Krakow - Oświęcim (Auschwitz)

Sher:

Tried drafting this entry once... and felt that I can't help trivializing this entry of gravity with the small details I can't resist including... so... I shall do away with the smaller events or impressions first:

Sth worth mentioning is that the person who runs AQQ hostel is really nice... he helped us check out all possible means of getting to Auschwitz camp (which is located in Oświęcim - read: ors-vien-chim - sth like that...) on the internet when we asked. He even called up PKP railway to check out train timings and prices...

[Oh! He sleeps in a room with a working desk equipped with a PC, a printer, a NETS reader etc, a sink in the corner and a half sized single bed mattress in a corner. Minimalist living? =P I wanted so much to get a picture of his room... but guess that's kind of rude.. hm?]

After some amount of research and a little enquiry on our part from our really nice room mate, we decided on the 9.15am train to Oświęcim. =)


She fears the heat and the chill... and frequently underestimates the weather - here's twin. haha e same one who wore a spag strap and just a jacket and then started shivering last night on the streets... (Mutual friend A (u know who u are...), pls talk 2 her abt this... I'm tired of nagging) and in e warmth of the train, the layers won't stay on her.


Counter @ Oświęcim station - vacated some few minutes ago, the lady in there left after we confused her with our enquiries about train tickets back to Krakow Główny. Oh yeah, lesson from previous trips: always secure your return tix 1st thing... if you dont want to risk having to stay at wherever you are and don't want to be at overnight =)


(The railway station)

We werent lost for long - pretty soon, someone else sold us the train tix... Return tix: 3.45pm, next train was at 8pm! We weren't going to risk that... even if Carlin had recommended the restaurant opposite the station for cheap and good food and beer. =P


Before we get a little more serious... we spotted chickens or sth around... twin was hopeful for an egg to be laid... but she should now know there's no such thing as a free lunch - or egg for that matter.. so her dream continues =)

p/s. yeah i know it's highly inappropriate to keep punctuating e entry w sidetracks - but we both got hungry at this point and went 2 e kitchen to get tuna & bread. Marked.


Wry humor in the form of grafitti outside a military camp enroute to Auschwitz I.


Soaked and dishevelled.

All right... entry starts proper here...

Our itinerary for the day, as have been previous revealed, is the site that might well be the largest cemetry in the world, home to countless dead in the brutal genocide that was somehow allowed to take place unchecked, just a little more than 50 years ago.

Did I forget to mention that it's a cold, gloomy and rainy day out there... Yeah so that was how the weather was... and I guess, given the destination, the weather is perhaps appropriate... but as we suffered in the cold, we can't help thinking the gloomy weather was totally uncalled for... Not that we could do much about it.


We stumbled upon the way to Birkenau (Auschwitz II) while looking for Auschwitz I. FYI, Auschwitz wasn't a single camp. It was further divided into Auschwitz I - the nucleus of sorts, Auschwitz II (Birkenau - Extermination camp) and Auschwitz III (Monowitz - Labor camp).
I'm gonna get the pictures out of the way before delving into detail...

From this point onwards, I shall refer to the victims of this atrocity as 'prisoners' of the camps; but this word shall only mean that they were imprisoned against their will and were robbed of their freedom, dignity and anything that meant anything to them.


Aerial map of the camps - taken by the Allies


An appropriately bleak picture of the camp with its fences that had high electricity voltages running through them. It was said that when prisoners got desperate enough, some of them ran up against the fences to commit suicide..


A ditch in the camp. Countless bodies were found in each of the ditches - revealing what killed the prisoners when the cold, the lack of hygiene, illness, torture, gassing, sadistic medical experiments etc did not: hunger. Many died, famished, too tired to move.. piled up against others sharing the same fates, dying and dead...


One of the 'cells'. There were metal rings along the bars running along the thin walls of the place; undoubtedly to secure the shackles of some prisoners to.


One of the famous incinerators within the camp, used to cremate millions who died in the camp. These, along with the gas chambers (in which many were killed with the cyanide gas - Zyklon B) were hastily destroyed by the Nazis as they saw the end of the war nearing.


The tracks leading up to the camp. The Death Railway ran along these tracks - on which, some, deported, knew nothing of the fate that awaits them... all of them were tumbled out of the trains that took them here... at that point, they were stripped of their identities as they were made to stand in lines and then got separated into classifications that went along the lines of "ill, too young or old to be of any use to the captors", "able to work", "jews" etc. Those able to work, will be utilized beyond humanity, others, recognized to be of no economic value, are exterminated promptly.


