I'm Back in Black...Krakow!

Hi everyone! It is so weird to be writing again after 1.5 weeks. I feel like I’ve been gone forever! Anyway, I am safely back in Perugia (Mom can breathe a huge sigh of relief).

This week, I’ll write about a different part of the trip each day. Last Friday, we arrived in Krakow to begin the journey after an overnight stay in Rome’s Ciampino airport. Not totally sure I recommend airport sleeping. It was actually clean and I felt completely safe, but we barely slept (I wasn’t exactly expecting to though).  We didn’t have much choice in the matter; our flight departed at 6:30am, and there aren’t really any hotels around, so it wasn’t worth spending the night somewhere else when we would have barely slept anyway. Needless to say, Becky and I were a little tired when we arrived in Krakow. It was raining, but we settled into our hostel and set out to do some exploring.

Krakow is the first European city outside of Italy that I’ve visited. The differences were immediately apparent, particularly in the architecture. Some of the castles reminded me of buildings in Russia that I’ve seen pictures of (with the rounded tops). We went up to Wawal Castle and toured it.

I also quickly noticed statues around the city of one man. Can you guess who? Pope John Paul II! The residents of Krakow are intensely proud of his connection to the city (he was born just outside of it, and lived there for a long time). We actually walked by his old house there.

On Saturday evening, we went on a tour of the Krakow salt mines. These were CRAZY cool! Essentially, hundreds of years ago, miners mined down here. However, they didn’t just mine; it’s a whole underground city! Tunnels, underground lakes, and even a CATHEDRAL in the salt! I can really only show this through pictures:

Little carved gnome statues!

The cathedral in the salt! People can still get married down here if they want!

Salt alter/art

And the underground lake!

It was actually extremely difficult to get good pictures because of the lighting, and these shots don't even come close to what we were actually seeing. Everyone should go here if ever given the chance!

Mining was a very dangerous job. Our hilarious tour guide made jokes about how a man would fall down the mine, taking a few others down with him. Joking aside, these men were willing to do dangerous work because it made them very rich. A miner was pretty much set for life. I thought this was interesting, because usually in many cases, poorer men are the ones doing the jobs that are more likely to have them killed.

We climbed a total of 27 floors down the mine. To get back up, we took this cool high-speed lift! Being slightly neurotic, thoughts of the entire mine crashing down on us flitted around in my head. Other people must have had this concern as well, because right away the guide pointed out these fire alarm type devices on the ceiling of each room. He joked that if it goes off, we have three weeks to get out of the mine before it falls in! (Miners in the old days would have had no warning, other than hearing the cracking!)

On Sunday, we took a walking tour of Krakow’s Jewish quarter. This was the only day of our entire break that we were cold. We really lucked out with the weather. The highlight of that day was simply hearing the little stories. I am such a “story” person. Autobiographies are some of my favorite books to read. Krakow is brimming with these stories.  I really enjoyed seeing some of the filming locations for “Schiendler’s List.” Steven Spielberg filmed the movie in Krakow, and we passed a few of them. I have yet to see the movie (I’m a little nervous about how I would react) but for those of you who have, here is the staircase of the hiding scene when a young boy sees a woman there and then doesn’t give her away. Or something like that!

And some more pics from around Krakow:

Old Town Square

Communism mural...the small words on the head on the left say "Never Follow."

Also, during our tour, the guide showed us this seemingly insignificant alleyway. However, I quickly noticed that this was the only run-down place I had seen in the entire city. She explained that this alley is a “time capsule” for the people of Krakow. During Communism, the entire Jewish quarter was viewed as a dangerous place. I guess people wouldn’t even venture there. To think that most of the neighborhood (and much of Krakow in general) looked grey and depressing is overwhelming to me, especially after the beautiful city that I experienced. This is why I find history so fascinating. These changes happened in MY LIFETIME. World War II always seems so far away to me. But Communism isn’t.

After the tour, Becky and I went to the museum in Schindler’s old factory! This is actually where the Jews worked. The museum was hands-down the best I’ve ever seen. They actually built replicas of bunkers, homes, etc. within its rooms. I felt like I was actually in Krakow in the 1940s. The tragedies these people endured are just horrifying. I think I saw more pictures of hangings than I ever wished to.

"I suddenly realized that we were about to get walled in. I got so scared that I eventually bust into tears."
-A young Roman Polanski, aged 8, describing his first moments in the ghetto

Krakow was just amazing. The people were friendly, and I felt safer than I do in most American cities.  It’s incredible to me how well preserved the city is, despite several major wars.

That being said, our time in Poland also included a day trip to Auschwitz. We went on Saturday, before our evening salt mine tour. Auschwitz took several hours. The whole experience represented one of the most draining days I’ve ever experienced. It deserves its own entry, so stay tuned to hear about that next.