The organization that we are traveling with is Collegium Civitas, whose American equivalent is Global Education Leadership. Collegium Civitas is actually the college here in Warsaw where I am taking a Polish Foreign Policy class and Polish language lessons. Both are very challenging, but really interesting. Another component of my internship is also these cultural immersions that CC plans throughout our time here in Poland. The first of these was our day trip to Kraków.
Hi ho hi ho, it's off to Kraków we go! (I'll let you finish whistling the tune...)
The van left bright and early, 7:00 am Saturday morning and we headed for Kraków. All of the six of us loaded up in the Mercedes Sprinter that met us in the parking lot and we were off! It was a rather uneventful trip, plenty of time to view the Polish countryside from my window, but otherwise, everyone slept. When we finally arrived in Kraków, one of things I failed to realize was that the bag I had packed for the couple extra days I was planning to spend there would be one that I would need to carry with me. Mind you, this was a walking tour through Kraków and I had packed at least 25-30 lbs for this weekend adventure! At this point, I should give a little 'thank you shout-out' to REI for outfitting me with a nice duffel that turned into a backpack that made this weekend possible. It was just me, my backpack, and my messenger bag/purse all under the hot, humid Polish sun. Here goes nothing!
We were met in the parking lot by a Polish university student who spoke English and was going to be our tour guide for our walking tour. Our first stop was making our way up the hill to Wawel Castle.
Wawel is the structure that is cream on the right with the reddish roof and the Royal Cathedral is the ornate structure on the left.
Kraków is a very interesting city in that it was virtually untouched by the war, unlike Warsaw that had been completely devastated. When I arrived in Kraków, it is exactly how I had always pictured a European city; one that is full of rich architecture and old beautiful buildings. Simply beautiful, but a sharp contrast to Warsaw that had been rebuilt following the war and has more commercial architecture and more of a post- Communist feeling to the city.
Wawel itself has a unique history in that it has great significance to Polish people. It is situated along the Vistula river in Poland and was originally built at the request if Casimir III the Great who ruled Poland in the fourteenth century. Over time, the structure took shape and changed into what it is today, building living quarters for the additional clergy and royal clerks as well as defensive structures. Fast forwarding to the 20th century, the Polish Second Republic decided that Wawel was to the home for the president at the end of World War I. 1921 marked the year that it was officially named as the Presidential Palace. After World War II; however, the State National Council decreed that Wawel and surrounding structures would be set aside as a museum, which is still the purposes for which it functions today. Because it was a walking tour, we didn't actually go into all of these places, but just saw the structures themselves.
After our time here, we wandered down towards Stare Miasto (Old Town). It was a beautiful walk and we had the opportunity to go through several Catholic cathedrals, which were all beautiful and breathtaking (both outside and inside). We travelled through these backstreets for a couple of hours, looking at churches, universities and other structures that held unique stories of Polish history inside their walls.
Our guide told us one particular story about Nazi occupied Poland and Jagiellonian University that really stood out to me. After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, the universities were all closed and no one was allowed to attend. As these academics tried to wrestle with this changing climate, they were at a loss, until about forty professors heard of a meeting in the university courtyard. They all came there in the middle of the night, not knowing exactly what was happening, but then arrived to find that it was a trap and the Nazis were waiting for them at the courtyard instead. While standing there in this actual place and listening to this story, I couldn't help but feel this eerie sense that I was standing where forty professors had been executed by the Nazis. I had many similar moments throughout the weekend, not specific to Nazi Germany, but rather Polish history itself. It was this feeling that I was standing in places of history and seeing what was left behind to communicate the stories of the past and the people of Poland who had lived there.
Following this story, we made our way to Stare Miasto square. Stare Miasto is the Polish way of saying Old Town, so you will see this phrase repeated in different cities such as Warsaw where they also have an Old Town district. In the middle of the square is the cloth hall which is a building now filled with vendors in booths, selling souvenirs to tourists. In medieval times, it was home the marketplace and people came to sell their produce, cloth and other goods here, hence why it is named cloth hall. In the corner of the square is also a beautiful church: St. Mary's Basilica Church. We had to pay zloty (Polish currency) to enter and it was well worth it. The detail to the stained glass windows and panels inside was beautiful! Poland itself is about 90% Catholic so there is ample opportunity to see churches throughout different cities, each with its own unique artistry on the inside that is rich in Polish culture as well as church history.
These are all photos of Old Town taken on Saturday night, but the middle photo depicts cloth hall. I have photos of St. Mary's church as well but they are on my camera. (I'm balancing photos both of the iPad and the camera itself). I will have to share them all with you when I return!
