The End

Thursday/Friday

I can' t believe my time in Poland went by so fast. I had an amazing time there and hope I can go back some day. Poland is a country full of history but also beauty. The world has not discovered all its potential yet but I can only imagine it will not stay a secret for much longer. 

Our morning of our last day we had a lecture on the women of Poland and the struggles they have faced through the years. As a woman I found this lecture to be very interesting.

For our last day in Poland we all decided to venture into Warsaw. It also happen to be the hottest day of the summer so far. We took a bus into the city and explored. We had our last taste of Lody (Polish ice cream), walked around the old town, went into more souvenir shops, and even watched a shop make hand made candy. It was a fun day but also a sad one, knowing that the next day we were to get on a plane to leave.

Friday morning we got up and had our last meal at the hotel. Got on our bus and made our way to the airport. I spent the day in airports and on planes to get back to the United States. Coming back home will always be great (American all the way) but I will miss my time in Poland. 

                                    

Last days in Poland :(

Monday - Wednesday

That last Monday we had more lectures and another final presentation by another student.

Again I spent my free time asking to borrow computers and trying to get my presentation done. 

At night we watched the movie Poklosie. It was bad off of the events of Jedwabne, I spoke about it briefly in an earlier post. No town name is ever actually mentioned. The movie shines a terrible light on Poland and the actions of Polish people before no after the occupations. It makes Poland seem to be a country of anti-Semitic people who have no problem killing Jews. It was a very hard movie to watch, and a sad way to end our day.

Tuesday morning we had a guest lecture on the legacies of Communism. The are many. Even today you can see how Communism has affected the culture and lives of the people of Poland.

After a quick lunch we had a tour. This time we went to the Praga section of Warsaw. This area of the city is across the river and was not originally considered an original portion of Warsaw. This saved the area. When Warsaw was ordered to be destroyed, Praga was not. A such actual history still exists in this section of Warsaw. We we able to see buildings were proof of Jewish crosses being nail into doorways still existed. Old apartments that still needed coal to be put into stoves to keep people warm during winter. Praga is the section of the city were people of Warsaw actually live. Across the river is the tourist and industrial sections. 

Wednesday was my presentation! I was very nervous things would not work out since I was other people's computers. But I did it and everything worked out! 

That night we had our farewell cookout. Our Professor and his wife (the lady go gets everything done and this trip couldn't have happen without) put together a nice outdoor dinner for all of us. It also happened to be the birthday of one of the girls on the trip, so of course a cake was ordered. It was a fun night for all of us. 

Final weekend

Saturday/Sunday

Unfortunately my last weekend in Poland wasn't vey exciting. 

As I had mentioned earlier by the end of the trip my computer had died. While we were in Gdansk my hard drive completely failed and I was forced to periodically borrow people's computers to get work done. This last week I had my final presentation to do. Sadly for me everything was lost on my computer. What I found was that people are extremely reluctant to let others use their computers, even if they are not using them. It took an extreme amount of begging so I could get my work done. Thankfully two individuals were nice enough to let me use their computers or I would have failed the courses. 

I spent my weekend piecing together my presentation and last assignments. If anyone wants to know anything about Colonel Kuklinski let me know. I happen to have learned his whole life story for this Dialogue. He is actually a very interesting individual. Was someone who had top secret access to Soviet military exercises, a Colonel in the Polish army, and yet was a CIA operative. Don' t worry he was never a traitor. His only hope was to free his believed country of Poland from Soviet dominion. 

We can leave your friends behind...

Cause your friends don't Gdansk

And if they don't Gdansk

Well then they're no friends of mine...

Haha sorry I couldn't help myself. I had to use the song to talk about Gdansk.

Friday/Saturday

Friday we had a day off and were told that if we took the train we could go to a famous beach town on the Baltic Sea. So of course that is where I went! Three of us walked to the main train station in a Gdansk and worked out how the whole system worked. Bought ourselves round trio tickets for the day and figured out which train we needed to catch. Yeah we're conquering Poland and its language :)

Once we reached our destination it was game on. The town sort of reminded me of a Miami beach resort town. We explored the pastel buildings, the ice cream shops, the stalls selling Amber, and just the major tourist attraction that the area was. We were also able to put our feet in the Baltic Sea! Making my way around the worlds waters. 

After a day on the beach we were all very much exhausted and after finishing packing that night it was to bed for us.

