Krakow

Our Visit to Krakow was wonderful yet challenging. Roughly 1.5 million people were murdered in the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Berkenau which sit just outside of Krakow. Seeing and hearing the horrifying actions the Nazis did just makes me sick to know how cruel and twisted humans can become. For example, day in and out the prisoners were told or read this fraise, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, (Work Shall Set You Free) which was not the case at all. The prisoners either worked to there death or were directly killed for being themselves. The Nazis took everything from personal possessions to human pride and Birkenau really conveyed this. Birkenau means swamp and that is exactly what the prisoners lived in, worked in and slept on. When the Nazi’s built Birkenau their goal was to increase the number of killings as well as diminish these pour souls to the worst conditions one could ever imagine. Visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau was emotionally challenging yet I am glad I went.

On a lighter note, we also visited Wieliczka Salt Mine and saw some of the most amazing sculpture works ever. Since 1996, Poland stopped excavating salt and instead turned this salt mine into a tourist attraction and that is exactly what it is. Aside from it being very touristy and theme park like, the carvings inside are well worth the visit. Inside the salt mine there are several carved statues and chapels, the most popular being St Kinga’s Chapel. The chapel is entirely carved from salt and all the walls have carvings of religious stories form the Bible. The most famous carving is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” the carving is three dimensional and is nearly an exact replica. I am amazed at the expertise of these simple miners who spent nearly fifty years crafting this magnificent chapel.

As for what we did in Krakow we spent an afternoon touring several of Wawel's Castle chambers and the Wawel Cathedral. Just outside of the Stare Misatro (old town) is the old Jewish quarter with remnants of the ghetto walls the Jews were forced to live behind. And of course, nearly every block we walked down there was a church or two, so we popped our heads into a few of them. My most favorite being St. Mary’s Church, for its blue ceiling and gold stars as well as the 500 year old wooden altar.