Krakow Part I, Auschwitz-Birkenau

My recent trip to Krakow was organized by CIEE (my program) and outsourced to a local student travel organization. Included in the price of the trip was admission to all of the different sights, a 2 night stay in a hotel and breakfast every morning at the hotel. Most of my other friends from the dorm were heading to Rome that weekend so I was more or less going it alone. Still, I was looking forward to hanging out with a different group of people and seeing Krakow.

The trip was scheduled to depart from the Prague bus station at midnight, which meant that I had to sit in my room and kill 5 hours after dinner while the entire dorm was empty. I considered doing school work but I was in that situation where you're too bored and apathetic to even get up and do something. Finally getting on the bus I settled in for the 6 hour bus ride to Poland. The trip wasn't too large and most people had a side to themselves but I ended up with my friend Emily from the dorms. I brought some medicine to help me sleep but all it did was put me in a sort of daze throughout the trip. I "woke up" in Krakow feeling tired with my neck hurting.

The first stop on the trip was Auschwitz. Our tour guide, Eva, was in charge of basic logistics of the trip, but at historical sites we had a local Polish guide take us through the various Krakow sights. I had seen a bunch of shows on the history channel about Auschwitz and the holocaust so I had some background information going in. It had been snowing continuously since we arrived in Poland the entire camp was covered in snow which gave the place a quiet, eerie feeling. 

My experience at Auschwitz was very interesting. As a big fan of World War II history I found it hard to believe that I was actually standing in one of the most notorious death camps of the holocaust. Still, being there, it was hard to fathom the atrocities that took place. Standing in the snow more than 70 years later I felt somehow detached, almost with disbelief. The exhibits were powerful and included massive collections of human hair, piles of shoes and walls of photos of victims. We continued the tour and then headed off to Birkenau. 

Apparently, the camp complex at Auschwitz was divided into three camps. The first, Auschwitz proper, was originally a labour camp and did not have the capacity to meet the needs of the Final Solution. While many Jews were murdered there, a much larger camp, Birkenau, was built to increase capacity. Compared to Birkenau, Auschwitz proper was fairly small and even unimpressive. The reason why tours are given at Auschwitz is because most of Birkenau was destroyed by the Nazi's before the war's end. 

The camp at Birkenau was mainly destroyed with only a few remaining buildings standing. The gas chambers had been destroyed and were just snow covered ruins of brick and rebar. Still, the fences and guard towers were still in place. I was immediately struck by immenseness of the camp. The walk from one end to the other took a total of 15 minutes at a decent pace and the outlying woods were obscured by the falling snow. Seeing the train tracks through the middle of the camp I once again found it hard to believe that I was standing at the point where the trains were unloaded and SS doctors decided who lived and died. 

The sheer amount of murder that took place at Birkenau was staggering, I thought it was better that most of the camp had been destroyed. While Auschwitz had fully standing buildings it felt like a model or reenactment. The desolation and ruin at Birkenau felt appropriate for the acts that took place there and, for me, made the experience all the more real.

Retrospective: My Trip to Prague

When I first arrived I didn't know if I wanted to start a travel blog or not so I didn't write about my trip here. I feel like it's a pretty important of my time so here so I decided to write about it.

Leading up to my departure I really didn't feel any sort of nervousness or even anticipation. I had absolutely no preconceived notion of what Prague would be like. And, even if I did, it would have been completely wrong. Accordingly, in the week prior to my departure I only felt a feeling of uncertainty, knowing that my life would be completely different soon, but having no idea what life would entail. 

Perhaps the strangest part of the trip was going to airport. I drove the car up because I wanted to get a drive in before I left. There was no big speech from my parents, no real heartfelt talk. I think everything that had been said had been said already. The procedure was very businesslike. My parents helped me with my bags, we walked into the airport, I checked my luggage and then we arrived at the security checkpoint. From here we said goodbye and I walked through the security screening. After getting through I found my gate, sat down and started listening to music. I was overwhelmed by a feeling not of loneliness but of independence. With that independence came a fear as well. I was struck by the fact that I was on my own for the entirety of the next 4 months.

