Krakow

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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!      

Wilanow Palace & Jewish Tour

Wilanow Palace & Jewish Tour, a set on Flickr.

A beautiful day in Warsaw today, sun shining, jackets unzipped/off and more learning! We had a great time in the Wilanow Palace gardens this morning. First we visited the Chopin Monument before making our way through the park grounds. There were heaps of squirrels and the odd peacock in the gardens. Leo and Corban enjoyed trying to feed the squirrels they were pretty friendly, however Leo just couldn’t help chasing them when they got close. He would run around and around the trees after them, it was so funny. All of the ponds are frozen; we saw a few ducks slip sliding for food, also funny! After the palace garden we did another tour, this time it was a tour of the Jewish Ghetto area. There is basically nothing left other than a small piece of brick wall and monuments that began going up in 1948. We walked along the street that was the richest Jewish street in 1938 and saw a photo; it is now just a park with only the cobles and tram tracks left. We also visited the sight were The Pianist played. There are many small up and down hills in the Jewish area, it is where dirt was put over all the rubble as there was just too much to move. Some bricks where used to rebuild some of the current buildings. Many of the stone monuments and structures are in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew. The newest building which is the National Jewish Museum is not yet open however it depicts the red sea parting and the Israelites being led out of Egypt. We heard a number of stories about Polish and German people who tried to help the Jews. One in particular was Irena Sendler, at the age of 20 she began saving Jewish children from the Ghetto. As a nurse she had access to the children and made a special wagon to get them out of the Ghetto. She would put them to sleep with sleeping gas and also trained dogs to bark when they saw Nazi soldiers. This way if the children woke up crying, it would be drowned out by the dogs barking. She smuggled 2500 children out and into orphanages during WWII (more the Schindler saved). Warsaw had 350,000 Jews pre WWII, it now has about 5000. It also had 130 Synagogues, now there are 3. It still amazes me how much of Warsaw/Poland was destroyed in the war and what a hard time the people have had to live through. It is now a relatively normal city, but with a very bloody history.

Warsaw Train Museum

Warsaw Train Museum, a set on Flickr.

Today we did something we thought Corban and Leo would enjoy ... we visited the Warsaw Train Museum. There were all types of model trains and some set up tracks inside, but the real fun was outside. It was like a train graveyard! There were heaps of parked up rusty old trains ready to climb and explore. Leo was so funny outside, he said in the most sincere voice “oh I really love this place.” After the Train Museum we went to the Palace gardens, but went to the wrong one. So we ended up having a picnic lunch, feeding some ducks on a frozen pond and headed home because everyone was cold.

Warsaw - Walking Tour

Warsaw - Walking Tour, a set on Flickr.

Winter midterm break has seen us drive 8 hours to the capital of Poland, Warsaw. Taylor has stayed in Prague with friends this holiday so she can go to a concert and study (we’ll see about the study). It’s cold but not snowing and we are happy and ready to sight see once again.
Today we started with a visit to the Geological Museum; we thought Corban and Leo would enjoy looking at the dinosaur fossils and interesting rocks. We also wanted to do something that was inside knowing that the afternoon would be a few hours on a walking tour in the cold.
Like usual Leo slept through the walking tour and Corban harassed the tour guide, she was pretty happy when she got to hold the flag! Like most of Europe Poland’s history is amazing but most of what happened pre WWII is over shadowed by the war. We discovered some interesting Kings who ruled in Poland and how they came to power. Warsaw city is an interesting place as 90% of Warsaw was destroyed during WWII with buildings being left less that 2m high. Many of the new buildings have been built to look old and there are many new building around the city. We saw the remembrance strip in the path where the wall around the Jewish Ghetto was erected. The tour guide told stories and gave information about the Jewish Ghetto uprising and also the Warsaw uprising, she painted a bleak picture of Polish life under the occupation of Germany and Russia and how helpless they were. She also told as folk stories about Mermaids, which was a little different, the Polish love Mermaids and have lots of statues throughout Warsaw city. Not the kind of Mermaid I think of, these ones have shields and swords and are like warriors.
Alongside learning this we also learnt about Marie Sktodowska the Scientist who discovered Polonium and Radium (cancer treatment) and about Chopin composing In Poland when it was illegal before moving to France to continue his work.