After touring St. Mary's, we went to find lunch, which at that point, sounded wonderful to rest my tired shoulders. We ended up at this traditional Polish restaurant that was an outdoor cafe right on the square. All seven of us sat at this long table and made our way through this menu, our eyes getting bigger as we didn't necessarily recognize words, but rather the pictures of blood sausage and other Polish delicacies that accompanied the menu's description. Three out of the seven of us ordered Polish "sampler" platters with goulash, blood sausage, pierogis and other traditional Polish dishes. One of the guys, Eric, got a steak with a fried egg on top (a very common Polish thing to put eggs on everything, even pizza). Karol and I got Polish breaded pork chops, which are HUGE to say the least! I thought it might eat me as the sheer size of the thing was about as big as my head!
Feeling full and somewhat rested from lunch, we met up with our guide and went to the area of Kraków called Kazimierz, which is the Jewish area of the city. This neighborhood was once one of Poland and the world's most significant Jewish areas. It was home to many Jews from the 14th century up until the Holocaust, which ended in 1945 and by that time, many of Poland's Jews were no longer actually in Poland, unless in a camp. Following World War II, the oppression of Communism continued to plague Kaimierz and it became a rather "shady" district of Kraków. It wasn't until 1993 and a little movie, Schindler's List, that served as a catalyst to revive this area of Kraków. It soon began to transform due to increased tourism. People were coming to the place of production and trying to connect to some piece of Jewish history in Poland, especially with Schindler's factory right across the river.
We spent some additional time in Kazimierz before heading over a bridge to the site of the former Jewish ghetto. What a humbling sight to see a place of empty chairs that have now been made into a memorial for the Jews who were once housed there. We were told stories of those heroes within the community who did what they could to aid the Jews over the ghetto wall as well as the significance of these empty chairs in this open concrete space. Following the war, all of the furniture that had once been in the ghettos or the homes of Jews flooded this square, a sure sign that it was forever abandoned by their former owners. Today, in this place, is a collection of these oversized empty metal chairs, symbolizing a life lost due to the Holocaust. A deep and moving depiction of what was lost...
At this point, our walking tour ended. Eric and Karol both headed back in the Mercedes Sprinter towards Warsaw, Minh had already separated from the group to catch his train and the remaining three made our way to the tram stop to go back towards Old Town to sit and cool down a bit from the hot summer sun. Pierce, Jared and I quickly found a restaurant and after finishing dinner, headed on a quest to find our hostel, as we were all exhausted from a long day. After an hour or so of circles, we found our Ikea furnished hostel. My head hit the pillow and I was asleep, trying to rest for our journey to
Auschwitz in the morning.Morning came early, we grabbed breakfast at the hostel and went to the bus station to catch an 8:25 bus for Oswecim, the city where Auschwitz is. As we boarded the bus, the thought that I was actually headed for Auschwitz hit me as a reality. This was definitely one of the most emotional experiences I would say I have ever had; something I think is hard to even adequately put into words. And because of this, I find myself still reflecting on this day. I want to share about this experience but will do so in a subsequent post after some more time has taken place for me to digest the day. For now, here are some of the photos from my day I will let do the talking for now.
The infamous sign to Auschwitz, which translated, means "Work Makes You Free."
The wall that Jews faced as their backs were turned to the ends of guns held by Nazi soldiers only moments away from executing them.
The entrance gate to Auschwitz II- Birkenau.
An abandoned train car, now a memorial, but once was the vessel that transported Jews to this death camp.
The barbed wire fences, a blatant reminder that these Jews were in fact the Nazi's prisoners. There was no way out...
Later that day, I rode the bus back from Auschwitz sitting next to Pierce, exhausted but silent, pondering and feeling deeply impacted by what I had experienced.
Monday morning, it was just Jared and I left in Kraków as Pierce had already headed back to Warsaw. We started the day making our way back up to Wawel to see the interior of the structures that we had visited on Friday. We got there just in the "nick of time" and got into Wawel just before it closed. A lot of what was there was architectural ruins from the fourteenth century, when it was originally built. Quite interesting to see the different pieces and take note of the intricacy of the design. After Wawel, we visited the Royal Cathedral, which is also home to the Royal tombs. A beautiful builiding inside and out, with these ornamental golden caskets throughout different places in the cathedral. We spent a couple hours here and then returned to Old Town for lunch. Jared and I decided to try a Georgian restaurant that was quite delicious! I had pear lemonade (yummy!) and this crossiant-like pastry covered in seasoned chicken and cheese! I couldn't finish it, but it was pretty delicious! We spent some time making our way through Old Town and then finally decided to sit at a cafe for dessert.