I looked around me and saw that most of the people waiting for my flight were college kids. I guess every year in January, flights to Europe and filled with college students heading for their respective study abroad destinations. I talked to one kid was studying abroad independently in Amsterdam and then we boarded the plane. I looked out the window and saw snow coming down pretty hard. We began to move and I was relieved to find that the 2 seats next to me were empty. This was going to be a good flight. The pilot then came on the PA and told us that the plane had to undergo deicing. Apparently the process takes about 20 minutes for each plane but the assholes at the Philadelphia airport had yet to set up the machine. I guess they were watching the Eagles get beaten by the Cardinals. I pulled out my itinerary and did some quick math. I had an hour to get to my connecting flight in London and there was supposed to be a strong tailwind that would shave a half hour off the flight. That meant that at most we could lose an hour in the deicing procedure. An hour and minutes later we were in the air and I kissed my connecting flight goodbye. Annoyed that things were not going to plan already I accepted the fact that I couldn't do anything about it and tried to enjoy the flight. 

The flight attendant came by for dinner and asked me if I wanted some wine. I wasn't sure what British Airways' policy for alcohol is but I figured I needed to get in the European spirit. She asked me if a 2007 Merlot was OK. Yes, British Airways flight attendant. That will be just fine. 

She came back a little later to tell me that I could lay down on the other seats and that she wouldn't bother me. I spent the rest of the flight sleeping.

Landing at Heathrow, I was told that I had been given another flight to Prague. I went to the British Airways kiosk and was told that my flight would be leaving at 2:45. It was about 8:00. They gave me a 10 Pound voucher and I took off to hang out at Heathrow airport. The international terminal isn't like airports in the United States. It has sports stores, cell phone stores, designer boutiques; things I didn't expect to find in an airport. I read some of my book and then sat in a tiny corner and watched planes land and take off. As I sat there I started thinking about my situation. I was all by myself, my things packed and on a plane somewhere, across the Atlantic ocean from home. It was weird to think that I was in London by myself on a random day in January.

During my wait I grabbed lunch with my voucher. I grabbed a Guinness and had a greek salad. I decided that I was going to like studying abroad. I tried to keep busy but ended up miserably bored. At one point I just walked back and forth the length of the terminal for fun. Of course, I had nowhere to put my bags so I had to lug them with me. I suddenly got really tired but couldn't go to sleep. They don't tell you what gate you are using until 30 min before your flight at Heathrow. And, being terrified I'd sleep through my flight and miss another one I managed to stay awake until safely aboard. I don't even remember the takeoff I was asleep so fast.

Landing in Prague I began talking to some of the kids on the plane and found that some of them were with CIEE. We got our bags and cleared customs easily. Still, we were going to call a cab because all of the CIEE people were supposed to be long gone. However, there was still one Czech person there to greet us who helped us with a cab.

Getting to the Holiday Inn was a bit of a journey. At this point it was dark and I couldn't see out of the cab too well. As we traveled through Prague I tried to take in the sights but I was confused and tired. We finally ended up at the Holiday Inn where we dropped off our things and went to dinner. My group of stragglers from the airport and two Czech "buddies" as they're called took us to a Czech restaurant where we had "smazeny syr" which is fried cheese. Very tasty. After that, we went out, had a few drinks and talked to the Czech buddies. 

Returning to my hotel room I was very relieved. The day had worked out well and the feelings of anticipation and fear were gone. I had made it to Prague and was free to make own assessment of it as the trip went on. With everything in order I went to bed in anticipation for moving to the dorm.

In this post I also want to related a little anecdote about an incident I had on the tram last night:

Two guys got on the tram, heard us speaking English and asked us where we were from. I answered, "the United States,"

"Oh, really? We're from Norway."

"Norway huh, that's a very nice country, I'd like to go there some day."

"Yes, United States is nice too."

"Thank you, it is."

"Watch out, I have bomb." (He then sticks out his hand, opens his coat with one hand to show the imaginary bomb, presses the imaginary detonator and goes, "BOOM!")

"I will kill all you Americans with bomb."

"No, I'm just kidding America is very nice. I like Barack Obama very much. Good change, good change."

"Thank you, this is my stop."

 

In Bratislava...

The highways here are a lot different than the ones at home. There are no streetlights so, at night, the countryside goes by in blackness. The roadside is littered with lone warehouses, power plants, gas stations. The buildings sit brightly lit, completely alone and miles apart from each other. I have no idea why they don't cluster the buildings together. I found myself thinking about this fact sitting on a bus, unable to sleep, one hour away from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. 

