Poland: My brethren!

This past weekend I was able to travel to Poland. It was an amazing!

We began our journey on Friday morning, around 7:30 am. The train ride was especially fun. The group had some fun bonding times. We had to switch trains in Katowice and therefore had about an hour in town. I figured out that the exchange rate from Euro to Zloty(the polish currency) is 1:4. Amazing! I just walked around and found this nice fountain to take a picture next to.

Random fountain in Katowice by the train station.

We then got a little Podunk train…it had plastic seats that were not so comfy. We also had to scramble from one platform to the next because they changed our platform. It was an interesting time.

The train ride from Katowice to Krakow was around 2 hours and 30 minutes. Not too long.

Then trying to get all 15 of us, with all our baggage on the light rail was a great sight to see. Of course none of us stamped our tickets. I will get to that later.

Where the trumpeter plays from

We arrived at the hostel and put our luggage down and then proceeded to go out for a great city tour. We got to see the tower where the trumpeter of Krakow plays. We also went to an "authentic" Jewish restaurant. I happen to get some fish. Let's just say it was staring back at me!

I had no idea it would have a face. Kinda creeped me out...

The next day we went to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkeneau. It was quite an experience being in that place. It was filled with many different emotions. We stood in the places where many people were selected to either live and be worked to death, or to die in the gas chambers. It was definitely worth it in the end. One experience was especially haunting. The Nazi collected many things from the Jews when they were brought to Auschwitz: articles of clothing, shoes, baggage, combs, brushes, etc. One thing I was not expecting was the hair. There is a room filled with people's hair. The tour guide it could have been from up to 30,000 people. He explained that they took the hair and made cloth, kinda like a burlap. Just something that was interesting to actually see with my own eyes.

The collection of shoes that was left when the Nazi's left Auschwitz.

Auschwitz I

The memorial

The tracks inside of Auschwitz, to the left is where the selection process took place.

Women's sleeping space, each bunk would have 4 to 8 people sleeping on it.

We then returned to Krakow and had some delicious dinner, with the help of Dr. Simpson's friend. She led us to a traditional Polish restaurant. It was down in the basement, where none of us would have ever looked for a restaurant. Most delicious!

A traditional Polish drink, warm red wine with cinnamon and an orange.

The square all lit up at night.

The last day of my adventure included going to the castle that still stands in the city and going to the Jewish ghetto. And also the Schindler factory! Definitely a nice thing to see!

I was hanging my head out of the train... It was fun.

And that concluded my trip to Krakow. One last thing... We actually got a ticket for riding the light-rail without a ticket. They should have charged us each 108 Zloty (around 25 Euro) but they just charged us for two people, we had 7 people altogether. Lesson learned! The ticket only costs 2,80 Zloty. So if you ever in Europe... just buy a ticket.