Krakow, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II–Birkenau

The blog is back up and running!
I have a lot to catch you up on.

First off, is my trip to Poland! I went to Krakow with Meredith and Amy from March 3-5. It was a great weekend trip and we saw a lot.

I'll tell stories through the pictures:
As with other posts the whole albums can be viewed, as I don't post them all here. Krakow pics and Auschwitz ones.

When we arrived early Saturday morning we attempted to find the Jewish Quarter walking tour. After no avail we gave ourselves our own tour and started in St. Mary's square before wandering to Wawel Castle and the Jewish Quarter.

The Town Hall- there's a market inside it today.

Beautiful wreathes on the square. 

The market under the town hall. I bought Amber earrings here!

Amy and Meredith at Wawel Castle. This is a model of the whole hill. 

Pope John Paul II was from Poland, there were references to him everywhere!

On another day, St. Mary's church. A golden trumpet plays each hour in all 4 directions from the top. 

More on Wawel Hill. 

We then ventured to the Jewish Quarter and had delicious Zapiekanka. It's like Polish Pizza. Soo good! I had mine with salami.

Mmmm mmm mmm

We then visited the Schindler Museum- who protected many Jews during the war. Very good museum!

 After the long day of travel and sightseeing we went back to our hostel and napped before going out. Our hostel hosted an all you can eat and drink Polish dinner before heading out clubbing. It was a fun night! We started at the hostel, went to Club Coco and then had delicious Pirogi at 3 in the morning before heading home.

Meredith and I at the hostel. Haha they had a weird drinking game for us to play.

The Canadian and Australian we met at the hostel!

Amy and Meredith walking to Coco 

Inside the club. Woo for Eastern European clubs! Overall fun, but London clubs definitely spoil me. Also, you can smoke inside which gives me such a headache!

I can't upload the picture of pirogi for some reason. But you'll have to take my word for it that they're amazing!

The next day we slept in a bit but then did a brief walking tour of Krakow before heading to the Salt Mine! It was really cool. I'm stealing a few pics from Meredith here..

But before we went, we had a round of great Polish beer! I liked Zywiec the most. 

Walking down 400 stairs the first level. VERY dizzying. 

In one of the passages. Salt was everywhere! You could lick the walls. 

One of the chapels build out of salt way beneath the ground. I would have never expected this! 

After touring the salt mine we were exhausted. We headed to a great dinner at Pod Aniolami Restauracya. (Polish was a little tricky to pick up)

We had beetroot borsch soup and more pirogi. These were a step up. 

After dinner we had a few drinks at a bar and ran into a hilarious bachelor party, all dressed as golfers who had been playing pub golf since 1 pm. Needless to say they were in a good place. In the UK they call bachelor parties Stag parties, and instead of being in one location with 'entertainment' they roam cities in hilarious outfits and get really drunk. Not sure which one is better, but it's definitely funny to see a bunch of middle aged men off their face in golf outfits.

On Monday, our last day, we ventured to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II–Birkenau, the Nazi death camps about 45 minutes west of Krakow. It was a sobering experience, harrowing even. Just going back through the pictures just now I got chills. 1,300,000 million people were murdered here in the 1940's, with the majority of the industrial killing taking place between November 1942 and December 1943 at Auschwitz II–Birkenau.

At one point of the tour we were standing in the gas chambers where 700 people would be killed per cycle. Their finger nail scratches are still visible in the walls, as they attempted to claw their way out of death. The larger crematoriums, where 1000 people were murdered in 7 minutes, were not accessible to visitors as the SS destroyed them in hopes to hide their atrocities.

It was nice a happy visit, but a very important one. I will never forget my time there.

The gate at Auschwitz I, Work Sets you Free. 

The blocks and barbed wire fences.

A model of the crematorium at Auschwitz II- Birkenau. 1000 Jews would be gassed as they got off the train and then burned in the ovens. This is after their heads were shaven for the hair to be sold, and gold teeth removed for resale. 

Eyeglasses taken. 

Shoes. 

In addition to murder, the camps killed about 500,000 people from starvation and disease. Prisoners were given about 700 calories a day and then expected to do hard labor. Here are pictures of the starvation.

The Death Wall at Auschwitz I, where prisoners were shot before the gas chambers were utilized. 

Entering a gas chamber at Auschwitz I. It still makes my stomach drop.

Nail marks from people trying to escape as they were gassed. 

The ovens where they were burned after being shaven. 

Please take a few moments and say a silent prayer or wish for these deceased people.

After the museum at Auschwitz I we went to Auschwitz II- Birkenau.

More fences. 

The entrance, where trains would come directly in with loads of Jews to be gassed within an hour of arrival. 

A sanitary bunker. These were the toilets that were much too inadequate for the amount of people.

One of the sleeping blocks. 7 people would sleep on each of the levels on each bed. Conditions were deplorable as excrement and urine moved through the cracks in the bed and onto people in the lower levels. 

Yeah this was one of the hardest things I have ever visited. I was surprised I was not more emotional. At the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. I cried a lot on both visits. This time I was errily quiet.

Well, after relfecting and napping on the bus back to Krakow we spent our last few hours in the city. We bought souveniers at the market (where I got my earrings) and then had a delicious dinner.
Here's our last pic!

Kilbasa and dumplings. So good. 

We then caught our flight back to London!
A great trip overall.

Here's the map of where I went.

London (E) to Krakow (D) to Auschwitz (C) and back, 2,111 miles.