The plan to go was hatched earlier in the week. Some guys on my floor suggested that we should go there for our first trip. It's only a 5 hour bus trip, so we could make it there and back in a short weekend. I figured that it was time to make my first trip and Bratislava seemed as a good of a destination as any. It was close, foreign and it would be a good trial run for further traveling. The final group consisted of myself and 5 other people and the plan was to leave Friday night, arrive around midnight, find the hostel and go out. On Saturday, we would see some sights, buy a return ticket and go out again. Sunday was reserved for coming home.

The bus left the station in Prague at 6:30 and was set for an 11:30 arrival. Earlier that day we had all woken up at 8:00 to take our intensive Czech final and had been in class all day. I figured I would need to get some sleep on the bus to prepare for the night ahead, but after a 25 minute nap I couldn't go back to sleep. Of course, it didn't help that the bus was playing some George Clooney movie dubbed in Czech. The movie was ridiculously loud. I had my iPod blasting and I could still hear it playing. Then the bus driver decided to crank up the volume even more. I had my iPod playing full volume and I could still hear the damn gunshots and explosions. When the movie ended the bus quieted down. This is the point when I began to think about the highways in central Europe.

I've seen a few fictionalized representations of Bratislava, none of them positive (Hostel, Eurotrip) and I did very little research on the city. Other than the picture of the city on Wikipedia I had no idea what the city would be like. So, arriving at the Bratislava bus station at midnight my impression of the city was a blank slate. 

Stepping of the bus I was immediately questioned my decision to go there blindly. The place was abandoned, dark and quiet. We had very little idea of how to get to our hostel and it was not within walking distance. As we began to wander I started to get a feel for the area. The city is not too different from Prague or, I think, most other European cities. However, in comparison to Prague at midnight it was eerily quiet and decrepit. I couldn't tell if things were under a perpetual state of construction or decay and there was absolutely no one around. The best way to describe the city, day or night, is that it has a "Balkan" vibe. It's vaguely reminiscent of war-torn Bosnia.

We finally found a tram and then got off on the wrong stop. This led to an hour long search for our hostel. Arriving at a little after one o'clock, we immediately headed back out and went to a bar. The area we stayed in was fairly modern with paved streets, a Tesco a across the street and a tasty "Kebap" stand around the corner. The ensuing night was filled with random adventures. Perhaps the best was an incident where some guys came up to us on the street who we thought wanted to fight. Turns out, they just wanted to play rock paper scissors. At one point we passed a family photo studio except all the demo pictures were just slutty pictures of women.

The next day we went to Bratislava castle and old town. This was a refreshing change from the area where our hostel was located. Old town Bratislava is very similar to old town Prague but much quieter and with a smaller tourist presence. Most people still speak English and things are relatively cheap but, as Ben in my group would say, it's "Prague Lite". Bratislava castle was under construction but had some good views of the city and the Danube River.

That night we had big plans. We wanted to go to a club in an abandoned nuclear fallout shelter, go to a club on a boat and go to a club with a slide in it. Before hitting the clubs we decided to go to a bar and get dinner. We had a nice waiter but for some reason he put us in our own private room and then blocked it off. Some people came in and sat down but our waiter actually came in and kicked them out. I don't know what the deal was. Before we left the waiter also recommended some clubs, but he said that the boat club was just filled with 40 year old Austrians. 

The first stop was the fallout shelter club. They were having a techno show there that night and we went to find it. After a 45 minute odyssey we found this place literally on the side of a highway. You enter the building into a small tunnel lit bright red. Then, you pass through 2 large metal doors. As I walked deeper and deeper into the club I realized that there was only one way in and one way out. When you come out of the tunnel you are in a cavernous area with a large bar and dance floor. The atmosphere was wild. The lighting is only strobe lights and lasers with wild techno playing. People were dancing in ways I've never seen people dancing and the clientele in general was just very interesting. After some wild techno raving we headed out to the boat club. 

Once again getting lost trying to find the boat club, we ran into some guy who was also trying to get there. We joined forces and kept looking and all of the sudden it hit me. The guy with us was old, probably middle aged and had a German accent. Shit! This guy was a forty year old Austrian! I guess the waiter was right. It turned out that the boat club had set sail or something because it was not on the river where it was supposed to be.  

Finally, we made it to a pretty nice dance club right across from our Hostel where we spent the night dancing to such international superstars as Katy Perry and Tupac Shakur. Waking up on Sunday, it was raining so we went and grabbed some lunch. At this point in the trip I figured most of the ridiculousness had ended. I was wrong. 

