Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Eurotrip: Krakow

Krakow had never been on my "must-see cities" list, but Joe told me it should be and Angie really wanted to go. Plus, Krakow is the easiest home base to visit Auschwitz, and that definitely was on my "must see" list. So... next stop Krakow, Poland!

We arrived very early after taking the overnight train from Prague. I had booked our hotel for the night prior so we could easily unload our stuff, take naps and showers, and recover before exploring the city. Unfortunately, our hotel was actually a locked set of rooms and there was no reception. (Even though I had alerted the place in multiple ways that we would be there early, they apparently didn't get the message.) So, it took some thinking to figure out how to get in. Angie was a superstar and got everything worked out, and soon we got into our room. Neither of us felt like napping and instead decided to go to Auschwitz for the day instead of staying in Krakow. We figured that we would be really mentally and physically fatigued after the visit, and indeed we were.

Long story short, our exploration of Krakow started on Day Two. We woke up early, went for a short run around the park, and headed up to the castle. Luckily the central town is small and this only took about 20 minutes, which meant I was able to stop running once we got to the castle. Phew! We went back to the hotel - which ended up being totally lovely and great, luckily - got ready, and headed to a recommended restaurant called Milk Bar to eat breakfast and plan our day. On the way, we walked through Old Town, as seen below.

So most of this pictures were taken later, but it's still the same place. We decided to walk to Oskar Schindler's factory, which was about a 30 minute walk across the river. On the way, we saw that the "locks on bridges" thing has definitely reached Krakow.

Upon arriving at the factory, we were saddened to learn that we needed advanced reservations and the tickets were sold out. Nowhere on the website, nor in the tourist office, did we know we needed to do this so we were both pretty bummed out. But it was still very cool to see the actual factory building as well as a small display in the lobby.

From there, we walked towards the Kazimierz district, which was once where most of Krakow's jewish people lived. It was completely wiped out when the Nazis entered the city. We went to the Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery, which was surrounded by memorial plaques for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.
Much of the cemetery had been destroyed, but somehow much of it also survived. After the war, the community took the remaining fragments of headstones and put them into a "Lamentation Wall." I can't imagine a better way to utilize the remaining pieces.

 

Next we wanted to go back to the Wawel Castel, so we walked along the river until we found ourselves at the foot of the dragon.

 

The dragon, said to have protected a princess or something like that, spouts fire every five minutes! It was so fun to watch people get startled by the fire breathing dragon!
With still a few hours to go before our train, Angie and I went to the inner park and read for a while before mailing some postcards, grabbing dinner, grabbing a beer at our hotel, and heading to the train station for our overnight train to Vienna. We managed to time everything really well and were impressed at how much better we managed our day than when we were in Prague. It helped, of course, that it was sunny and gorgeous out. I think I might be ditching the long sleeves and jacket pretty soon!
Thoughts on Krakow:
  • While the city structure did not suffer much during WWII, the amount of people lost is mind boggling. It is always inspiring to see a city come back to life, but the evidence of the human destruction was heartbreaking. When thinking about not just the people who were killed in the Holocaust, but the sons, daughters, and grandchildren that will never exist... it is just too much.
  • On a lighter note, city is still beautiful with gorgeous churches, squares, parks, and public spaces.
  • The street art - particularly the bunny that showed up around town - was great.
  • I'm not so sure Polish food is for me. I don't think there are vegetarians (or non-four-legged-animal-eaters) here.
  • I've read that Krakow is one of the more beautiful big cities in Poland. I'd be interested to see Warsaw or others to get a better feel for the country.
  • One of the biggest draws for people to come is obviously visiting Auschwitz. I found it really inspiring how many people go there every day and are interested in learning more. After having a more personal experience at Dachau, I was initially surprised at how regimented the Auschwitz visit was. We had a guided tour with set timelines, and didn't really have time to process things as we went. However, if this is how it must be for more people to be able to see this place, that is fine by me.
  • On a personal note, this whole European experience has definitely sparked my feelings about religion. I was born and raised Jewish, but I don't actively practice it now. I still most strongly identify with the teachings of Judaism, but I don't feel the need to belong to a synagogue or attend services. I have always said that for me, Judaism is often more a religion of community and culture rather than practice. Most people I meet have no idea that I'm Jewish, and I often don't volunteer it either. It's not that I'm hiding it by any means, but I just didn't see how religion is relevant to knowing someone. None of this means that I am not proud of my religion and my background. Seeing what happened to the Jewish people here has made me feel more attached to the religion than I could have expected. In contemplating this, I have come to realize that I miss the Jewish culture and community. I've felt that way for a while, but I haven't done anything. Even now, I'm not sure where these thoughts will lead me, but the spark is definitely there. If nothing else, don't be surprised if you see me with the Star of David necklace that my Grandma bought me in Israel.

Next stop: Vienna!

 

No comments: