Charlotta v Praha: Piwo, pwwease.

This past weekend I went to Krakow, Poland. It was a very unique trip for me because it was both depressing & enjoyable at the same time. I know that sounds contradictory, but Krakow is a beautiful & interesting city in a country whose history is extremely dark. The first day we did a tour of the city center & castle, tour of the Jewish quarter, a tour of the Krakow Ghetto & went to the newly opened Oscar Schindler Factory museum.

A church a block from our hostel

Polish-Japanese Embassy?

Krakow Castle

Friends @ the castle

Sweet tree vines

Close up of the castle

Market hall

Main city square

Jewish quarter

Entrance to the oldest synagogue

Jewish cemetery

Schlinder's factory

The second day we went to Aushwitz-Birkenau. It is hard to sum up into words what I felt before, during & after visiting. Before we went, I was nervous. I knew the history of the Holocaust, especially the notorious Aushwitz & was almost dreading seeing the place up close. We went on a very dreary day when it had snowed the previous night. During the tour, I felt that the 2 camps had a very eerie, almost hopeless feeling. The bad weather further intensified my feelings because I could not have even imagined how freezing it would have been back then. However, at the end, I felt relief. I found a quote by George Santyana at the museum that I think sums up what I felt: "The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again." Overall, the fact that these camps have been turned into a museum & monument and that they receive over a million visitors each year, made me hopeful for the future.

Entrance to Auschwitz I

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

Found eye glasses

Crematorium/gas chamber

On a lighter note, we did karaoke at the hostel & got to watch 3 drunk scottish guys sing some Elvis songs. Krakow also had a lot of cool bars and restaurants for extremely reasonable prices. The city is a lot smaller than Prague so it was very manageable to see it in such short of time. I'm not gonna lie, I almost like Polish food better than Czech. It's a (little) more vegetarian friendly, my favorite dish being Pierogis. I had them for dinner two nights in a row. They are similar to dumplings & can be filled with anything from meat to cheese to fruit to even walnuts & cottage cheese.