Krakow!

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been quite busy here in Krakow. The night train from Berlin was quite nice and I met a Polish girl who was so sweet and helped me find my hostel. I slept in a couchette with 5 other people, stacked up like sardines. Of course I was on the top, and VERY squished. Slept well, and arrived to a rainy Poland. Krakow is the most aesthetically pleasing city I have been to so far, and the Old Town is pretty small and easy to walk throughout. The main market square is adorable, and it's big and filled with pigeons. The hostel is down Szieska Street, and down a little side street from the market square (ie. AMAZING location). The hostel itself is the BEST! I wasn't too sure about staying at Flamingo hostel, as Berlin wore me out and toxed my body with all the drinking. Flamingo seemed like a party hostel and I was a little weary. When I got here however, I was pleasantly suprised and excited. The hostel is so clean and cute and new, people are SO kind and spoke some English (unlike the rest of Poland) and free breakfast never hurts! I am in an 8 bed room, comfy and very clean. They also did my laundry for free! How great is that!? The currency (Złoty) takes some getting used to, but everything was really cheap to buy. First day here, I wandered down to the old Jewish district (Kazimierz)with some new friends and went to the Jewish Museum there. Made me cry! Jewish district is intense to walk through, when you think about the fact that 60,000 jews once lived in that area, and 95% of that population were exterminated. I had a well needed shower and went to bed pretty early. Next day I got up and hopped on the bus to Auschwitz. I went by myself, and I didn't opt to go on a tour, because I wanted to experience it not herded around too quickly. It is about 2 hours away from Krakow, and I wrote in my journal the whole ride over. Because it was raining, I was the ONLY person on the bus...I had bought an umbrella, but left it on the bus. No turning back! Auschwitz I is the first camp, predating Auschwitz II (Birkenau). Auschwitz I has the ironic "Arbeit Macht Frei" (work makes you free) sign and it was a prison. Mostly Poles were killed here, but also jews, gypsies, etc. The execution wall was the hardest for me, as I found out at one point 144 girls were lined up and shot here, only one example of the people that met their end there. The
prisoners were first made to undress and await their deaths. The crematorium and gas chambers were also particularly hard because I knew that over 70,000 men, women, and children were killed in that room. It was just so difficult to actually stand in these areas and not break down completely. I took the shuttle bus to Birkenau. This is also called Auschwitz II, and it is the HUGE camp that everyone thinks of when they think of the Holocaust. The SS tried to bomb most of it when they were fleeing, but alot of it still stands. The death gate is where the trains would bring in cartloads of people to await death. Selection took place, and the reason there is great debate about the actual number of Jews killed is because many were not even
catalogued and tattooed with a number, they were sent STRAIGHT to the gas chambers. Most of the wooden barracks were destroyed, only the brick chimneys remain. I saw the barracks where up to 1,000 people had to stay, stacked on top of each other in appalling conditions. The gas chambers are mostly destroyed but they were able to kill up to 1,000 people at a freaking time. It was horrifying, to say the least. Worst of all is that many were told that they got to take a shower. There was an undressing room, and after being lead into a room with fake showerheads on the roof, SS soldiers dropped Cyclon B into the rooms through holes in the top. Awful. So anyways, after that I realized I had MISSED the last bus back to Krakow. Begin Super-Meltdown Number 2! Omigod. Okay so all the tour buses were gone, not a soul in sight, and I'm standing alone under Death Gate...it's raining and getting dark. I FREAKED right out. Luckily (God must like me) there was a lady there who ran the bookshop and offered to drive me to Oshwiencim to the train station there. After that I found that there was one single train leaving to Krakow. I was SO upset and emotionally raw, and broke down in this dirty, desolate and downright scary train station, completely alone where nobody speaks any english. I tried to buy a ticket, but the lady at the ticket station gave me the MEANEST look and slammed down her ticket booth when I spoke in English. I was soaking wet, scared and unable to buy a ticket for the train I needed to get home! I also only had 12 Zloty on me, and wasn't sure how much the train even was. Guardian Angel #2 appeared in the form of a Motherly old polish woman who was going the same way. She helped me out. She saw how cold and upset I was, but she spoke not ONE word of English. But language barriers were no problem, and she took my arm and gently walked me down the platform, pointing out things and getting me to repeat them in Polish. Train, Station, Sky, Bridge, Lamp, Floor, it was really calming for me after such an intense day. I spent almost 3 hours in that train station before the train came, and finally I said Dziekuję Dziekuję many times as I said goodbye to Elena, the women at the train platform. Needless to say, I slept in the next day and had a luxurious shower, cups of tea, and spent most of the day in bed, relaxing. I also had a massage by a Polish boy named Bartek, who was giving 2 hour massages for only 20 Zloty while studying Pysiotherapy. Pure bliss. I really needed it! That was last night. We went out to watch a soccer game championship at the Irish Embassy, Manchester United against Chelsea. It was so rowdy, I expected full on fights to happen! Today we went to Oskar Schindler's factory, the hero who saved somewhere around 1000 jews! It was amazing to be there. Today is also a national catholic holiday. Poland is over 75% catholic, and VERY catholic at that. I woke up to a choir singing. I guess they hold mass ALL DAY in the main square. I have never seen so many nuns in my whole life. It was awesome! The square was packed and it was a huge church service with lots of singing, everybody kneeling in their best clothes to pray, processions and sermons. Pretty crazy.I had pierogies and cabbage rolls, and today the hostel had free polish dinner! It was Polish soup with polish sausage mmmmmmmmm so yummy. In 2 hours I have to go catch my night train to Prague. I am in another 6 person couchette. This is the train where I pretty much have to keep one eye open all night, the so-called "death train". Eeeeeeeeek. I am sad to go, and I also couldn't umm....find a place to stay over the weekend in Prague. I have tomorrow night booked in the Czech Inn, but nowhere else. I will have to beg to stay at the Czech Inn. Anyways, that was long winded and I REALLY wish I could upload all the pictures and video, but no USB ports here :( :( :(

I love you all (Happy Birthday Nate and Lucas!) and I hope everyone is doing good! I will try to update more frequently, but these last couple days were obviously pretty intense.