Krakow Poland, November 12th-15th 2010

Darron and I had been wanting to go to Krakow and we finally made it happen. We LOVED Krakow! Such a charming city with friendly people.

Starting our descent into Krakow!

The day we arrived, we just walked around the center and had some awesome perogies for dinner! Damn they were good! I miss them.

Our first full day we went on a trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. A World Heritage Site. Very interesting!

I wasn’t supposed to take pictures inside, but I quickly took this one of the last supper in pure salt. It was pretty amazing. I’m such a bad ass for sneaking this picture in. Maybe I shouldn’t say bad ass right after a religious piece of art…

After returning from our salt mine tour, we took a stroll to Krakow’s central square (called Rynek Glowny) which is the largest of medieval Europe. We really lucked out with the weather. The first picture I took off the internet because I liked it and isn’t that what the internet is for? The other two pics I did take.

“From its beginnings, the Market Square was the commercial and social heart of Cracow. It was an emporium of the Black Sea trade, and a spring-board for Poland's links with the West. Besides this, it was a place of festivals and public gatherings.” (from crakow-life.com)

I know the buildings look slightly crooked in this picture. They are not. Maybe I was.

The Cloth Hall

“The Cloth Hall, as its name suggests, was once a main focus of Cracow's trade. Merchants would meet here and discuss the state of business, whilst inside a lively bartering went on.

Today it may be slippers and one or two more tourist-oriented items that are on sale, but its wooden stalls maintain the hum of business as it was in earlier times.” (crakow-life.com)

Bazlika Mariacka-St. Mary’s Basilica

We took a short detour off the Rynek Glowny as I was on the hunt for specific Polish pottery. One of the expat ladies here has this amazing set of  Polish pottery tea cups and saucers. The name is Boleslawiec Pottery, and I was all about finding a piece or two. Now that I cook, I enjoy finding serving bowls and platters from places all over the world. Here’s the two pieces we bought. Score!

 

Our second full day we took a tour to Aushwitz. What a gut wrenching experience. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the atmosphere was solemn. The pictures will never be able to do justice to the horrific acts that happened there.

Auschwitz I has the famous gate in which prisoners would walk through to and from work, it said:  ARBEIT MACHT FREI, which means “work will set you free”. It was a sarcastic sense of humor that was used for the duration of the war.

This is where the camp orchestra assembled to play marches while  the prisoners filed past. This was to keep the prisoners in step and to make it easier to count them as they went to and from work.

Before the war began, Auschwitz was actually a Polish Military Base consisting of 20 buildings and during its occupation by the Germans, 8 more buildings were built by prisoners. A second Aushwitz, Birkenau, was built a mere 3 kilometers away which was 20 times bigger.

The belongings of the arrivals had to be sorted. Suitcases were sorted along with eye glasses, face creams, shoes, hair brushes, etc… 

The Shoes

 

Birkenau was the largest concentration camp in all of WW2.

Each day, more then 6,000 Jews arrived. 75% were put directly to their deaths within the first 2 hours they arrived. Those who were chosen to stay were shaved, bathed, clothed and sent to work. They worked long hours, slept crammed in uncomfortable beds, could only use the bathroom 2 times a day and had a caloric intake of about 1500 calories a day. Most of them died if they did not have a way to get extra food, due to their exhaustion and starvation.

The beds

The Toilets

                                 Memorial on the Tracks

On a happier note, Darron having a ginormous beer at lunch before we head back to the airport.