        

  

The next day we were to leave Gdansk :(

On our way back we made an out of the way stop at Wolf's Lair, Hitler' bunker in Poland. We drove almost two hours on dirt roads to get to the middle of no where that was Wolf's Lair. Here we explored pieces of bunkers and destroyed buildings. Hitler's base was completely destroyed by bombs. After our walking tour we took a drive through the area in an old Nazi military vehicle. 

The ret of our day was spent in a bus to get back to Warsaw. Took a dinner stop at a McDonald's along the highway and kept going. We arrived back at our Warsaw hotel around 11pm. 

We can go where we want to...

Wednesday

Wednesday started off with all of us walking over to the headquarters for World War II museum in Gdansk. But her is the catch, the museum doesn't exist yet. So far the plans are for it to open in the year 2015. So we actually gotta virtual tour of the museum by one of the historians who out it together. The museum seems like it well be extremely interesting and interactive active once it comes to life. We were given the amazing privilege of seeing the archives for the museum. We were actually able to touch items that will eventually be put behind glass walls! How amazing and unusual to be able to experience something like that. Right in front of me was a German uniform, destroyed helmets, old artillery, and even an Enigma machine that was used to translate enemy transmissions. 

After the 'tour' was done we were given time off to grab lunch and explore before we need to meet for our next tour. So of course a couple of us decide to go exploring! We ended up getting our lunch to go so that way we could see more. I got a REALLY good spinach and cheese pastry and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Poland makes some of the best pasties ever, sweet and savory. France look out because once Poland becomes well known you may have a run for your money! 

                                                                           

That afternoon we took a tour based on the Solidarity movement. It started out in a museum meant to bring you into the time of Soviet occupation. For you entrance ticket we were given the little card that everyone received every month that allowed them to get their loaf of bread, roll of toilet paper, piece of meat, and so on. Once we walked in we were greeted with the site of the typical shop during that time, filled basically only with white vinegar. As we walked through the museum we were told the tale of the people and what they had to endure under Communism and how they fought against it. After the museum we followed the 'trail of freedom' to the docks. Her we saw the large monument celebrating the dock workers who first rebelled. From there we walked out to the docks and saw another part of the museum. Here the focus was entirely on the fight against Soviets. 

                                    

 

That evening we had dinner in the hotel and we all needed to get work done.

Chopin - The Music of Poland

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday we went into Warsaw to the University and had a lecture with the head of the music department. On Sunday we were going to the home of Chopin and our Professor thought it necessary for us to learn as much about the Composer and Pianist as we could before we went. It was actually a quite entertaining lecture with the Professor rambling on and periodically running up to the Piano to play. Very stereotypical of what one would think of as a Music Professor, kinda crazy.

Sunday was a perfect day. Blue skies and music in a garden.
We took another long bus ride out to Zelazowa Wola, the home town of Chopin. We were able to tour his child hood home and lands. While wandering the gardens we enjoyed a beautiful concert of his works. A pianist came out introduced herself and then went inside Chopin's house to play his composed works on the Piano. The whole thing was supposed to feel as if we were back in the day and listening to Chopin himself playing. It was beautiful. There really are no words for how great a day this was.

After hours of enjoyment we took a late lunch in a restaurant nearby. Delicious Spinach Pierogis yummmmm

And sadly
had to head back to real life and work.

Chopin's House

The Gardens

Chopin's Piano

Chopin

A taste of Chopin's composition

A Week of Lessons

Monday-Friday

Unfortunately for you guys, this next week wasn't very adventuresome. It was a week of lectures, classes, and final presentations. whoopy!

We read diaries from people about the war.

Had discussions about German invaders.

How art during the time of the Third Reich was affected by politics, as one would assume since they basically controlled everything.

The horrors of the Jedwabne massacre, which I don't want to give you nightmares so I won't go into all that.

 Still went on about the whole controversy of Poles being killed and maltreated under Nazism, and no one really acknowledging it.

A very creepy day devoted entirely to Nazi doctors. All kinds of shivers and cringes are needed to get through those lectures.

