Day 9 - Communism Tour

This ice cream was EXCELLENT!
Traditional Polish pierogies...meat, cheese & potatoes, and spinach...yum!
Broccoli soup (tastes better than it looks)
The restaurant we ate at for dinner
An interesting statue of Jesus in the Arc church in Nowa Huta
The Arc church in Nowa Huta
Welcome to a typical Communist apartment!
The courtyard to the Communist apartments in Nowa Huta
The dashboard and other gears in the craptastic Trabant
The coveted Communist car...the Trabant!!!

Today we had the chance to pick what tour we wanted to go on. Some people chose to look at Polish wooden architecture while others had the option of going on a "Crazy Communist" tour. I figured that since I've already had the chance to see an abundance of beautiful architecture in the city that I would go on the Communist tour instead.

We had three different tour guides come to pick us up in crappy, old German-made Trabants. In all honesty, these cars were similar to a lawn mower with a car body. In fact, the fuel tank is located in the hood of the car (so there is potential that if you ever crashed in those things, your car would explode). The terrible interior and plastic car hood were only several of the tacky, terrible features of these cars. In all honesty, that's what made the tour really fun. We had the opportunity to drive the Trabant at an old airport landing strip, but I decided to pass on it. Since I don't know how to drive a stick shift (the Trabant requires changing gears) I figured that I didn't want to blow the car up. However, it was fun to watch a few of the others try it out.

Following that, we drove to the Communist city of Nowa Huta (which is located on Poland's previous best farmland). Joseph Stalin chose to establish Nowa Huta next to the former conservative Krakow (which has a TON of churches) purposely to contradict these aspects of the city. Nowa Huta was established only within a 10 year period (which is impressive considering that it was nothing more than farmland before)! We also had the chance to see a Communist-style apartment and it was absolutely awful. Haha, it had enough room for people to live with, but it certainly was far from luxury.

We concluded the tour by going to the first church in the city (referred to as the Arc). This church is constructed with different types of stones and took 10 years to establish. The reason for this is because materials could not be requested from the government to build the church and people had to collect necessities on their own.

Afterward, I had some down time in the hotel. We ended up going to a Polish-style restaurant again and the food was good. I had different types of pierogies and a broccoli soup. Following the meal, I had some EXCELLENT ice cream with whipped cream and fruit. Then, I went with a few people for a walk around the city (the walking never gets old...I love it!).

Sitting in the hotel and slowly getting sleepy...

Love you guys!

Day 8 - Auschwitz-Birkenau

This is the menu cover for the Hungarian restaurant we went to
Crepes...yum!
This is Hungarian goulash (which has mushrooms, chicken, and a lot of paprika) on potato pancakes. It was SOOOOOOO good!
The remains of gas chamber number 2...the Nazis tried to blow it up to hide any evidence of the atrocities at Birkenau.
Women's centers in Birkenau
Eerie, isn't it? These are the train tracks that brought thousands of prisoners to Birkenau.
The gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz
This is building number 10 where medical experiments were conducted on women
The sign found at the entrance to the concentration camp, Auschwitz

Where do I begin?

I didn't end up crying at Auschwitz the way I expected to...however, seeing the mountain of hair, shoes, and other Jewish belongings was eerie. Before I go into more detail, I'll go over our trip to the concentration camp and my experiences there.

We ended up leaving for the camp at 8 AM by bus (which, by the way, had absolutely NO leg room!) and it took us between 1-2 hours to get there. When we arrived, there were different groups of tourists and quite a few Hasidic Jews. Our tour guide was good (Alicia, I believe her name was) and she took us through different parts of the camp. The sign Arbeit Macht Frei was chilling and cruel all at the same time. Work makes you free...if only the Jews and other prisoners knew what awaited them!

We had the chance to walk around and see the different buildings (many of which were originally barracks for Polish soldiers), but I was unable to take pictures of the interior. However, some of the contents were horrifying: crowded rooms, standing cells, gas chambers, beams to hang the prisoners, and unGodly sanitary issues were only a few of the things I saw. The crematorium was by far the most creepy. The holes in the ceiling were used to drop Cyklon B into the chamber and next to the main room was where the dead bodies were burned. Around 1000 people could be gassed at a single moment. Absolutely terrible...