Most places were closed so we were forced to go to an art gallery/restaurant. We had a nice waitress but either she didn't understand English or was playing a cruel joke on us because she gave us nothing that we ordered. Any time you spoke to this woman you were rolling the dice in terms of what you would actually receive. Kyle ordered an omelet, got fried cheese with ham and then when the waitress walked by she said, "Omelet!" and started laughing. Meanwhile, the worst light jazz I've ever heard was blaring from some damn stereo. After lunch, we killed some time at the Hostel and then headed to the bus stop for the ride back.

Bratislava is an interesting place, completely different from anywhere I've ever been; including Prague. I'm glad I went with a blank slate because the time I had was unique and nothing could really have prepared me for it. I had a completely original and fun experience. I can't really recommend it yet because I have no other basis for comparison. Hopefully my subsequent travels will be as interesting.

Bone Church, etc.

Edit: I spend like 45 minutes editing this damn blog so the pictures would look nice and they look terrible. I'll better next time but this one is a wash. Sorry about the formatting and I hope it's not too awful to read.

It's Monday night after a pretty good weekend and since we had a brief trip on Saturday it seems like a good time to update. The week rounded out nicely and I've managed to explore Prague a bit more. Everything is more comfortable. I'm able to shop, get about, and speak Czech a little better. Some semblance of a routine is developing too which is nice. Still, regular classes still haven't started yet I imagine that will be a big change.

Saturday the whole of CIEE had to wake up and get to a bus across town for a day trip to Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora is a fairly large city about 40km outside of Prague. I figured the trip would just be a brief look at a cathedral, some lunch, a bone church and a trip home. It was that, but much more boring. We learned about the city itself for the better portion of the day. The history is this: The town came to prominence in the 1300s when silver was discovered. It was the second richest town in Bohemia (Czech lands) next to Prague. Its silver helped build major cathedral in Kutna Hora itself and Prague. Then, when the Hapsburgs took over the continued to mine silver but also began minting their own coins from the silver until the 1700s when the silver dried up and no one cared anymore. Now, it survives as a tourist destination. 

St. Barbara Cathedral

The first stop was the cathedral of St. Barbara, patron saint of miners (go figure). The cathedral had an interesting roof and some nice gothic architecture. The inside was nice but I have to say St. Vitus at Prague Castle is better. 

Jesuit Seminary?

Adjacent to the cathedral is either a Jesuit seminary or monastery, I can't remember which. The Jesuit building was built in the Baroque style and if I can figure out how I'll put up some pictures of it. After a tour of the Church we walked to the smaller church in the town, the cathedral of St. James (also a patron saint of miners). 

The Italian Court

The next stop was the so called "Italian Court" where the mintmasters and craftsmen took the silver and minted it. We watched some mintmaster make some coins and then walked through a pretty famous meeting room. Next was lunch.

St. James Cathedral

Lunch was was very tasty and I wanted to get some grog but apparently the restaurant didn't have it. Grog, according to my Czech teacher, is rum, tea sugar and lemon served hot. It's quite the drink especially when its cold or when you want to get drunk. The food was good but lunch was long. 

A short bus ride brought us to the Bone Church. Now, my perception of the bone church, like any logical person, was a church literally made of bones. Wrong. The Bone Church is this tiny, unassuming chapel that had bones decorating the basement. In the 1870s a mass grave of plague victims was found in the area and it was decided that the bones should be used to decorate a church basement instead of being burned. Ergo, Bone Church. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous, but at the same time it was still cool. I can't say that I've ever seen one real human skeleton let alone over40,000. The Bone Church was supposed to be the crowning  point of the day but we sort of milled around for 20 minutes, had no guide and then left for Prague. 

         Bad to the Bone Church

That evening consisted of going to a club, refusing to pay the 200K cover and then heading to another bar. The high point of the night was the snow. It started falling that afternoon and by night there was maybe a half inch of ground cover all over the city. It was very picturesque. Sunday consisted of watching Liverpool beat Chelsea at an American sports bar. The sports bar is in Wenceslas Square amidst lots of strip clubs. The people outside of these clubs are hilarious. They see a group of guys and start to harass you about their cheap prices and beautiful women. If you decline they get more aggressive and start to question your manhood. It's funny at first but just gets annoying. The same goes for the Arab and African drug dealers on the square who offer their "skunk weed" and coke to you even inside bars. 

In other news, I'm missing the first opera night this week because I'm going to Bratislava. Should be fun and there will pictures and tales when I get back. It's supposed to be better than how it looked in Eurotrip.