A memorial for those who died in the camp...
The plague reads:

"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe"

I think it speaks for itself.


This sculpture was found in the information centre at Auschwitz I - which happens to be the camp with more information in the form of photos and captions exhibited in the bunkers.

The sculpture is called "Before the Sun Rose". Recognizing the taller structure as the post to which prisoners are tied to as a normal sort of punishment for the smallest thing - or even nothing at all... I think interpretation of the sculpture should be left open..


The entrance to Auschwitz I - the sign reads “Arbeit Macht Frei”, or “work (will) make (you) free.” Irony at its best really. Each day, the prisoners would be marched to the beat of the orchestra, out of the camp, where they will be set to work in the worst of conditions... till death claims them.



Dark pictures above. This is from the exhibition in just one of the bunkers that we barely had time for. The invasion of Poland for the expansion of German territory marks the beginning of the second world war. To achieve a legitimate start of sorts, Hitler was quoted to have engineered the war - by creating a cause for it.

The Polish army put up a good fight, but was sadly outnumbered in almost every aspect that determines the victory or defeat of an army in a war.

Picture Left, Bottom shows a panel for each camp set up by the Nazis to house their Prisoners of War.

Picture Right, Bottom shows an example of Germanization where street names are altered along with signs.

The Nazis wanted to clear a space for their countrymen whom they believe to be the only Aryan species. To do that, they had to invade others and clear the space of the unwanted inhabitants... immediate death would seem like a waste... so they found ways to recycle the lives they didn't want; experiments on sterilization, on diseases, on bacteria, work etc. They even shaved the heads of all the females and collected those hair in sacks where they are used in the manufacturing of products in Germany.

Schools are closed. Education only taught submission to the superiority of the Nazis. Everything that had to do with Polish roots and origins is obliterated. In the words of the Nazis, "The Polish Nation can no longer be allowed to wear the name of a cultural nation in the community of Europe. Its existence is cancelled."

A 15 min long documentary shown in the theatre in the information centre of Auschwitz I recounted tales of inhumane experiments - sacrificing many in order to further medical knowledge for the Aryan race, the few who saw liberation, many more who didn't, and the irreparable damage done to those who lived to tell their stories... of frostbitten feet and dreadful scars...

Having visited the site, seen the evidence, watched the documentaries, heard the horror stories, read the recounts of those who suffered and trampled on the grounds that the victims did walk on, it is still difficult to imagine that mankind is capable of such acts against another human being. I half wish - with more than a little grim sadism, that the Nazi doctors cut open the brains of Hitler & other main engineers of this dreadful crime against humanity, and see if they are rotten from the core.


It was in deep thought we left the place that evening. Some lessons in history should never be forgotten. Never again, should lives be allowed to be trivialized in such a manner.

I'd leave the events of the rest of the evening to another entry.

Day 1 Krakow.

HL:

So this is the start of another travel! =) This time, we are headed to Krakow, another Polish city. Krakow is known to be pretty and therefore, an extremely touristy place in Poland. We were there to see that for ourselves!

As usual before we set off, things must be neat in the house! And sobs, we left them behind...

Cyclops and Dear, sleeping on the bed without us for about 4 days


This was the train that would bring us to Krakow in 3 hours =) Very cheap wor! 29 zl only when the normal train ticket without this current promotion (only valid from Mon-Thurs) cost about 66zl.


On the train ride there. =) Grafitti is a big thing in Europe. =)


And tada! After 3 long (erm not really long...there are longer train rides out there, and bus rides as well) hours on train which we always sleep through, (the gentle rocking of the train and the warmth in the cabin? lol), we finally reached Krakow!

And the background is actually the 1zl bread that we see streets of people selling and eating. Its not especially interesting - its just bread shaped like a ring which tastes like plain bread. But it makes for a good snack when we get hungry from walking I guess.


See! We got hungry already! Laughs. Actually we wanted to try it because twin heard from PS that this is a must try! Hah. Thinking back, it wasn't so bad cos I had a worse experience in Hungary with bread and sesame =(



On the way to the hostel, we saw this scary exhibit outside a cake shop. =) Actually the rest were not so bad, and most of the other cake shops around did sell cream cakes but not with cream of this proportion. I guess the scary part is self-explanatory. =) I have never seem cake with this amount of cream before! There is a story tied with this cake. Later part wor.



