Snowy day at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Above the gate of the former concentration camp of Auschwitz I reads a sign that says "Arbeit macht frei," meaning "Work makes (you) free" in German.  Sadly, over 1 million Jewish people were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the second World War, after being sent to what they thought was a place to work and live.  Many of them brought their most prized possessions along with them, only to have them confiscated.  At Auschwitz today there are astonishing exhibits of all the items that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust which were taken from them by prison guards - thousands of shoes, combs, luggage pieces, clothing items, even human hair...

During our time at Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was quite cold and snowy.  Our tour guide told us how the innocent prisoners at the concentration camp were stripped of their clothes on arrival, and given a set of thin pyjamas to wear.  Many could not survive the harsh conditions and died soon after arrival.  There is a wall inside that has photographs of many of the prisoners, with the date they arrived and the date they died.  The strongest people were often selected by the doctors to do hard labour jobs, while the weakest were considered useless and were sent to their deaths earlier.

I didn't take many photos at Auschwitz I or the nearby Auschwitz II (Birkenau).  It didn't seem right.  I think everyone should visit that place to see with their own eyes what happened to those innocent people, and remember those who died.  It was quite eerie seeing the gas chambers which Jewish prisoners entered, thinking they were entering a shower room, when instead they were gassed to death.  Thinking about such a tragedy made me realize how lucky I am to be living free of any type of persecution.  It also shocked me how humans could act so cruelly towards other humans.  It was definitely a sobering visit.

Old world charm in Krakow

From Berlin John and I made our way to Krakow, Poland.  Unfortunately we missed our bus to Krakow after sleeping in, and had to rebook on a later one that went through Warsaw.  Upon arrival very, very early in the morning in Krakow we used John's GPS on his phone to walk to our hotel.  It was quite cold in Krakow but there weren't many taxis around and the only one we came across seemed sketchy.  The man didn't speak English and of course we didn't know any Polish, but luckily the walk from the train station wasn't long.  In general we found that it was harder to get by on only English in Poland, compared to other countries in Europe.

Our hotel (Hotel Saski) was in a 16th century apartment building located just steps away from the main square - the largest medieval square in Europe.  We did two walking tours while in Krakow - one of the Jewish quarter, and one of the old town.  Krakow had some sort of old world charm that I really liked.  The main square contained some huge buildings such as the "Cloth Hall" where merchants used to barter, and the beautiful St. Mary's Basilica.

The Jewish walking tour took us through the former Jewish ghetto that existed during the war.  We walked by Schindler's Factory, old synagogues, and an interesting memorial to the Jews of the Krakow ghetto which consisted of empty steel chairs.

On the old town walking tour we walked around the town square and through some lovely streets and parks up to Wawel Castle.  The Castle contains a number of buildings with various styles of architecture.  The cathedral there has a set of huge bones hanging above the doorway.  The legend is that they once belonged to a dragon who was wreaking havoc on the city of Krakow.  One man decided to feed the dragon a lamb which was stuffed with sulphur.  When the dragon ate it, the sulphur burned his mouth so he took a drink in the river, and then exploded.  Strange!  Anyway, the dragon's bones hang at the castle as a reminder of this legend.  Our guide said the bones likely belonged to a large animal, most likely a mammoth!

Along our walk around Krakow we also passed by several tributes to Pope John Paul II.  Born in Poland, John Paul II is considered a hero here.  He used to visit Krakow and stay at the Bishop's Palace and speak to crowds on the streets below from a window which is now decorated with his picture. 

"Dragon of Krakow" Bones!

Pope John Paul II window

We experienced some snowy weather while in Poland, but it was a nice change from our desert lifestyle in Dubai.  In Krakow I was walking around with my winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves, about three layers of shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and my water repellant shoes.  You might think that was a bit excessive (probably was) but I normally get very cold and all these clothing items kept me warm walking around in the -10 weather!

Another good way that we warmed up was by eating some nice warm traditional Polish food.  We went to a restaurant called Pierogowy Raj which had over 50 types on the menu.  Our favourite was the traditional "Ruskie" one which had potato and cheese.  We also visited a traditional restaurant where we ate some potato cakes and had an appetizer of cheese and lard on bread.  Not bad!  Food in Poland was pretty cheap and satisfying.

Krakow was a lovely, wintery city that is becoming quite popular with tourists these days.  Eastern Europe has a lot to offer and it's no surprise that many people are heading there due to lower prices and old world charm!