It’s true what they say about the Polish, they like their Vodka. Walking into a liquor store I’d never seen a wall of so many various types of Vodka. I didn’t know that many types of vodka even existed, with my knowledge limited to Popov and Svedka. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was in shock of seeing a wall of clear bottles with labels I’d never seen. They were cheap too! and while I didn’t buy any I drank my fair share. Each night in the hostel I participated in their organized bar crawl (to meet people of course), which included about an hour and a half of unlimited vodka drinks, from various types of mixed shots, to mixed drinks, or if you wanted just straight shots of vodka. As the saying goes, when in Poland do as the Polish do. It would have been rude to do otherwise.
Krakow, unlike Warsaw was saved from the destruction of WWII. There are a few reasons as to why Krakow was saved, for one it wasn’t the capital, the second reason was that it was proclaimed the capital of the General Government, it was to be the third reich’s supply base for agriculture and light industry, and lastly when the Red army approached in 45 the Germans had to flee quickly in order to not be trapped in the city. They didn’t have time to burn it to the ground, leaving the historic center of Krakow with its original century old charm. However, just because it wasn’t burnt to the ground doesn’t mean it was exempt from Nazi’s rule. The Jewish quarter, which once housed the ghetto during WWII is now a UNESCO world heritage site. It was also where the film Schindler’s List was filmed. The actual factory is not far from the border of the former ghetto. There is a small section of the ghetto wall still standing, which I was unable to find and on it there is a plaque that reads, “Here they lived, suffered and died at the hands of the German torturers. From here they began their final journey to the death camps.”
Auschwitz
Auschwitz is a place you read about when learning about WWII, it’s a place that you hear about, a place you see in films, a collection of descriptions in various forms. But, words cannot describe it, pictures cannot do it justice. Anything I say will just be another one of those descriptions. It’s one of those places you have to experience, to walk the grounds of a place where unimaginable horrors took a place, a place where 1.5 million people were killed. These are some of my photos:
Wroclaw
After Krakow I spent a night in Wroclaw. Wroclaw is a quaint little city located on a river about halfway between Krakow and Berlin. It has a beautiful market square lined with colorful townhouses and about 400 dwarf statues scattered throughout the city. They’re cute and extremely fun to find while walking throughout the city. While in Wroclaw, I also got lucky that the three people staying in my dorm were friendly and interested in doing something together. We got dinner and ate pierogi’s, or Polish dumplings and then ended up at a cheap food and drink place where we sampled shots costing a euro each. With prices like that, good food and beautiful cities it was hard to leave Poland.
Great chronicle, mate! I Love your pics! Did you know that “Wroclaw” is not that easy to guess its pronounciation? My daughter lived there for a couple of months and then I knew you should say /vroslas/. Waiting for the next one, Journeyman Joe. CU
The pronunciation was the hardest part! I always pronounced it how it was spelt because I couldn’t remember the real pronunciation, but when I did none of the Polish had any idea what I was talking about so I had to spell it haha