Krakow, Poland

*Happy Fathers day Dad! Without you none of what I'm doing could be possible! :)*


Perogies.  I’m not sure how they fit so much awesome inside those shells but they do.

But there’s much more to this Eastern European country than shells stuffed with heaven....there’s vodka.  The night I arrived at Greg and Tom’s Junior hostel in Old Town Krakow, they were hosting an all you can drink vodka shot night for $10.  My favourite by far was the “mad dog” - which consisted of vodka, a touch of sweet raspberry syrup and Tabasco sauce.  It’s what Chuck Norris has for breakfast right after he benchpresses Saturn.  Oh and the shower’s in the hostel were something out of Startrek

Krakow has a very nice “Old Town” interior that has a medieval flare like other cities I’ve seen so far.

St. Mary's Church

Cloth Hall - inside was a bazaar that sold everything but cloth

St. Andrews Church

And no medieval city is complete without its’ castle, in this case Wawel.

To my pleasant surprise I learned that Spielberg’s Schlinder’s List was mostly filmed in Krakow.  The original Schlinder’s factory is still standing, although it’s a museum now (very modern, very cool) it goes into detail about the work Schlinder did as well as the Jewish ghettos among other war related events.

These little cracks in the wall had video clips playing....very cool

Everywhere in Krakow people park their cars on the sidewalk instead of on the streets, I have no explanation as to why (just make parking spots on the roads?)

And there are also areas of Krakow where you are not permitted to do the Charlston Shuffle*

*I have no idea how to do the Charlston shuffle, or even that it's an actual dance, but the guy on the sign appears old and I think old people do it...so ya


***The next part deals with the Auchwitz concentration camp, it doesn't have any graphic pictures but if you don't want to read about it, don't read it***

I’ll be honest the reason I put Poland on my map is to experience the largest concentration camp of WW2, Auchwitz.  I won’t go into details or statistics about the camp; instead I’ll try and describe what it was like to be there.  I will add that they’ve done a remarkable job in preserving its’ original state over the years.

Entrance to Auchwitz

Death Wall - death by shootings

Picutre of a warehouse where they stored prisoners' shoes

Network of concentration camps across Europe during WW2, Auchwitz is the red dot

Caption in the bottom left reads - "On the road to death"....notice their ages

Main gas chamber from inside.....

Auchwitz Birkenau (2nd camp) - nearly 2 square km's

Main memorial at Auchwitz Birkenau

I brought a pen and paper with me to write down my thoughts as I was going through the camp, so here are some excerpts...

"You shake your head in disbelief and stare off in the distance trying to imagine what it was like to be a prisoner in that hell.  We went inside one of the gas chambers where sometimes they would “exterminate” up to 20,000 people a day and it was an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, sadness and disbelief.  We read about it or see it in movies, but walking the same grounds as millions of people who were uncertain of their fate day after day was just unreal.  It was a powerful but sad experience, and I’m glad I did it."