Return from the East

old city gate

After boarding the train at 10:00 on Thursday night, I hunkered down and settled in for a long ride. During this excursion we were we going to experience the city of Krakow, the Wieliczka Salt Mines and the city of Oswiecim, mostly commonly known as Auschwitz [Nazis changed the name of the city to Auschwitz, which consequently became the name of the camp.]
The train ride was long and uncomfortable. It was 10 hours of sitting and trying to sleep upright. On the way there a tall, round albino, Canadian choose to sit next to me, however soon the action of sitting next to was replaced by sitting on. I was squished in between to guys who like to use their room to the fullest, the Canadian by far the most.

old town hall clock tower

fire breathing dragon [not breathing fire @ time of picture, but it did I swear!]

After suffering through 10 hours of on-again-off-again sleeping we arrived in Krakow and headed to our hostel at 7:00 am. After a brief nap and breakfast we headed out into the cold and wet snow to see the sights of the city. We saw numerous old churches built in Gothic and Renaissance styles, the city's Castle, Jewish Synagogues, and even a fire breathing dragon. Our tour guide led us to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch, for a quick Lenten lunch where we defrosted from the brisk morning tour. On the afternoon tour we were able to see more of the town square and the main cathedral [St. Mary's] located on the perimeter of the main square. Upon entry of the space the colors hit you with force and grandeur. I have never in my short sheltered life seen a church that looked quite like this. The color pallet was bold. Strong red and grene bands stretched across the ribs of the side aisle archways. The main nave had elegant archways that were painted a deep blue, not a navy blue but a rich mix of almost Caribbean blue and navy blue, the cling detail was finished off with gold stars covering the archways like the night sky. Every square inch was covered with decorative pattern, gold leaf, or a painting depicting a saint. It was truly a beautiful sight, I wish I could have been allowed to take pictures, however there were no pictures allowed. After taking in all the sights on the square we headed toward the hostel for dinner, a shower and a good nights rest. However the idea of rest was short lived, as many of us went out on the town celebrate St. Patrick's Day, green beers and all, I guess even in Poland on St. Patty's day everybody is Irish.

St. Mary's is the church in the background with the two towers

some random club in the city, Luke and I were the coolest people there!

The next morning started early at 8:00 am. We walked across town back to the train station and boarded a train bound for Oswiecim. An hour later we found ourselves walking about a mile in the cold wet sloppy streets to the most notorious concentration camp of all time. I think the name of Auschwitz is synonymous with unbelievable; unimaginable pain, suffering and horrific death. I think that the weather of the day fit the mood most appropriately. It was a cold, gray, slushy day. It didn't look quite night and didn't look quite day, it was just all around pretty depressing. It's hard to say that I enjoyed the tour, because I don't think that anyone can enjoy that sort of thing, I did however get a lot of information out of it, the situation became more than just a series of pictures and lecture notes taken from history classes of the past. The places became real and the faces came into focus. I think the most striking part of the tour for me was when the group was walking down a corridor in single file line [because of the narrowness of the hall]. Lining these walls from about shoulder level up were 8x10 mug shots of people who were kept within these walls. The building that we were in was the camp's jail. People were imprisoned here for various reasons such as tying a shoe, smoking, or going to the bathroom. These pictures were also accompanied by some dates, names, and identification numbers. The expressions on the faces were nothing less than hunting. You could see that all the life had been drained out of their faces, the sparks of their eyes had faded and replaced with a siring glare of despair and heart ache. The dates below the picture indicated the date of arrival and the date of death, in many cases the dates were less than a few months apart, and some a few days. Seriously this was one of the most sobering days of my life. I thought about how these people got cheated from a life of happiness, filled with family friends and growing old. It blows my mind that this event only took place 60 years ago, in the scheme of things, 60 years isn't a very long time at all. What makes it even harder to comprehend is how it's happing today in various forms and in various places. When we left the camp I came back to 2006 and had a much greater appreciation of the life and luxuries that I have. The train ride back was a quite one, I mostly reflected on the days experiences and looked forward to Sunday when the tone would be a lighter one.

"Arbeit Macht Fri" [Work sets you free] main gate

Auschwitz I

Auschwitz II

[ you can see the chimney stacks in the background where more shelters once stood]

A lighter day indeed Sunday was. It was sunny outside and warmer than it had been all week! The sun felt warm and bright on my cheek as we stood outside the visitors center for the salt mine just outside Krakow. We toured the pure rock salt mine for a few hours seeing various sculptures carved from salt. Some of the rooms were amazingly huge and some were uncomfortably cramped. We also learned interesting historical facts about the mine, none of which I can remember. After the salt mine we returned to Krakow and had some free time to wander the city and eat Kebabs. After a few hours of shopping and wandering we boarded the train for another miserable ride back to Prague. After the ten hour return trip I practicably ran from the train station to my bed to sleep a few hours before I had to show up for my morning ornamentation class.

room in salt mine, carved from rock salt

woring hard in the mines

city market place

inside market place

sweet music!

I had a great time in Krakow and would highly recommend it, it was a lively city where there was plenty of English speaking individuals to get around!