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Days 16-17, Krakow part 2
Krakow is a lovely town, and I think I’ll always be happy spending a couple of days here, just wandering the old town and surrounds, eating the food, drinking the vodka and beer. But after a couple of days, once I’ve figured out the maze of streets, it can start to get a little difficult to find ways to amuse myself between eats and drinks. So aside from it obviously being great to see L after her her few days in the UK, I enjoyed being with her as she discovered Krakow, seeing her fascination for the old streets and beautiful historic buildings, and as I’d only ever been to…
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Days 14-15: Krakow part 1, the search for the perfect pierogi
Thus begins the solo adventures of a not-so young man in search of the perfect pierogi. Or something like that. With L still in the UK hanging with her mum and great aunt, I’ve got a couple of days in Krakow. I’ve been here before, seen many of the sights, so I’m unlikely to regale you with tourist tales of all that Krakow offers. I’m writing this about half way through my second day here, and so far all I can say is that I’ve slept a lot, and walked a lot. I think that I might have a touch of jet lag, as my sleep patterns are a bit…
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Say it slowly tour Day 23: Auschwicz-Birkenau
[Warning: opinions may offend] Today I visited the scenes of one of the darkest times in the history of the world. I was led through buildings where, 65 years before me, almost unspeakable acts were committed, where people were worked until they were killed, were subject to cruel and barbaric experimentation, were degraded, tortured and killed. Cruelly, those who were spared this treatment (most of those transported here) were marched off and gassed to death. The tour of Auschwitz took me through rooms of photos and documents, a chamber filled with 2 tonnes of human hair, uncountable numbers of suitcases (including one whose owner was born in 1936 – the…
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Say it slowly tour Day 20: Warsaw, Hades
There is a plane in hell that resembles travelling by Polish rail, second class, surrounded by surly locals, italian and american tourists, and the poor doomed soul is given a standard size backpack. I’m sure there are worse rail experiences, but right now I can’t think of any that I’ve haad, except maybe trying to catch a train from Subiaco oval after a game, or trying to catch a train in Melbourne during a heat wave. Will the next two hours get better? I doubt it. For consolation, I’m probably going to spend that time sweating out last nights vodka, making my travel compartment companions uncomfortable, too. Too small, not…
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Say it slowly tour Day 19: Warsaw, old town, the ghetto
Spent a good chunk of the day wanting to cry. Warsaw hasn’t had the greatest of pasts, and I’m here just in time for the place to mark 70 years since first the Germans, then the Russians, took half of Poland each. I’m in the right month, too. There are a bunch of exhibitions, displays and other informative bits all around the place. Not too surprising, really, given that between 1939 and 1945, the place was practically levelled, a whole lot of people died of very unnatural causes, many more disappeared and most of the population displaced on numerous occasions. Poland got it as bad as anyone during the war,…