We found our hostel! After a long walk...=) Thankfully, hostelworld had instructions and Krakow had kind English speaking ladies. =) Anyway, this hostel is like that of the one in Hungary, but at least it has a signboard outside =) At first, we rang the doorbell...but no one answered! And we only managed to get in when we called and someone picked up the phone =)


By the way, we stay behind the open door in a 8 bunk room named Communism. It was nice for 2 nights. Then the third night =( Nonetheless it is a nice hostel under renovation - perhaps it is why it is not too expensive. When it is fully renovated, there is no doubt this hostel (AQQ hostel) will become more expensive. They do offer nice basic free breakfast of cereal, break and milk and free hot drinks. =)

After settling down, and meeting Carlin, a girl from the States having an exchange in germany (the poor lady was sick and therefore had to stay in the hostel to rest before she moves on for the rest of the journey), we decided to start our sightseeing =)



First sight of the day - the St Mary's Basilica. It is one of the churches that we saw, and went into later in the travel to pray and not to visit =)



We did not visit our first sighting. Instead, we went to this place named the Cloth Hall! Haha but unlike what the name suggests, we do not see any cloth here. Instead, we find here filled with souvenir shops instead, especially those selling amber accessories...We shall go Gdansk and pick free amber (we heard that there was lots in the beaches in Gdansk)!



One of the souvenir shops in Cloth Hall selling chess sets. It fascinated twin cos she wanted to learn how to play chess. Any teachers?


Continuing the exploration, and seeing a street busker with the xylophone =) Its nice to walk in the streets and hear music and he was good =)


The Krakow streets...Random picture...But you see the Kebab sign? Like our place, Krakow has a lot of kebab stores =) And this was also our dinner place. The main highlight of this picture however, is the church in the background with the beautifully designed white structure! Its really elaborate.



And this is us with the church in the background. We did go into the church later that night and saw a night service, but left soon after before it ended to catch our concert. =)



Another church that we passed by looking for the concert venue so we can go buy tickets for the performance. We thought this was the place instead cos it had the music concert poster but haha, on the poster, there was an arrow marked and distance 200m written on the poster!



We found the concert venue! =) But how to go in wor? Can you see the door? Hehe, no its not in this picture...its the side of the church.



Haha! We found the door! And twin managed to open it. (Later realized all I needed to do was to push down the handle a lot harder) after 2 tries, upon which she triumphantly declared that only good people get to open the door and enter the place! Grr!


We found that ticket sales only starts 7 pm. Sigh. Went to the streets again for a walk =)



A pretty shop window that caught twin's fancy! The statue of the slim woman playing the flute looks really graceful.



Passed by this church which we could enter! =) Something caught our attention!



Highlight of the church - see the interesting design on the door?


After walking for the whole day, we were hungry. Since we had time on our hands, we decided to eat dinner too! =) This is rice with turkey and salad...the salad had a banana taste but we cannot understand why - there is NO banana in the salad. Overall the meal is like your expensive Singaporean cai fan but to do it justice, its really very nice.


And then it was time for the concert!

Happy us get to listen to a concert with Bach pieces!



The musicians! They were really good! We thoroughly enjoyed the performance.



The right paper shows the repertoire for the night. =)


End of the concert...We had to leave =( Took a last photo of the place and ventured into the COLD windy streets back to our hostel =( Well at least the hostel had hot chocolate..



Haha, our pretty new hostel that is still undergoing renovations =)


And then we went to sleep.


Additional mention - Carlin very kindly told us a lot of things about Krakow =) Thanks Carlin! And have a fun time in Berlin =)

Slowing down 4 thoughts

Sher:
Have been zooming around lots... maybe to fewer places than weiming, but quite definitely, a substantial period of time had been spent outside Warsaw... so much so that we kinda havent explored Warsaw as a tourist yet. ahaha Life in Warsaw is really about school, keeping the home like a home, cooking, groceries.. living life like regular people... =)

Stopping to ponder about the take aways of each trip:

Budapest, Wien, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Frankfurt
2 inexperienced backpackers. That's what we were on that trip. We didn't know a single thing about using rail passes, or hostel rules.. or linen or orientation or where to start & how much to prepare. I guess I was just expecting to be wow-ed and just as well we started in Budapest.

