Krakow, Poland was absolutely FREEZING! We decided to go to Auschwitz concentration camp first and save the more uplifting destinations for the following days. Everyone rugged up as warm as possible for our tour of the camp because it was -12. There are not many photos of our visit for two reasons, it was to cold to take our gloves off and we just felt that it was about taking in what had happened there and respecting those who perished there.
Like always, when I learn about horrific historic events I am left with many questions about humanity and how in the 21st century we still have cultures and religions seeking to destroy others. Auschwitz was a place of fear and terror, a place that was designed for killing! The thing that struck me most is how we would usually associate Auschwitz with Nazis, however it took engineers, architects, builders, doctors, lawyers, bankers ... to make the place run like a well oiled machine. Well educated people with free choice choose to design and create a death camp. Every detail of how the camp functioned was well thought out and planned for, down to using human hair as a resource. I had mentally prepared for our tour of Auschwitz, but didn't find it to bad. I think this was because it didn't have as many photos like in Terezin (Czech concentration camp).
Our trip to Krakow was not all doom and gloom, the following day we visited the Salt Mines. Because we were 135m below the ground with a constant temperature of 15 degrees we all felt warmed up and enjoyed being underground. Everyone had a lick of the walls especially Corban who loves salt and we all enjoyed the tour of the different chambers and chapels. The tour only touched on a small percentage of the mine and it felt massive, with over 300km of galleries it would be great to just explore!
Visiting Krakow Old Town was our agenda for our final day. The kids had been itching to play in the snow for a couple of days so everyone fell for the temptation before we began having a look around. There were plenty of squeals and screams as we pelted each other with snowball and the kids enjoyed making snow angels. We walked though the city centre where they were setting up for New Years Eve, found some markets were Leo let off some steam (video with the photos), peeked into the cathedral and walked up to the palace. Silly me didn't take my snow boots and after a few hours my toes were so sore we headed back to the car to defrost and head home.
A short but great stay in Krakow!
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