A li'l bit of Poland

Truly, we saw a very little slice of Poland because we only visited Krakow, a south-centralish city, for 7 days. Krakow hit me right in the feels, there is nothing extraordinary about Krakow, but I love it, it's in my top 5 cities I have visited. I suppose it's a combination of things. It's autumn, so it's beautiful, it has a small-town feel, people are nice, the food is good...it's nice to just walk around. We took out first night train from Budapest, cramped space, but I will take a red-eye train with a couchette over a red-eye flight any day. You actually can sleep!

One plus to arriving to a city at 7am is that you get to see it fairly empty. Here are some pictures of the main square.

Another thing I enjoyed about Krakow was the food. In most places I will try the local cuisine and usually decide I don't need to learn much more about it. I'm picky, what can I say? I went on a food tour and it was awesome! I had read about the food and I thought, yeah I am not eating soup made from fermented flour and cabbage, no thanks...but, I decided to try everything on the food tour, and it was goooood, except the pickled herring. Apparently, a tradition in Poland is to make the fishes swim, aka how to drink vodka. You take a drink of vodka, eat some herring, then finish the shot. I'm sure this process is an acquired taste. The vodka shot was pretty smooth though. I did my student teaching in Sacramento and many of my students were from Eastern Europe so I had heard of many of the dishes I ate, though I never associated them with Poland, I learned that Poland, Ukraine, and other countries were at one point or another part of the same kingdom, empire, etc, so the food is regional. Therefore, you can get perogi, borscht, hunter's stew, etc. in several different countries. One point of Polish pride, vodka was invented in Poland, take that Russia! I don't know, but this is what my tour guide assured us. One last word about food, the best cheesecake I have ever eaten is here in Krakow. I love cheesecake but most of the time it's just too sweet, but not here, it was light, creamy, not too sweet.

Day Trip #1: Auschwitz I and II

What can I say about this, it makes you feel speechless, sick, and overwhelmed all at the same time. There are enormous piles of belongings confiscated from the prisoners upon arrival: glasses, shoes, suitcases, human hair (they shaved everyone's hair upon arrival). Seeing it makes you feel...desperation. There are some pictures of children who resemble living skeletons. It's the worst thing I've ever seen in person and I can't even imagine what the starved people looked like who didn't survive. The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp is massive, it goes on and on, but still a very small space to cram almost a million people in it. It's unbelievable that this could happen, rather, I want it to be unbelievable.

Auschwitz I

Auschwitz II

Auschwitz II

Day Trip #2: Wieliczka Salt Mine

This is a gigantic salt mine, a UNESCO site. We learned that salt miners used to be wealthy because salt was used as a type of currency. Inside the salt mine are several chapels and artwork carved out of the salt and even chandeliers made of salt.

Each crystal is a salt crystal

Other Sites

Liban Quarry - the site of Plaszow Labor Camp. There is also an abandoned film set here from Schindler's List, including a path made with fake Jewish tombstones (the Nazis really did line the paths of labor camps with Jewish tombstones).

Wawel Castle

Wawel Cathedral

And lets not forget about these fall colors!

Other scenes from Krakow

 Kosciuszko Mound

 Bridge over the Vistula River

3 things to know about Poland:
1. They are SUPER proud of Pope John Paul II. (Census says Poland is 97% Catholic)
2. Robert Lewandowski. He scored 5 goals in 9 minutes a few weeks ago, that is pretty fucking impressive.
3. I bought a shot of good vodka for 40 cents.