We decided last night that we woul spend the mornign exploring Krakow by Daylight.... because there is a tour of Auschwitz which leaves the Hostel at 13:00... We hummed and hawed all last night as to whetehr we wanted to go to Auschwitz or not... eventually we decided to go... based on the fact that it was a huge part of History, and if either of us returned to Krakow, we may not be with people that wanted/were willing to go.....
First up though is Krakow by day.... what's immediattly clear is that despite the lack of road and huge roadworks which surround the station, this is a really touristy city.... There a re seas and seas of people.... We got some photos of the main square by daylight - hopefully I can uload these shortly.... then we headed down to Wawel Castle.
Krakow used to be the Capital of Poland, so the King would be in residence here. He had a huge impressive castle which sits on a hill just south of the city and beside Kazimierz which is the Jewish District where Spielberg shot Schindlers list.
We walk up and around the castle and get a view across the Industrial south of Krakow.. which is full of High rises and the standard skylines you expect in ex-communist countries. Once we get round the the inner courtyard of the castle, it's immediattly impressive. Really huge with very ornately decorated buildings. There is a cathedral and a museuam and a view of the royal appartments. There are three queues for each of these which looks to be at least an hour long.... We opt instead to take a few photos, buy some postcards and then head back through the centre back to the Hostel for the bus....
Once back at the hostel, we start talking to the other people who are heading to Auschwitz. The tour is 100 zlotys, we could almost definately do it cheaper by public transport, but for ease of getting there the bus is good. It's also a good way to meet other travellers in the hostel and get a bit of a chinwag about where people have been, where to go next, the tricks people use to rip you off etc....
As soon as we're out of Krakow, we are on Country B-Roads.... The scenery remains un remarkable.... too flat for my liking. The conversations and laughing and joking(Bizarrely on a Bus to Auschwitz) makes the journey fly by pretty quickly.
We arrive at Auschwitz and join our tour... They don't seem to a have a toilet at the main gate, so we hop along with the tour.
Since I decided to come here, I;ve been numbing myself to what I'm going to see. The edge is take off it by the lines of tour buses that sit outside of the place and the people with Cameras and Video Cameras.... It says no photos, but the guide was even telling us to take photos... I took the odd one, of Brabed wires fences and such just to say I've been there... It's chilling when you go off on your own and you can imagine lines and lines of tired, abused broken people walking along on the same ground you are.
The tour basically involves standing in a queue of people and shuffling round little corridors as the guide tells you all the facts that you already know.... There's some really moving stuff like huge piles of dicarded shoes and stuff... You some how fel closer to the people in the camp by seeing there belonging all stacked together with little identity or individuallity... We were at the Holcoast Memorial in Berlin... Its' hundreds of Pillars of concrete of varying sizes sitting at varying degrees. We surmised that it was about individuality and human characteristics that from affar can't be seen. The shoes are kind of the same.
After about 2 hours, we grow weerie of the tour... well not so much the tour, but the shuffling. It's hot... we need a pee and my head is getting sore... all in all I feel very uncomfortable... This could be because of what I'm witnessing.... some kind of bizarre sub concious reaction...
After Auschwitz I it's Auschwitz II Birkenau. Auschwitz I was an ex army barracks. Auschwitz II is a flat land with huts and chimney's as far as the eye can see... The train goes straight through the main gate, where the prisoners were divided into fit and unfit and sent into a gas chamber or to a work barracks... There's huts for over 100,000 people... the sheer scale of this death factory is phenominal.....
We head back on the bus and everyone agrees that they didn't really know how to react. I didn't feel I gained much from my trip, but I'm glad I went. I suppose I expected to learn something new about this period of history... but it's so commonly documented that you almost feel like you've been there before, so the horro doesn't really hit you... that and the american standing behind you saying "Gee this is great - get a shot of that Hank...."
We get back to Krakow quite late, and the only things left to do are get a cold beer and some more din dins and then decide where we're going tomorrow.... after studying train timetables online for a few hours, we come to the conclusion that it's Budapest......
Good Night....
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