The End, Almost - Krakow, Oswiecim, and Berlin

Guten tag,

Since Jessie was too tired to delve into Poland stories last time, it is my pleasure to do so now.

We took an overnight train from Praha to Krakow. As we were planning on visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp the next day, we had decided to spend that night in Oswiecim, a smallish town to the west of Krakow. But that day we took a free walking tour through Poland's capital city during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (it was moved to Warsaw after the king burned down half the castle while practicing alchemy in his room). As usual we learned a lot about local history and culture, which Jessie and I greatly enjoy.

We also learned the story of the Krakow dragon, which lived in a cave underneath the castle one thousand years ago. The dragon of course terrorized the countryside and ate children and all that good dragon-y stuff. The King at the time offered the hand of his daughter in marriage to any knight that could slay the beast. Knight after knight tried and failed to kill the dragon, until a humble shoemaker came along. Instead of fighting the dragon, he bundled up into the shape of a person: gunpowder, glass, spice, rocks, and generally anything that would be uncomfortable to eat. This person-bundle he placed outside the dragon's lair. The dragon later saw the the bundle, and being the greedy monster it was, ate it. But it was an awful surprise to him, the gunpowder and spice being enough to make the dragon spew fire from its mouth. So the dragon ran to the river, just a few meters away, and began to guzzle down water. It drank and drank and drank, and was apparently a very stupid dragon, because it drank until it exploded. So the kingdom was saved, but when the king offered the princess to the shoemaker, he kindly declined the offer. Whether the story is true or not, we did get a small stuffed dragon named Krakow (pronounced KRACK-off, because the "w" sounds like /f/ in Polish), which will be given to our baby later on. =)

Krakow, the Dragon

The Polish people really love St. John Paul II (of course)

Odd Head Statue (sometimes inhabited by drunks at night)

The Magnificent St. Mary's Basilica

Jessie in front of the Krakow Dragon, which blows fire every five minutes

The section of the castle courtyard which had been burned down by the King's experiments

We had some struggles to get to our accommodation in Oswiecim, where we were couchsurfing for the third and final time. Our host generously offered to pick us up at the bus station since he actually lived about 8 km. south of Oswiecim in Brzeszcze (difficult to describe the pronunciation in English, but is reminiscent of BRUH-sheh [roll that Polish 'r']). We came into the wrong station, though, and still didn't have a phone to contact him. Luckily, he was a very patient guy and we eventually made it to his place after an hour or so of waiting for one another at different stations. He took us out for pizza at a local place in his town (even smaller than Oswiecim), which was really good and was topped with real Polish Kielbasa. He also introduced me to an amazingly good dark Polish beer. He was such a great guy that the next day he drove us back into Oswiecim to the Auschwitz camp and museum on his day off. He sent us away with another beer to try too. Just a really fun and positive couchsurfing experience with a kind and generous guy.

Auschwitz the next day was not so positive, but very powerful. It was the culmination of the WWII theme that seemed to be running through our Europe thus far. It is really hard to think about, talk about, and imagine the things that happened there. Over six million people, mostly Jewish, were killed under the Nazi regime. It gets particularly hard when you read about and realize the children that suffered there through experimentation and the other horrors of the camp. And children rarely had the chance to leave any record of themselves or their lives behind in the way many of the older prisoners did, especially when the rest of their family was taken away and killed. They had their entire lives before them, but they could leave no legacy or memory behind them. It is just an experience that I would recommend to anyone who has the chance. Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it, as they say, and we really can't afford to repeat that episode of history again. And yet we seem to be doing just that in America today, turning our backs on an entire segment of society and murdering thousands each day. Since Roe v. Wade, nearly sixty million unborn persons have been killed. Just something to think about. What is the difference between these babies, with no legacy and their entire future lives taken away, and those children of the Holocaust, who were ruthlessly killed? Where do we draw the line when it comes to discrimination and hatred?

We wanted to end our depressing visit to Auschwitz by going back to Krakow to visit Schindler's Factory, remembering this great man who saved so very many lives from the gas chambers. Unfortunately, the museum was closed due to holiday, and so instead we decided to go on another free tour, and eat some authentic Polish pierogies for dinner.

Arbeit Macht Frei - Work Will Make You Free

One Half of the Book of the Dead
(an entire page dedicated to those with the name Kozak, a family name from my mom's side)

Jessie all healthy with her salad

Pierogies - Cabbage/Mushroom, Pork, and Potatoes/Cheese

We didn't do much in Berlin, but I'll touch on it here. We of course found another free tour, and then spent the rest of our time in museums. We learned about Berlin's part in WWII, as well as the post-WWII division of Berlin with the Berlin Wall between the Soviet Communists in East Berlin, and the American, French, and British Capitalists in West Berlin. Berlin has an amazing Jewish museum, very intricate, thoughtful, and poetic even in the architecture itself. We visited the Anti-Kriegs, or Anti-War, museum, and met with the founder's grandson to learn about the real human consequences of war, as experienced in WWI and WWII. I could tell you more about Berlin, as we stayed there for three days, but it is getting late here, so I'll just share some more pictures of the experience.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

Humboldt University, on Bebelplatz, where the Berlin Book Burnings took place during WWII

Berliner Currywurst

Sculpture "Fallen Leaves" in the Berlin Jewish Museum

Fascinating - you know it's art when it makes you think

The Nikolaikirche

Well, we are now back in London with the Oteros. We've just got a bit more traveling through the UK left, and then we'll be heading back home to Colorado. The blog isn't finished just yet, though. We'll be making a post later in which we list some of our best general tips for traveling throughout Europe. We do have alot of specific tips for specific places, such as how to get good and authentic food in Italy, but we can answer those questions personally to anyone interested. After that, we're planning on each writing a reflection post on this experience. So stay tuned - you're not rid of us yet.

Once again from the UK, this is Jacob, signing off. Thanks for reading, and God bless.

Cheers,
~Jacob and Jessie