And then we got a break!! On FRIDAY we went for another tour! This time we went to explore the Warsaw Ghetto. As loyal follwers I am sure you are aware that the Warsaw Ghetto was 100% destroyed during WWII. As such I am sure that you are wondering exactly what we were before the tour, what exactly are we seeing? Very little in fact :(
We were able to see plaques around the city of Warsaw commemorating different aspects of German occupation. There was also a ribbon of sorts that was put in to the roads and sidewalks to outline the area that was once the Ghetto. The 'ribbon' itself had the dates of the creation and end of the Ghetto within it. We were also able to see the memorial for the bridge that used to exist connecting the tow sides of the Ghetto. Just in case you don't know, I'll explain. The Ghetto in Warsaw was actually split into two sections originally. The small Ghetto and big Ghetto. Each side housed a certain type of people, intellectuals on one and laborers on the other. In between these two section was a street that was still used by the outside community. The Germans eventually built a bridge over this road. It is this bridge that they have a memorial for. The memorial is quite simple. Just a light show really connected by large pillars on each side. Th pillars show images of the bridge and the old Ghetto.

Friday was a very long hot day of walking.

Zakopane

Sorry I fell so far behind everyone. Between wifi issues, all our adventures, and eventually having my computer die on me there was just no time to get these posts up. So, even though I am officially back in the States now I will go through my weeks with you. Hopefully you still enjoy my adventures!!

Saturday/Sunday

We ended up spending a wonderful and relaxing weekend in the mountains of Zakopane. We had tours in the morning both Saturday and Sunday, but our afternoons were delightfully free.

Saturday's tour took us up into the mountains above Zakopane. The views during our drive were amazing!

We ended up in a small town an hour or so into the mountains. All of the houses here were made out of giant tree logs! Our tour guide told us that almost all these homes were from the 1800s, even though they looked shiny and brand new. He let us know the reason that the houses were in such good shape... you won't believe this. Every year the women in the village HAND scrub the whole house, getting rid of any grim or build up on it. The men do not participate or help in this hard labor, it is considered a woman's job. So sexist! You can very well believe all of us girls on the trip were no too happy about that statement.

       

   
We got to wonder around the village and see the traditional Polish mountain sites (We even saw a chicken wondering the side of the road). While there we were brought to the cottage of the best wood worker in the region. We were able to see him carving little statues and boxes. Everything was extremely intricately detailed and beautiful. Of course we all ended up buying something after that. He must have really loved Americans that day!

After our sojourn around the mountain village/town we got back on our mini bus and drove to another section of the mountain. Here we were shown two old chapels. The first we came across was the oldest in the region, and completely made of wood. It smelled heavenly inside!

        

   

Outside this chapel was one of the oldest Catholic cemeteries in Poland. We were able to walk through it and were told about some of the famous Poles who were buried there. The cemetery was very unique in its set up. Every grave was intricately designed, had plant life growing around it, and all had candles lit on them. It was actually a very pretty area.

 
 

The second chapel was also almost completely made of wood. Though this one did have some stone aspects. It was a tiny bit newer than the first and built upon a hill. We were lucky in that when we arrived there was a baptism going on inside. So as we waited people in traditional garb we coming out. It was very interesting to see the men and women dressed in this old style of clothing. 

                                                                   

           

 

Once all the exploring was over we took the long way back to Zakopane. This way were able to see all the famous ski slopes and what Zakopane is truly famous for, its winter sports.

That afternoon we were free to explore, explore, shop, and explore some more.

The next morning we had to get up early and check out of our wonderful hotel :(

However, it was okay because we then took a detour to our way back to Warsaw and had a rafting trip on the Dunajec river. IT was about an hour long peaceful ride through the Polish mountainside. Our large raft was again, completely made of wood, and we had to guys steering. One in the front and one in the back. Both had huge sticks that they would push against the river bed with to push us along when the current couldn't, very much like a Gondola from Venice. During our ride we were told a lot about the history of the region. We even technically crossed the Slovakian border! SO guess I went to two countries on this trip.

       

  
The rest of our day after this delightful boat ride was stuck in a bus. We did not arrive in Warsaw till almost 10pm. We even ate lunch in a gas station parking lot! It was a very long day to say the least. 

You can Gdansk if you want to...

Monday/Tuesday

That Monday we had an extensive lecture on the Solidarity movement in Poland. We learned all about Gdansk and the dock workers who started a revolution. It was in Gdansk that the people first publicly started talking out against Soviet occupation in Poland. Eventually all their work and that of the rest of the nations worked out and Poland became free after years of Communistic control.