I think that trip taught us a great deal... to be wiser, more discerning, more prepared, less in a fumble, expect less and experience more. heh Just to think about the things that happened to us - being caught for skipping metro tix, lying to the metro guard, forgetting to validate rail passes, taking trains, making reservations, sharing cabins, having cabins to ourselves, sleeping on trains, locating grocery stores wherever we go, finding the cheapest way to have a most satisfying meal, happily declaring that we're students at each tourist attraction, compromising of interests, getting waylaid by friendly people who appear threatening (to wide-eyed inexperienced girls in foreign lands), absorbing information like sponges to realize that those information don't keep in the head, unless passed on asap. haha I think twin can come up with a lot more... but that's the most prominent stuff I remember...

Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden
Slightly more prepared, armed with more information and a little more wisdom from the last trip, we set off again.

This time, we found a free (commission-based) walking tour, got better with directions and locating tourist offices, spouting minimal German to help us get by, looking less lost, battled with strong vicious winds using weak, brittle umbrellas, slept at train stations, ate tons and tons, managed time better, saw what we're interested in, forgone stuff we didn't think we'd like... getting a little more out of Berlin than the other places. Learnt that... each place has its own charm, that Leipzig and Dresden are as different as can be, learnt that eurail pass can be used to get a discount for a train tix from the country included in the pass - to the country that's not included. &... 1/2 day is really short for a place if you want to see it properly...

Krakow
3rd trip? A lil more seasoned... we were set to have a slightly more relaxing trip at a hostel that provides free many things...

Learnt that... deals closed when we are overly keen to get things over and done with are never the best, you could pay 30zl for a 8-bunk rm & have it all to yourself while you might pay 40zl for a 6-bunk rm and share it with 4 others during non-peak seasons... Then again, you run the risk of being in the same room as 3 men who sleep in their underwear and prance around in them whichever room type you choose...

Experienced... eating half a slice of extremely creamy cake, being terrorised by men who's just being friendly, anxiety from wondering if you missed the train stop, a little polish can earn you many a smile and sometimes even better service, being a tourist on a rainy day is extremely trying, sometimes conscience dictates you pay for some things even though you know you can get away with not paying, that just sometimes you try to ignore someone trying to get you to be charitable and meet that same person who recognizes you on your way back hours later... that tv & kids are universal entertainment, that hot chocolate is welcomed anytime, that hazelnut is not as nice as coconut HIT biscuit, that a little cheese can brighten twin's day, that ice-cream is cheaper in Poland, that we can actually overspend rather easily, that tourism is thriving in Krakow, that everywhere has an entrance fee... that ...

That I have to break this train of thought and get to posting photo memories soon... hehs

3 trips. 4 concerts. We're doing good! =) kies... hopefully we get the blogging done b4 our next trip to Romania in 1 wk or so...

Life when we're not being nomadic

So. This is probaby one of the weirdest photo to start an entry with. But if it interests me enough to make me whip out my trusty T10 to sneakily capture a shot... then it is worth your attention. =P

Life on exchange definitely isn't totally about flying around or training around.. the bulk of our time is spent in Warsaw, Poland. And there's this quaint charm of this place.. that cannot fail to melt the hearts of those of us on exchange here.
The people are as warm as the weather is cold... (and the weather is really sub-zero) - I proceed to demonstrate.



Picture 1 is of the area around our residence... 2, 3 and 4, in which ever order you prefer, are snapshots of the path leading to our school on a terribly snowy day. =) Pretty whiteness.


This - is a snowflake caught on twin's jacket. See? It's almost perfect looking... Like those snow flakes illustrators draw on book covers for children's stories.. or on christmas cards.. You hav a second to try to keep it forever. After that.. it melts into shapelessness.

On such a cold day, people are still willing to queue... for ages. These are recommended by Rafal - who knows his food. So what might they be queuing for...
There we are. =) THE giant kebab for 6zl.

And then, there are nice surprises that arrive with a symbolism that one only understands later. But of cuz everybody else understood cept for the silly girl below who was adamantly in denial. Nvm, she's now in bliss. But just to recap... these r just a few photos of our trip to Poczta - the post office to collect twin's parcel. I made her a video... haha whether it'll get shown here... hm pretty much up to her.



