Krakow

On Tuesday the 14th, our first morning in Krakow, we did the obvious thing and wandered into the old town. The central square was the biggest in mediaeval Eastern Europe, and it's easy to see why - the centre of it is taken up by an arcaded covered market, and there is still enough room on every side to fit in any other town square we've seen. There is also a free-standing tower which is all that remains of the old town hall, and a very wee church. In the next corner from this cute little building is something a little more impressive - St. Mary's cathdral. It is a huge brick gothic church, with two asymmetrical towers, from the top of which, each hour (or day, I forget) some firemen play a tune on a trumpet, cutting off mid-bar in memory of a trumpeter who was shot trying to warn the city of invaders in the middle ages. It's the inside of the cathedral which is the most interesting, however. Like a cathedral would have been, it is completely painted inside, and the effect is astonishing. The vaulted ceiling is painted dark blue and covered with gold stars, and the walls and columns are coloured in bright patterns. It's definitely my favourite so far.

Seeking something a little less devout, we headed to Collegius Maius, the original college of the University, with a museum holding great treasures including some of the instruments Copernicus, who was a student of the university, used when developing his heliocentric theory. He didn't develop them while at this university, but it was amazing to see the actual instruments he used. After being led at breakneck pace through thousands of other items in the museum, we headed to Wawel Castle. It holds a very imposing position on what appears to be the only hill in Krakow. It became very very run down under the Hapsburgs, and was in fact used as the army barracks, but they've done a great job restoring it, and we went through the old State Rooms. I can't tell you much about them, as there was no useful information provided at all, but I can tell you that some of them had a sort of wallpaper made out of leather. So that was pretty gross. After the castle we headed back to the hostel for dinner, sticking our noses into a couple of other churches on the way.

The next morning we got up nice and early, were picked up in a van/minibus, and driven to Auschwitz by a very angry Polish man. The weather was scorching hot, which probably made the impact of the camp stronger, as we were able to picture prisoners standing or working in the heat, and how weakening that would have been. On the other hand the bright sunlight seemed almost incongruous with the dark history of the place, but I think despite the huge crowds, everyone was very sombre. We were led through some of the buildings in which prisoners lived, and shown punishment cells and execution places, as well as the poor conditions in the living quarters. There were extremely disturbing displays of personal items, the pile of shoes of children sent straight to the gas chambers being probably the hardest to see, as well as actual hair taken from the bodies of victims before cremation. We also went to Birkenau, which had the remains of hundreds of horrible wooden barns, where prisoners were made to sleep packed together in horrible conditions, and the platform and tracks were people were unloaded and sorted into people who were made to work, and people who were sent straight to the gas chambers to be murdered.

So not the most cheerful start to the day. But it's something which I think we had to do, while here. The holocaust may not have much to do with me personally, but it is a huge event in our cultural history, and therefore a part of my history. So I'm glad we went.
Afterwards we were a bit exhausted and dehydrated, so we went back to the hostel for a bit of a nap, before heading out again. We had dinner at a cafe on the small town square (right near the big one), including some traditional polish dumplings, which were delicious. After dinner we went to a nearby bar for a drink. At about a quarter past nine, an absolutely beautiful thunderstorm swept overhead, which was wonderful for us visually, but not so great for the organisers of the animation festival taking place in the square. However, the rain was light, and the festival started on time at 21:30, with us in the audience. We watched a few of the films, which weren't too bad, and then home to bed.

Thursday morning promised another hot day, which was duly delivered. We made use of the internet in the hostel to Skype parents, then went back into the old town to go to a gallery the name of which I can't remember. It contains a very famous painting but Leonardo da Vinci which I'd never heard of, called "Lady with Ermine", which Margot was hanging out for. I have to admit I myself was more impressed with the armoury, a gallery of weapons containing a lot of very impressive swords.
Escaping back into the heat, we decided cleverly to do a touristic walk of the old Jewish quarter, including the old synagogue which has some surviving bits of city walls attached to it. There is a lovely square near it with Jewish restaurants and so on, and an old Jewish cemetery, which was shut. The main square in this part of town (Kazimierz, originally a different city) has some very cool little bars around it, so we sat in one and had some vodkas. After a while we moved on to the bar we'd gone to the night before, then went home to make ourselves a late dinner. After dinner we went out for a walk around the nightlife, and watched some more animation in the small square. All in all not a bad day.