The following day we had an early wake up call and started our trek to the port city of Gdansk. What we originally thought would be a four hour drive, ended up being over eight hours. By the time we had arrived we had missed most of of what was to be our tour of Gdansk that afternoon. Thankfully the tour guide was fine with only doing an hour tour. He showed us around the gorgeous Old Town of Gdansk and told us about its amazing history. Gdansk truly is a romantic city full of amazing architecture and wonderful views along the river. 

That night we had a scrumptious dinner at a very nice restaurant. There was a woman singing opera music while we ate! We had broccoli soup and grilled eggplant for dinner, delicious. 

       

Tuesday we got to ride a pirate ship! It was just a tourist boat ride down the river. But it was fun to ride on a pirate ship! The ride took us all the way down the river to where we were to have our next tour. We were given an educational tour of Westerplatte. This was once one of the last strongholds of the German invasion on Poland. We explored old bunkers and walked along memorials describing the events. Finally we came upon the main attraction of the area, a huge statue to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives defending Gdansk. After our tour was done we took the Pirate ship back to the city of Gdansk and were free for the rest of the day. Shopping! I spent the rest of the day exploring the city and taking advantage of the fair that was going on in the city. Tons of stalls with hand made crafts everywhere. Perfect for souvenir and gift shopping. 

                                    

   

Ketchup

I am truly sorry for falling to far behind in my blogging duties. I will try my hardest to catch you up with all that has happened in the past week or so.

So, we left off on Thursday...

FRIDAY

Friday was essentially a travel day. But we did have a few stops along the way from Krakow to Zakopane.

While driving our Co-Professor had the bus driver pull over. At first we were all so confused as to why we were pulling over on a deserted road with cow pastures surrounding us. But then she pointed out something to us all. High above us on a light pole was a Storks nest! Poland is one of the few places in the world where these birds exist and she wanted to make sure we were able to see one.

Our first stop was to the Rabka school. Which is located about halfway between Krakow and our destination of Zakopane. This school was once used to train German soldiers and SS officers during WWII. Here they learned the correct and most efficient way to dispose of mass quantities of their genetic enemy, the Jew.

However, today the building has been converted to a school for the blind. Apparently no trace of the evils once enacted there exist and if you were to ask anyone in the small town about this areas past they would deny everything.




So of course a historians we had to prove them wrong. We were then lead of a trespassing mission through some fields and woods. This trek lead us to a small cemetery a good ways behind the school. This cemetery was set of by the Jews to commemorate the Jews who had been slaughtered and maltreated on those very grounds. Proof!

We were unable to tour the grounds of the school due to it actually being in use. But we were able to see the outside of it and imagine what happened inside those walls. We had readings and a lecture on the atrocities and we were all aware of what those soldiers were once trained to do inside.

After sanitizing ourselves from the walk through the wildlife we all hopped back into our Mercedes-Benz mini bus.

Before reaching Zakopane we needed to make a lunch break. Starving college kids are not fun to deal with.

We ended up eating in this very mountain-esque restaurant. Fitting since we were slowly making our way into the mountain ranges of southern Poland. It was a giant wooden structure made of tree logs. our tables and chairs were actually benches. And to top it all off our bench backs were covered in actual fur. Picture evidence of this does exist!

By mid afternoon we had finally arrived in Zakopane. This place is a picture perfect mountain town. During the winter it is a ski resort but during the summer it seems the main marketplaces are almost like amusement parks. Little kitchy shops and people dressed up in costumes to take pictures with.

Our hotel was something unto itself. Beautiful old hotel with amazing views of the mountain ranges surrounding us. Old hotels are my love when it comes to traveling. They always feel both homey and romantically gorgeous at the same time.

The Royal Way and Kosher rules

Thursday 

Back to fun tours! 

We started off the day by taking a two hour tour of the Royal Castle of Krakow. It sits atop a hill near the middle of the city with amazing views of it and the surrounding river. 

Most of the castle interior had actually been destroyed during a fire way back when. So, most of the furniture inside was placed there in hopes of providing an image. And parts of the reconstructed walls were never reprinted and as such were plain white. 

Original Ceiling and border

Reconstructed Office with no original embellishments

Luckily, only some portions of the Palace were lost in the fire. The ones that remained are breathtaking. In one section of the palace walls were draped with detailed leather instead of painted or draped with carpets. Typically tapestries were employed as they kept in heat. But these intricate leather walls had gold and other dyes pounded into them to provide not only warmth but beauty. 