Poles love their ice cream- I feel as though I fit right in! They are these huge sundaes with pieces of fresh fruit, wafer cookies, and all sorts of goodies. I enjoyed quite a delicious sundae and then the two of us headed for the train station to get tickets, make it to the platform, etc. And what an adventure the train was!
So, this was actually my very first time that I have ever rode on a train! I figured- I'm in a foreign country, I don't speak the language, why not give the train a whirl? I had been told that the women who issue tickets do not speak English so at the suggestion of Melissa, I planned to have everything written out and just show that paper to the woman. However, I ended up taking a screenshot of the schedule and sliding that in the window to show her what train I needed to get back to Warsaw. She issued me my ticket and I headed back towards the underground area that leads to the platforms. I thought, "Wow, that was painless." Despite looking, I didn't see the reader board that showed a train for Warsaw. With only twenty minutes until my train, I ran up to this independent ticket booth and showed her my ticket. She explained I was supposed to go to platform 5, but said to me in broken English that I needed a reservation. Not knowing exactly what she meant, I ended up showing her my Eurail pass and she waved me through as if to say, I was 'okay' to board. After getting to platform 5, I looked down and realized that my Eurail pass had not been activated, which, becomes invalidated if you start traveling without having activated the pass first. With now ten minutes until my train, I RAN back to the train station to get that precious stamp, only to find that there were now only two women selling tickets at the counters, when there had been four what felt like moments ago. I got in line, but then realized I was not going to make my train. In my moment of panic, I went to the front of my line, tapped a women on her shoulder and tried to explain in Polish/ broken English/ hand motions that I needed a stamp on my pass or else I was going to miss my train. Thankfully after some further explanation and repetition, she let me in front, get my stamp and then I "beat feated" it back to the platform.
I boarded the train, but saw that as people are getting on, there are numbers above each seat, which was exactly why the woman had mentioned that I needed a reservation. I went into a cabin, but soon it flooded with people, so I made my way against the flow of traffic, the Polish people all looking at me like I was crazy. To avoid more confused and somewhat judgmental stares, I darted into a semi-occupied cabin and took a brief seat. As people continued to board the train and come into this cabin, I just moved to the unoccupied seat, not really sure what was happening or going on. The train started to pull away from the station and I was super anxious, fairly certain I wasn't in the right place, but I stayed there- I knew at least right now, I had a seat. I pulled out Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and tried to stay occupied as the train kept barreling through the countryside. We made stops along the way back to Warsaw, each time a new passenger boarded I was sure they were going to take my seat, but thankfully was able to maintain a normal sinus rhythm and stay put.
About two hours into the journey, the conductor came through to punch our tickets. Oh no! Here it comes! Moment of panic! (Am I exaggerating? Not really! But it sure was intimidating to have him speak only in Polish- no English and try to respond in a reciprocal manner) He punched my ticket and I thought I was in the clear, only to have him take my ticket from my near grasp and inspect it further. He was speaking in Polish, I'm guessing something about my ticket being wrong, but I was not too sure. The only thought I had was that showing my Eurail pass before worked, it must be worth a try. I felt like I had Willy Wonka's golden ticket and he waved me through, saying something in Polish, but nonetheless, it was okay. Phew! What the adventure!
I finally stepped off the train close to 11:00 pm and made my way towards the tram stop that would get me home. My keys entered the lock on our apartment door at 11:30 pm and my head hit the pillow about half an hour later- completely exhausted and likely smelling of train. But it was all part of a wonderful, although slightly panicked, adventure! Here's to many more!
These past couple days in Warsaw I have been trying to just recover. I'm feeling pretty tired and have spent these past couple nights with some good friends of mine: Joey, Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel and Phoebe. You might know them? :) I spent yesterday translating emails from Polish to English, trying to understand what pieces of their history they are looking for, key facts, etc. All truly fascinating stories! Today was an early morning filled with my first Polish language lesson and a field trip to the Lauder Morasha school, a Jewish Private School here in Warsaw. (Here is the link for the school so you all can read more if you wish: http://www.taubephilanthropies.org/node/69) Quite an eventful and packed last couple of days at work, but truly loving every minute!
This weekend, I'm actually headed back to Kraków for The Jewish Culture Festival and then touring Prague the early part of next week! Looking forward to what lies ahead! It'll be a busy next couple days of great food, Yiddish song and dance and then to Prague to fall in love with yet another city!
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