisoner for two weeks before he was eventually executed. The last stop was the first of its kind gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz. The tour guide took us inside and that was very creepy. I was uncomfortable going in there with the tour group, so I can’t even imagine how the prisoners felt. After that, we headed to Birkenau.
First of all, Birkenau was HUGE. It was just rows and rows of barracks, some still intact and some demolished. The materials from the buildings at Birkenau were used to rebuild Warsaw after the war. We then saw the remains of the main gas chamber. There really aren’t words to describe the feeling I had when I was looking at the ruins and remembering what happened there.
I wish I could have stayed a bit longer to read all of the information in the museum and take a good look at everything. Being in a tour group made it hard to take my time. It was a very emotional experience. It is one thing to read about these places and the things that happened there in a history book, but to actually go and stand in the room where the prisoners once stood was unreal. It was really hard to connect the horror stories told by survivors to what I saw. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a really important place to visit; it is important to keep the memory of what happened alive.
On a lighter note! After returning from Auschwitz-Birkenau, I went to the main town square and saw St. Mary’s Basilica which was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. The colors were so vivid and the altar was absolutely gorgeous! The altar was made completely out of wood and depicted the assumption of Mary. The bottom portion is her sleeping, then above that you can see her being lifted up by Jesus. At the very top, you see Mary being crowned. It was really beautiful. I then walked around the cloth market which was so cute. Then it was about dinner time, so I went to one of the most popular milk bars in Krakow, U Babci Maliny! You might be asking, “What is a milk bar?” A milk bar is a government subsidized cafeteria that serves simple and affordable meals. During the height of Polish communism, the country had over 40,000 milk bars. Today, there are fewer than 150 left. I got meat pierogi and an apple cake for dessert for $10! It was SO cheap. The food was incredible. Pierogi is definitely one of my new favorite foods.
That night, I went out with some new friends I made at my hostel to a karaoke bar only to miss our slot because I had to use the bathroom and thought I had more time. It was so sad. The lovely people of Krakow missed out on me singing a lovely rendition of Sweet Caroline. The next morning, I woke up to catch the sunrise over the city. After that, it was time to head to the airport.
Krakow was so pretty and so cheap. I wish I had a couple more days there to eat more polish food and to see the Wieliczka Salt Mines. I’ll be back!! Overall, a great trip!
