With Bad News Comes Good News

I cannot, however, say that my weekend was full of sadness and this is due to the beautiful city of Krakow (pronounced Krakof), Poland. This was my first trip to Poland, leaving it for the warmer months and I am very pleased I made the trip!

I'd first like to introduce you to my new enemy. Like every heroine's story there is always an enemy or a "bad guy" as we learn in our adolescents. Someone powerful and cruel who leaves the main character (whom we all know and love) feeling intimidated and vulnerable. Oftentimes the heroine is beat to the ground, stepped on, kicked and wants to run away screaming and crying. In my story I believe I have just met my greatest villain. NIGHT TRAINS. 

Me (the heroine) and the Night Train from Prague to Krakow...Dun Dun Dun

Now, don't go thinking this train looks harmless. It will leave your muscles aching with every twist and turn as you try with all your being to be comfortable. He'll leave your bones chilling from the cold outside air that seeps in every cranny of this night time beast. And worst of all, he will lock you in a cell inside its belly with strangers and deprive you of sleep for hours and hours!! Despite my efforts, this heroine was defeated.

Pictures of the battle:

At first I had the upper hand...

I was cocky in my abilities, thinking I could sleep...

It happened suddenly..the Night Train threw some devastating blows

Moving positions I thought I could get back on my feet and enjoy a few hours of sleep

In the end, I was the loser-no sleep for me on this dragon of a train

We arrived in Krakow Saturday morning and began our day as the walking dead. We took a free walking tour of the city and went to the incredible salt mines which include an underground cathedral! We sprang for some gelato and walked around the Old Town. It was a very beautiful city with lots of history. 


I'm so glad I made the short trip- bruises and all :] 

Krakow Old Town Square

Market

Entrance to Old Town

Bugle Call

Poland sure loves the Pope John Paul II

Famous Krakow Dragon

Main Market at night

Concentration Camps

I have never been good at talking about things that make me sad. If I am angry I'll give you a fist full of the latest pet peeve or the college drama that sometimes plagues a sorority girl. When I am excited I can talk about it for days-repeating my findings to everyone I meet, including strangers who are usually surprised at my extent of self-disclosure. But when I am sad I like to wrap myself in blankets or the nearest cuddly object and wallow in silence and reflections- sometimes even letting myself have a good cry. My visits to the towns of Lidice, Litoměřice and Terezín in the Czech Republic as well as a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland left me in a solemn affection as I think it would to any moral person. As I've suggested I can't bring myself to go too much into detail, I believe we all know what happened. The greatest response I have to the history of these places is the realization of the cruelty of mankind. In travelling I see so many beautiful things, I am breathless knowing that someone imagined this, someone made this. The potential of the human mind and the magic of seeing something impossible is truly wondrous. But as much as we hate to see it the other side is true as well. There are many terrible terrible things that have happened and are still happening and I am breathless too at these acts of incredible cruelty that seem to hang as if a daunting black cloud above all things beautiful.

Auschwitz Extermination Camp

Empty Gas Cans

Thousands of eyeglasses collected after extermination

Millions of shoes

Wall of Death

After the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich the SS suspected Czech citizens for having a role in the murder. In punishment the SS picked a Czech village in order to make an example of the consequences of disobeying. They picked the village of Lidice. On 10 June 1942, all 173 men over 16 years of age from the village were murdered. Another 11 men who were not in the village were arrested and murdered soon afterwards along with several others already under arrest. Several hundred women and over 100 children were deported to concentration camps; a few children considered racially suitable for Germanisation were handed over to SS families and the rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed to death. After the war ended, only 153 women and 17 children returned. The village was bombed over and over until nothing was left. The SS went so far as to pull out even the trees in the village-they wanted nothing standing.

Where the village used to be

Memorial to the murdered children