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.

Hi Ho Hi Ho off to work we go!

Monday 

The better part of our Monday was spent in a bus driving to Krakow. These hours are too boring to fully describe... So I won't. 

That afternoon when we eventually got to our destination of lovely Krakow we had a lecture. Exciting day I know, sorry guys. 

Our lecture was on the three most prominent Nazi death camps that were located in Poland during World War II.  It was very depressing and I won't sadden you with retelling it. 

Tuesday

A salty day! We went exploring the famous salt mines located outside Krakow. The tour started off with taking 400 steps to get underground. It got increasingly colder as we went and my ears kept popping. But it was worth it! The mines were way cooler than I thought they'd be. 

Everything was made of crystallized salt. And I mean everything! The floors in some areas were tiled... With salt tiles! 

When the miners were down in these caves they became artists. They sculpted statues, chapels, chandeliers, and much much more. Out of the only thing around, salt. 

Pretending to lick the walls of salt

Salt statues

Once upon a time...

Salt was a very lucrative business. Those who mined it and lived in the town around it were very wealthy. It was even more valuable than gems and gold. More than 1/3 of the royal wealth of Poland once came from these mines. Salt uses to be the only way to have food to keep through winter. It was used to for healing as it kills bacteria. It preserves like crazy, and not just meat. It was once used to help slow the look of aging. This stuff was a one stop shop for Europeans and Poland had the largest supply. 

Giant underground chapel made of salt. Actually used for services

Salt carvings

Salt Chandelier

And do you want to know where the German fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves came from? Salt Mining! I know Disney showed us gems in the movies but it was actually salt they were mining. I mean who now-a-days would think salt valuable? Of course they used gems so little kids would understand! 

Dwarves scene carved out of... you guessed it... Salt

That afternoon we went exploring the inner city of Old Krakow. Gorgeous! Old architecture abounds here since the Germans didn't destroy it. This part of the region technically uses to be part of the German empire and they planned to make it apart of the country again. Hence why they didn't want to destroy it. So glad they didn't because I love adventuring through old streets and studying old architecture.

Clock tower