After we finished touring the Palace we were taken underneath to view the armory. This collection included many works of metal, beyond even weaponry. However, the sword, gun, and cannon collection was quite extensive and impressive.

The next part of our tour of The Royal Way was to the Cathedral. A rather large and gorgeous place. It was full of marble and gold everywhere. 

Outside the Cathedral hung three large bones. Of which were according to legend supposed to part of a dragon. There is a tale told in Krakow of the dragon that used to live in the hill underneath which the Wawel Castle stood. This dragon was eating all the herds and virgins within the city. Due to this the king decided that whoever could kill the Dragon would get a grand reward and of course get to marry his daughter, the princess. Knight after knight came to the king in hopes of killing the dragon and knight after knight was slain. The story continues until one day a simple shoe cobbler approaches the king asking if he could try his hand at killing the dragon and claiming the reward. The King in concern informs the man that he is rather small and untrained in the ways of knighthood, how could he possibly manage to kill a dragon. The cobbler replies that he will outsmart the dragon and the king decides to let him try his hand. The next day the cobbler fills a sheep with sulfur and sets it outside of the dragons cave as to entice him to eat it. Because as we all know sheep are a dragons favorite meal. The dragon wakes up and consumes the sheep. But as the sheep was full with sulfur the dragon's stomach begins to bubble and burn. The dragon rushes to the lake and drinks and drinks, all day long until he is big and round like a balloon. At this moment the Cobbler sneaks up behind the dragon and pops him with a sword. The dragon explodes and the kingdom is saved. Thus, in Krakow is considered lucky to own a small statue of the dragon that was defeated.

The. End.

...But not really. Because we had to continue our day. We spent our afternoon in the Jewish quarter of the city. This section of the city is considerably smaller and much more run down. But it still has it's little quarks. Very few Jews are left in Krakow and this leads to not being able to take care of the section as much as would be desired.

While in the Jewish quarter we toured a synagogue and its attached cemetery. This arrangement is very typical for a christian church but normally a Jewish cemetery is not located near the synagogue, making this one unique.

The Jewish religion typically has very strict rules regarding the location and treatment of their cemeteries. They typically must in a high location and near a water source, and much more regulations that I do not know of. The tradition of leaving flowers at a grave is also only practiced by the Christian faith. In Jewish cemeteries to honor the dead one is supposed to leave rocks on the graves. This tradition dates back to the crossing of the desert. When people died during this extensive crossing they were given a burial and their graves were marked with rocks. And as no flowers grow in the desert they could not place these plants on top of the graves. 

smutek (sadness)

Wednesay

This day was an extremely emotional day for us all. We went to Auschwitz. I can personally say I cried twice. The whole experience was very overwhelming. 

There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you step through those gates. All the horrors that happened on those grounds definitely left an imprint forever. 

Arbeit Macht Frei - Work will set you free (not true)

We walked through barracks and saw pictures posted on the walls, statistics of those murdered and how they were persecuted. 

Some rooms held shoes, hair, suitcases, and personal articles taken from the dead. The numbers of these articles were immense and it was only a tiny portion of what the Germans weren't able to destroy before they ran at the end of the war. The tons of human hair piled up made you sick to your stomach. At one time that was on the head of an innocent. But worst of all for me was the shoes. The shoes ranged from large adult male shoes, delicate women's heels, to tiny children's clogs. I broke down walking through the endless hall piled up with them. 

suitcases

shoes

Up next we were showed the torture chambers and areas were people were lined up to be shot. To top it all off we ended that portion of the tour with the gas chambers and cremation rooms. 

Now realize this first half took around 3 hours and we still had more travesties to see. 

We then went a mile away to the second portion of the camp where the train went through. This section had many more barracks and two crematoriums. It was 3 square miles of death. 

By this point almost all if us were silently crying. Our travel tissues really came in handy this day. 

There were memorials in this section of the camp. Begging people not to forget so this never happens again. They were written in almost every written modern language available. 

We walked through the male barracks. These already seemed like horrible conditions but we were informed that the female were much worse. In that they did not have floors or walls throughout the inside, allowing for more of the winter cold to penetrate. This along with being the main focus for medical experiments is why women were more likely to die faster. 

Alright I'm done for now I can't keep writing about this. I promise the next days will be happier posts.