A quick four hour drive from Wroclaw and we are in the former Polish Capital of Krakow. Karen navigates us to the neighborhood where we are couch surfing. Not much in the way of parking, but we find a spot and head off sightseeing. We walk to Wawel Castle, a 14th century castle. It is a magnificent castle, but we arrive too late to take a tour. We walk around the grounds and visit the fabled dragon cave.
Under the castle is a cave and the story goes that a dragon took up residence under the Castle and the king offered the Princess in marriage to anyone who could slay the dragon. Many knights tried and failed. Finally the local shoemaker tried by filling a dead sheep with sulphur. The dragon ate the sheep and then flew to the river to drink water. He drank and drank until he blew up. The shoemaker then made shoes out of the skin and married the Princess. Outside the cave is a metal sculpture of the dragon. If you send and sms from your phone, he breathes fire.
After the castle, we wander around the old Jewish quarter. During the war, this was walled off and turned into a ghetto containing the Jews until they were sent to the extermination camps. This is the area that Oscar Schindler obtained workers for his factory, thus saving them from the death camps (movie Schindler’s List). At 7:30 pm we go back to the flat to meet Stefan and get settled in. We all go to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants and have dinner and watch the World Cup. Nice time and great to talk to Stefan. He gives us a lot of suggestions of things to see and do.
Day two, we leave early to visit the Weiliczka Salt Mine. We take a tour that lasts several hours. It is amazing. I never knew what a salt mine was. This is salt from an old sea that has been compressed under the ground for millions of years. The compression creates what looks like stone, but if you shine a light on it, it is clearly all crystal. We are still unbelievers, so we each lick the cave wall. Pure salt! We descend a staircase of 378 steps down into the mine. The beginning of the tour is at 64 kilometers under ground. The tour takes you from one chamber to another chamber. Some of the chambers have exhibits which show how the mining took place and others have statues carved out of the salt made by the miners. The tour covers 2 kilometers of tunnels, and the entire complex is 300 kilometers of tunnels descending to a depth of 327 meters. The walls are supported with log structures that look like Lincoln logs. The logs have to be used for support because the salt will corrode any metal used. The various carvings are amazing, but at one point we visit and underground chapel, the Chapel of St Kinga, situated at 101 meters underground. The chapel was created by three miners in their off hours over many years. Amazing!
We spend the rest of the day exploring and shopping. Tim got new soccer boots, as he has signed up to play upon our return and he needs to be in shape to play straight away. We also cook one of our Thai curries for dinner and share a meal with Stefan in the flat before heading out to watch a World Cup game.
We have been having fun watching the World Cup here in Europe, the excitement is alive! Go USA! But it really doesn’t matter as we will watch all the games if we can.
Day 3 We depart fairly early from Krakow to visit Auschwitz. We drive through the country side to reach Auschwitz, and are amazed at the reality of life in the area. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, just another area. I guess that is what the Germans were aiming for in setting up their “camps”.
Once at Auschwitz 1, as they call the main camp, we take the tour which begins with a film before the guided tour. Jeff and I remember a much more detailed version of this from our high school history class and are a bit disappointed. We begin the tour and we are part of a group of perhaps 30. Our guide takes us through many of the buildings with a commentary, but we find ourselves wandering off exploring beyond her tour. We are about 3 hours on the tour and are quite over whelmed. The camp is in good shape at Auschwitz. The exhibits are lacking a lot of information and impact though. The holocaust museum in the US is much better. We then took the shuttle to Auschwitz 2, also known as Birkenau. This was the “extermination” camp, and the impact upon us was huge. The size of the camp is unbelievable. I was devastated……I truly could not believe the horrors that took place here. As I write this tears come to me as I recall the memories. I cannot believe what people can do to other people.
I will not say more as I am to emotional at the thoughts and will be able to share more with individuals once we are home. We return to Wroclaw and our dear friends home for once last night before heading on.
~Karen~
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