Krakow, Poland
After an expensive week in the Alps Jesse and I were looking for a destination that was on the less expensive side, so we decided to make our way back to eastern Europe for a month. Our plan is to visit Krakow Poland, Riga Latvia, Bratislava Slovakia, and Ljubljana Slovenia for one week each.
We couldn't have picked a better week to stay in Poland. They were celebrating their 100th year of independence. So they do what any country would do and that is to celebrate.
Krakow has the largest square in all of Europe and they filled it! There were markets, shopping, music and dancing. Each day we sat down at the market next to the music tent and enjoyed a pirogi (dumpling with meat, cabbage, potato or spinach) or a kielbasa (Polish bratwurst). In general the food there is very hardy. Most of the dishes included meat, potatoes and cabbage. By the end of the week we were craving a light salad. Something that was new to me was adding a raspberry syrup into your beer. Yum! Any way to make a beer better is to add a lot of sugar to it.
To get a better picture of the city we took a walking tour through the Old City and the Jewish quarters. The entire old city was surrounded by beautiful parks with the Vistula River flowing close by.
During our walking tour we were able to see Schindler's factory, which has become vary famous from the movie Schindler's List. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi party member that eventually helped save hundreds of Jewish lives by bringing them to his factories to work. Our guide told us how realistic the movie was and where some of the scenes were filmed. One major difference between real life and the movie was that he didn't have anything to do with making the list of workers names to be saved, while in the movie it depicts him as being the driving force.
Since I wanted to learn more about WWII I felt it was necessary to see Auschwitz. Only about an hour outside of Krakow I visited Auschwitz-Berkenow on my own with a tour group. Jesse had been five years ago and didn't feel it to be necessary, understandably, to go back.
Over the past five months in Europe we have seen a lot of historical museums about WWII. From Greece, Budapest, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany. I was naive to not understand the magnitude of the destruction across all of Europe. People were brought from all over the continent to this camp. It is a bizarre experience to set foot where some of the darkest days in history took place.
We entered through the main gate, and a sign above us read, "Work Sets You Free". Large brick buildings filled the area with trees. It was a strange feeling because in a way it seemed peaceful.
I tried to envision what it must have been like for all those who entered this place during the war. To have been stripped from your family and your previous life and be thrown in there with nothing. The fear, the depression, the environment, the hate. I can't even begin to understand it. Without going into all the details of the tour, I will say it was a very powerful and somber few hours and an experience I will not forget.
Poland has a lot of history and I feel grateful to have experienced it. Some memories are harder than others to relive, but hope that the past continues to teach us lessons for the future.
We couldn't have picked a better week to stay in Poland. They were celebrating their 100th year of independence. So they do what any country would do and that is to celebrate.
Krakow has the largest square in all of Europe and they filled it! There were markets, shopping, music and dancing. Each day we sat down at the market next to the music tent and enjoyed a pirogi (dumpling with meat, cabbage, potato or spinach) or a kielbasa (Polish bratwurst). In general the food there is very hardy. Most of the dishes included meat, potatoes and cabbage. By the end of the week we were craving a light salad. Something that was new to me was adding a raspberry syrup into your beer. Yum! Any way to make a beer better is to add a lot of sugar to it.
To get a better picture of the city we took a walking tour through the Old City and the Jewish quarters. The entire old city was surrounded by beautiful parks with the Vistula River flowing close by.
During our walking tour we were able to see Schindler's factory, which has become vary famous from the movie Schindler's List. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi party member that eventually helped save hundreds of Jewish lives by bringing them to his factories to work. Our guide told us how realistic the movie was and where some of the scenes were filmed. One major difference between real life and the movie was that he didn't have anything to do with making the list of workers names to be saved, while in the movie it depicts him as being the driving force.
Since I wanted to learn more about WWII I felt it was necessary to see Auschwitz. Only about an hour outside of Krakow I visited Auschwitz-Berkenow on my own with a tour group. Jesse had been five years ago and didn't feel it to be necessary, understandably, to go back.
Over the past five months in Europe we have seen a lot of historical museums about WWII. From Greece, Budapest, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany. I was naive to not understand the magnitude of the destruction across all of Europe. People were brought from all over the continent to this camp. It is a bizarre experience to set foot where some of the darkest days in history took place.
We entered through the main gate, and a sign above us read, "Work Sets You Free". Large brick buildings filled the area with trees. It was a strange feeling because in a way it seemed peaceful.
I tried to envision what it must have been like for all those who entered this place during the war. To have been stripped from your family and your previous life and be thrown in there with nothing. The fear, the depression, the environment, the hate. I can't even begin to understand it. Without going into all the details of the tour, I will say it was a very powerful and somber few hours and an experience I will not forget.
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