Afterward, us and the tour guide took the shuttle to Birkenau and it was more desolate and miserable than Auschwitz. The marshy territory is rampant with malaria in the summer months and intensive freezing in the wintertime. The women's areas were constructed from brick, but the men had to suffer in wooden barracks. We could see the remnants of some of the buildings from the chimneys left behind. The Nazis tried to dismantle the camp as much as they could following the war...but were unable to hide the atrocities. Another aspect to Birkenau is the railroad. It's so creepy...an original cart that contained some 100 Jews at one time was still located on the rail. We also saw the remnants of gas chamber number 2 and a memorial dedicated to the victims of the camp.

Imagine, around 90,000 people were located in Birkenau alone...

Victims of Auschwitz that we currently know about are only the ones registered in the camp. This does not include those who were killed immediately upon their arrival.

Following the visit I had some time to rest and then we went out to eat at a Hungarian restaurant named Balaton. The goulash and potato pancakes were delicious! After a walk throughout the city I'm now sitting in my room and missing you guys. I send you all my love.

Day 7 - St. Mary's Basilica and Jagiellonian

The wonderful chocolate ice cream I had at the hotel
Schnitzel and mashed potatoes...yum
This cute Polish couple was nearby the market square playing some traditional music.
This is what the Polish call a Kebab. It has chicken, a bunch of different vegetables, and ranch in pita bread. It's delicious!
This is a view of St. Mary's Basilica from the market along St. Florian
Krystal, Angela, and I next to St. Mary's
It's me!

Hey everyone!

Sorry about the delayed post. We got back pretty late last night after Teddy's lecture at Jagiellonian University and we had to be up to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau at 8 AM.

To start, the group ended up going to St. Mary's Basilica (a Catholic church) in the market square to see the opening of the altar. The inside of the church was amazing...I've never seen so much decor in my life! The immense gold plating, elaborate paintings, and size of the church was incomprehensible. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the church, but I did get some photos of the outside...which is quite beautiful in itself.

Following the visit to the church, me and a couple members of the group walked over to the market square. I like the outdoor shopping much more than the indoor stuff we have in the States. The stands are full of different things: amber jewelry, boxes, dolls, clothes, and almost everything under the sun. It was fun to walk around and get a breath of fresh air. We've had quite a bit of rain in Krakow and it was nice to see the sun!

We concluded the day at Jagiellonian University since they requested that Teddy give a lecture. She talked about Henryk Grynberg and the value of documentary prose. It was similar to the Wyatt lecture I heard before, so nothing was really new. However, it was cool to meet some of the students from the Center for European Studies. There was someone from England and others from Chicago and Kentucky. Helped to alleviate the feeling of being foreign!

At the very end, we went back to the hotel and had dinner there. We had some schnitzel and mashed potatoes...which were DELICIOUS. Following that, we had a really good dessert of chocolate ice cream. I came back to the room, washed up, and went to sleep!

Check out the next post for Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Day 6 - The Sarmatism Museum

Unfortunately, today wasn't too eventful! We ended up going to a Sarmatism exhibit at a small museum in the city. Sarmatism was Turkish influence on Polish culture during wars between the two groups. A lot of the influence is reflected in the clothing and tapestries found from the era. Even though I typically like museums, I don't think I was really feeling it today. Nothing caught my interest so I kind of just drifted through the exhibit. However, some of the stuff was very pretty and I loved the colors used in some of the tapestries and clothing.

Following the exhibit, I ended up walking with Desiree and Jordan along St. Florian street where most of the major shops are located. I didn't end up getting anything (I want to find one very nice thing for each of you...not just cheap tourist junk!) but I absolutely had to try the bread sold along the street corners. Along the street, it's common to find blue bread stands. Basically, the vendors sell a Polish-style bagel. The outside is a bit more tough than the bagels at home and the flavor is relatively light. From what I've been eating in Poland so far...it's true, Europeans and everyone else like their bread!

