After spending the entire day on the bus on Monday, we arrived at our hostel in Krakow around 7:30pm. The hostel is smack dab in the middle of the center of the city, like I mean in the heart of EVERYTHING. It’s a skinny building with big rooms that hold 6-10 of us each. There are a few unisex bathrooms down the hall with a couple shower rooms. Definitely a different and less private experience than in Prague, but it’s worth it to be so engulfed in the city.
(Our hostel is the tall skinny building in the middle!)
After unloading into our rooms we had a free evening to get dinner and do whatever we wanted. Matt, Richard, Emily, and I, went to an Italian restaurant on the square and waited for our food for AN HOUR AND A HALF from a waiter whose nametag said “Sebastian- English”. Thankfully, the food was well worth the wait, a nice break from the “traditional” food we’ve been having, and it was a beautiful night for sitting out on the square and getting to know the city.
The next morning we were all out of the hostel by 8:30am and headed over to the Jewish district for a three and a half hour tour of that area and the downtown area. It was SO AWESOME. We FINALLY had a female tour guide and she was super informative and it was nice to get a break from all the testosterone. We saw the oldest Synagogue, went inside another one, walked through the Jewish cemetery, walked through the university, and walked around downtown. We stopped and learned about countless sights along the way, and went into the big church on the square, which was BREATHTAKINGLY gaudy. I loved it. Every hour on the hour a trumpet is played from the top window of that church, so we gathered around at noon to listen and wave. It was cute.
(The Jewish Quarter)
Lunch consisted of traditional Pierogis. They’re like big raviolis without sauce. Some were stuffed with meat and others with mashed potatoes. I have never wanted to sleep more after a meal than after that lunch but it was SO DAMN GOOD. Richard ate like fifteen of them; I was extremely impressed.
After lunch we loaded onto the bus and headed for Auschwitz. The mood got more and more somber as we approached and after about an hour and a half of driving we arrived. We split into two groups and did an hour and forty minute guided tour of the camp. We had headsets that allowed us to hear our guide as she spoke softly into her microphone. The place was haunting. We went into buildings and saw pictures and statistics that made my stomach churn. Everyone was silent. For me, the tears started when we walked into a room that was lined with a glass case filled to the brim with human hair. Tears rolled quietly down everyones cheeks as we passed from room to room, building to building. We saw piles of glasses, shoes, and suitcases. We saw and learned about what they wore, what they ate, and what they went through. We saw where they died. We walked through the block 11 gas chamber. No one spoke.
After the first part of the tour, we got on the bus and drove five minutes to Birkaneau, the second part of the camp. It was a gorgeous fall evening, the air was crisp and the sun was setting. That was the eeriest part for me. The place was beautiful and smelled like horses and if I closed my eyes, my senses told me I was at a stable, which is a familiar place for me. Auschwitz was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, but this part was different. It triggered sensory memories that didn’t connect to reality. I went numb. We walked into the wooden barracks. It turns out that they had actually originally been built for horses. We saw the communal bathrooms and learned about how everyone fought over working there, manually cleaning out the shit, so that they could have unlimited toilet and water access. As we exited Birkaneau, people stopped and gazed vacantly out across the train tracks. I knelt down and touched the grass. I couldn’t think of a prayer, all I could keep thinking was “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, over and over. It was like an unspoken vigil. Some people were sobbing, others stone faced.
The entire ride back was silent. One of my friends even got sick on the bus. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut and was cold and exhausted. We went back to the Jewish quarter for a traditional Jewish meal. As we ate our amazing food, we discussed the significance of what we had seen and everyone began to breathe again and just appreciate the moment. Here in Poland, at the age of 14, every child is required to go visit the concentration camp. I think that’s unbelievably commendable and definitely necessary. Everyone needs to see what happened there. The Jewish part of me, the German part of me, every facet of my being was shaken to the core and affected by that afternoon.
After dinner we stayed seated and were treated to a concert by “The Jascha Liberman Trio”, a violin, accordion, and bass trio that plays traditional Jewish music as well as original compositions and arrangements. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Seeing that horrible place and then listening to this music that had so much life to it put my soul at ease. The trio was ridiculously good and everyone bought a CD after (I bought two).
Wednesday was a much needed “free-museum day” where we were basically on our own for the entire day, equipped with lists of museums and attractions that we could visit and get reimbursed for when we return to Vienna. Matt, Ilana, Emily, Shelby, and I decided to start our day off properly with bagels and lox in the Jewish quarter, (Shelby was just there to envy our glucose). This breakfast outing was BY FAR one of the best decisions of this trip. The owner of the shop was an American originally from the Mid-West, but who lived in New York for long enough to open a “New-York style” bagel shop in Poland and get away with it. We also had filter coffee with a free refill. I didn’t know anything could get better than bagels and lox in the morning, but here’s one thing that is: filter coffee with a free refill.
After our meal, we headed over to the castle and explored that for a while. We saw the state rooms of the royals as well as the beautiful grounds and a gorgeous chapel. It was really cool and interesting and we were even able to tag along with a Spanish tour group in the state rooms and have Ilana translate. We were being total creepers, but it was all good, because it was in the name of learning history! We also bought tickets for the “dragon’s den” which is this underground cave that takes forever to walk down to, (on a twisty, cold, and damp staircase). The legend is that a king named Krak came to Poland, defeated a dragon, and founded Krakow. So, in memory of this great king, we ran around in a cave and pretended to be dragons. There’s also a fire-breathing dragon sculpture outside of the cave once you exit which made me jump about four feet in the air and scream like a little kid. Not so different from my usual day-to-day, but I was definitely caught off-guard!
After visiting the castle, ate lunch at this Italian place right next door to our hostel in the middle of the square. We started the meal outside, but then had to move inside because of the rain, but it was a really pleasant and relaxing meal. Not to mention, SO TASTY, but my prawns had eyes. This also made me scream like a little kid because once again I was caught off-guard by something unnecessary like fire or shrimp faces.
Since we ate in the square we were just a few feet away from the Cloth Market, which is a long indoor market lined with shops selling amber and gifts and souvenirs. Underneath the market is a museum about medieval Krakow, which the modern city was pretty much just built on top of. It was the COOLEST thing ever, and Matt and I spent a good hour there.
(The Cloth Market)
(Medieval Museum)
Our farewell Krakow dinner was an insane array of fresh bread, soup, slaw, veggies, potatoes, and PLATE-O-MEAT. I think everyone agrees that the food in Poland was much more exciting than Prague’s food. Everyone will be full of meat for days, but that’s okay by us.
After dinner we chilled at a jazz club that had some awesome live music, but was a little too packed. Then a hoard of us went to a great little club literally a two second walk from our hostel. We danced for a few hours and I really loved the DJ. In my opinion, the DJ makes or breaks a club and this one helped me utilize my sugar-free redbull ENERGY LEGS to their fullest potential.
I was in bed by a little after 2am, which made waking up at 7am A BITCH AND A HALF, but all we had to do today was sit on the bus for eight hours so being sleepy wasn’t that big of a set back. We arrived in Budapest about a half hour ago and are heading to dinner soon. We’re staying in a really nice Best Western hotel-hells fucking YES. These past six days have been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced so I can’t even imagine what’s in store for the next three!!!
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