Living in Oslo: Krakow, Poland - The most educational trip ever

Last weekend my friend Ali (also an American) and I took a slightly spur of the moment trip to Krakow, Poland.

At first I was a bit unsure on what we'd do in Krakow, I had never heard of the city before. But looking into it, I found out it was the capital of the German occupation in WWII and the location of the Royal Castle.

I learned so much about a new culture this last weekend. Aside from learning that Polish buss drivers are crazy and reckless, we met people that are very strait forward. We saw a city full of history. Medieval buildings from the 13th century, and war damages from the 20th century. We were both aware and surprised by the feeling in the city, it felt like a city still recovering from war. Spooky to say the least.

We arrived late Wednesday night and were immediately struck with the realization we were most definitely NOT in Scandinavia anymore. Finding our way to the hostel was an experience.. Few locals over the age of 25 speak English and the written language is extremely different from any I've seen. It included so many Z's! I'm not exactly sure how many time we had to turn around and back track. For some reason we assumed that since Germany is Poland's neighbor, it would be a Germanic language and to be polite we should say takk instead of thank you (few Poles know English). By Saturday we found out that actually: 'taak' meant yes and dziekuje (djenkooyeah) is thank you. Apparently Polish is a Slavic language, making it actually closer to Russian. Oops!

"Work will set you free"

Thursday we started the day with a horrible bus ride to Auschwitz. The weather was "perfect" for the events of the day as it was foggy and dreary. Words can't describe our experiences that day. We started with a tour of the first main prison, where many prisoners of war & Poles where kept. Some of these buildings were restored on the inside to become museum displays. Here we saw original pictures, collections of personal items stolen, and original bunks and prison cells. The most horrifying display was the collection of human hair that was shaved from people who were killed in gas chambers. The remaining hair weighs in over 1 ton. We then took a shuttle bus over to Birkenau (Auschwitz II) where the majority of people were kept. The size of Birkenau is staggering, approximately 73 acres, and it was designed to hold 2,000,000 people. This camp is still original, many barracks were hastily constructed by wood, so only the stone stoves are remaining, others are still standing but in different states of decline. The largest gas chambers were in this camp but the German's bombed them as they evacuated the camp at the end of the war so only ruins remain. It was terrifying and horrible and I was constantly on the verge of tears, but I am glad I got to see this place and learn from it.

After our emotionally rough day we needed something fun and uplifting, so we spent the evening walking around Old Town and exploring the beautiful market square in the sunset. Dinner was an amazing pizza and wine! (Just preparing for our Italy trip) Though we did learn to not ask for tap water in Poland (our answer was a stern: of course not!).

Cathedral in salt mine

Friday, we took another bus ride (slightly less horrible) to see the Wieliczka Salt Mines. We went 135 meters below the surface, but the whole mine extends 327 meters below and stretches out for 300 kilometers!! It was massive. I had to continually remind myself to not think about how deep below ground we were and what kinds of mining accidents could happen to keep myself calm. The mine itself was amazing. There were all kinds of sculptures, chapels, & underground lakes; all created from salt!.

After our tour we went back to Old Town and this time explored the city in daylight. We had lunch at a very European cafe in front of Wawel Castle. It was my first true castle, and I LOVED it! It had beautiful, typical spiral towers and spanning walls. I'm not sure how much we ate this day, but it was a lot! and delicious! We then wandered over to the Jewish District to see the Old Synagogue & Cemetery. We planned to go out to the town that night but we ended up crashing in the common room of the hostel and just going out for a quick dinner (a 40cm pizza baguette) and going to bed by 10.

Saturday morning we slept in and then went to Schindler's Factory. This last museum surprised me, I was expecting it to be a quick visit to see the history of Schindler (and his List). In actuality, it was a museum of Krakow's history during WWII. It was impossible to read everything in the museum and yet we still spend 2 hours slowly making our way through the much-bigger-than-appearance museum.

Afterwards we thought we might as well walk around the city until our flight and it turned out to be the best day and time to do so! The market square was alive with flowers, horses & carriages, and tons of people doing tricks or dancing for money. People and shopping stands filled the square. It was amazing and beautiful!

Ali and I spent our days talking in Norwegian (when we could) and reviewing worksheets at night. I was also surprised to be one of few blonde people in the city, it made me feel like I stood out. We enjoyed 2 days of 60+ degrees, I got to pet my first horse in 3 months (amazing!), and we spent 50% of our time eating. All-in-all I'd say it was a fantastic weekend!