The dinner was a bit disappointing to me today. I didn't care for the pasta di pollo (chicken, mushrooms, and some kind of fancy sauce) too much. I think the sauce got to be a bit too rich..but hey! at least I got to try it, right? However, the chocolate mousse was DELICIOUS. European dessert is out to get me. I'm really gonna have to watch it here! Following that I ended up going back to the hotel, sent love to the ones I needed to, and walked the city with a few of the group members for a bit. Now I am here and have yet to retire in an hour or so.

Hugs and kisses to you guys! I am counting down the days before I get to see your faces. You have NO IDEA how much I miss you!!!!

Day 5 - The Wieliczka Salt Mine

The outdoor concert I saw nearby the market square in Krakow. The singers were quite good!
The absolutely delicious chocolate ice cream I had at Wedel...ugh SOOOOOO GOOD (and light at the same time)!
One of the interior decorations in the Polish restaurant we ate at, Chlopskie jadlo.
The sickeningly huge platter that we all ate from of peasant-like Polish food. Can you feel your veins clogging? I sure can...and the food was terrific!
My chicken and dumpling soup...It actually tasted like a more "chickeny" flavored wan tan soup from a Chinese restaurant. Yum!
This is bread with Polish cottage cheese...yes, cottage cheese.
Bread with lard and potatoes...looks sick but tastes terrific.
This is the saint of the salt mines...Unfortunately I didn't catch her name. Because of her, Poland has the salt mines.
Crystallized salt
Steps going down in the salt mines. If you look at the bottom left corner, that squiggly looking block of salt is actually the remnants of stairs that salt miners used in the 17th century to transport salt.
A beautiful carving of the Virgin Mary in the mines.
The sign to our restaurant
One of the chapels found in the salt mines
This is a GIGANTIC chapel found in the mines...can you believe this is made entirely from carved salt?! Yes, including the chandeliers.
The sign outside of the salt mines
The outside of the salt mine
Just thought I'd leave you guys a smile!!! Love you!

Well, I have finished yet another day and I am missing everyone terribly!

We had the opportunity to go to the salt mines and though it sounds incredibly boring, there was actually a lot of interesting and beautiful things that I had the chance to see. Despite the high humidity (somewhere between 70 and 80%) the mines were cool because we were pretty far underground. I think we had to go down about 45 lights of stairs until we finally got to our destination. Even then, throughout the tour we had to descend further to see the rest of the mine. I had the opportunity to see different salt carvings, a HUGE cathedral carved from salt, and got to see the process of how the salt was mined in earlier centuries. We also had the chance to see a museum toward the bottom of the mine where different types of salt crystallized. All in all the sight was quite overwhelming because it was nature's beauty at its finest. I've never experienced anything like it in my life.

Following the mines, I ended up going back to the hotel and taking some time to rest. Met with the group around 5:30 and we went to a fantastic Polish restaurant called Chlopskie jadlo which is more in the peasant style. Although the mountain of food did look a little sick, it turned out to be soooooo good! I think with all the Polish food I've been exposed to, there really isn't anything that I don't like (*knock on wood)...I've even got a couple people addicted to the beetroot soup! I really wish you all were here to try it, too! Everyone seemed to have a good time and we got along fine.

I had a chance to walk around the market square with Desiree for a bit and heard a wonderful outdoor concert (the Polish language is really quite beautiful) and ate at the best chocolate shop named Wedel. It definitely beats chocolate at home any day of the week...the lightness of the chocolate and European sweets in general is very refreshing and honestly a lot tastier. We ended up getting a little lost on the way back, but hey...we made it back! Considering it's a Saturday, the market square was extremely lively and populated with a ton of college-age students. The clubs and bars were pretty active...but I suppose that's to be expected considering that Jagiellonian University isn't too far away.

Other than that, I'm probably going to call it a night here in a little bit. Hope you all are enjoying the posts. I'm thinking of you guys and I love you very much!