Guess pictures speak for themselves. e sender would be happy to see that his efforts paid off. =)


Okay. This requires explanation. We only did this once. And hopefully that was the last time. =P hmm it all started cuz we went to a particular polish restaurant that's all things good cept for all e cigarette smoke.. so here's us - airing the clothes - with the aid of an air vent in the kitchen. Like I said.. it's not often we do this...

The other source of cigarette smoke on clothes isn't a frequent occurence... So on that one rare instance - we have a few photos...


Me, twin & Adriana (Mexican girl! - I love her eyelashes!)


Emily and Elayne chilling with their drinks.


Elena! =)


Twin & I sharing a drink.

So there wasn't that many shots cuz then the dancing began... the music's great! But sher's tolerance for beer is almost nilch... Aft 2 hours.. the puking began.. and home beckons.


Well, here's a before-party shot anyway... Where twin looked half awake cuz she did just wake up moments ago...

Our other favourite (Read: necessary & enjoyable) activity is shopping - for groceries. We do that every other day. When it's a major marketing trip... our destination would be Carrefour in Arkardia... after school.


Here's twin sniffing around for good cheese @ promo prices.



Half a month of groceries~ Just look at the bags... and remember it's just 2 of us... carrying all these back home.


Well of cuz... we do a lot of .. er.. ok some amount of studying as well... We are... afterall.. first and foremost.. Students.. Grin but one should never neglect having fun.
So yeah, that's e bandit tee. Love it!


And then.. of course it's important to keep in touch with those at home..
Those are postcards from Berlin... we just thought it'd be cheaper to post them in Poland.


So that's what we did. See the writing and the stamps? Ach.. we didn't realize we didn't pay for priority mail.. So as I'm typing.. it's probably still under some pile of mail somewhere.. maybe in the ocean.. Hopefully they make it across. =)

I did mention that hospitality is as warm as the weather is cold. See our happy faces as our dinner awaits us at the table. Ola (the girl on the extreme right of the picture) is the hostess for the night. Belarusian dinner beckons!

Looks at the food... And that's cucumbers on the table. It takes quite different from the cucumbers back home. hmm As for what the dish is called... I have no idea.. I kind of forgot. But no matter, Ola says we'll cook it together one day and she'll teach us! =) Yay.

4 of us playing w e cam's self-timer before dinner. Adriana, Elena, twin & I.

Twin & I do wander around somewhat too. Given that we live almost along e Orchard road equivalent in Singapore, shopping malls are everywhere. We have at least 4 or 5 malls within walking distance... and the train station 10 minutes or so away... and 2 metro stops within stone's throw. Life's pretty good where we are - central.

So we pose in front of the futuristic architecture that's distinctive in this shopping mall.. which is named... er. heh I forgot again =P

Palac Kultury. From this point on, the pictures look like postcards.. partially cuz of the color of the blue blue cloudy sky... =) I don't think the Polish like this building much.. it's a gift from the Russians... Guess people don't like being constantly reminded of a Soviet past.

I did say it looks like postcards. The people in the picture are just about small enough to help make the image picturesque.

What did I tell you? Even the gentleman in the foreground left looks set to be placed back in time and fit in perfectly...

Polish are predominantly Roman Catholics... I'm not sure if all the churches captured are Catholic churches... but I just wanted to show you the number of churches there are within vicinity of each other.

Churches! Nope... havent' gone into any yet..

The last place I'd want to show you before random shots are placed... is Ogrod Saski - the park nearest to our apartment.

Yep. Just me. Twin had other more interesting things to do. =P

The pond in the park. I can't wait to see this place in spring... Isn't it quaint?

This is the statue of Medycyna (still in the park) - and the only reason I took her was cuz she was holding a snake. Grin mummy, she doesn't fear snakes either =P

This... is a church - that I photographed cuz it looks like a mosque. Heh the things of interest to me... hmm

I shall end with this: sunrise from our flat.

Daylight saving to take place on 25th Mar! At 12.59am... the next hour is 2am... not 1am! =) Transfering night into day... then we'd be just 6 hours behind Singapore.

I wonder who ensures everybody switches time. It's a Sunday. So if we don't switch... everybody will be late for class on Monday? hmmm

Okayz Krakow next! Hope it's fun!