Krakow and Prague

Part two and three were sight seeing in two magnificent cities; Krakow and Prague. It was just the inbounds again and we all piled onto a bus (which brought back memories of the Italy and Greece trip). This time however we were pleasantly surprised by the accomodations rotary provided us with. In both places we stayed in hostels which were right on the square in the middle of the city! So cool! So in Krakow there were ten girls in one room and 16 in the other all in bunks and then there was one bathroom shared among all the guests. But it was so much fun being all in a room together and being right in teh centre. We had a lot of free time to just go and explore the city since we were staying right there. And explore we did. Krakow was so incredibly beautiful, definitely one of my favorite cities so far. The square itself is the biggest one in Central/Eastern Europe and has so many superb buildings. And Krakow is so cheap! Even compared to Slovakia and that is saying something. But they are still on the zlaty (not the euro) so that makes a big difference. There was a beautiful market in the square with authentic little arts and crafts and a whole bunch of amber and wooden carved boxes (typical for Krakow). And I bought some. :)

We toured around Krakow in the morning with a great english speaking guide so I was able to understand everything which was really nice. We saw the Jewish Quarters, the centre, and ate at an authentic restaurant where we had pickle soup (which was delicious!) and dumplings with pork, very similar to Slovak cuisine.

After two days in Krakow and before heading to Prague we had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the visit. I knew it would be sad and there were a couple of girls who had been there before who said it was very moving and it even made them cry but I didn't think it would be as powerful as it was. It was, I would say, the single saddest, most moving thing I have ever seen. Just being at the camp was enough let alone getting to walk through it, see the barbed wire, the barrocks, the gas chamber. Let me tell you I cried and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It was unreal but it really made what happened a reality, there will be no more simply 'brushing off' the holocaust for me. We got a guide and he took us on a tour through a big portion of the camp. I saw the gate with the infamous inscription 'work means freedom' in german, the barbed wire fences surrounding the area, and I actually went inside the barrocks the people were kept in. I walked through the gas chamber just as all those innocent people did. I saw with my own eyes the cells they punished them in, the methods of torture they used. And let me tell you all of that was enough to make you sick but what was the most meaningful was belongings they kept. Because during those times the soldiers were ordered to keep everything of the prisoners, all their belongings were sorted and stored and are still around to this day. I saw an entire room filled with the prisoner's shoes, another with their hair, another with suitcases, another with combs, one with glasses. It was incredible to see the mass amounts of things there and I can only begin to fathom how many people actually went through there. After seeing that I was crying and on the verge of having a melt down because it was so overwhelming then they took us down a long white hall and on the walls were hundreds of pictures of the innocent people who were forced to work there with there birthdate, death date, and time spent in the camp. Not a single person lasted longer than six months and some of them were only 15 years old. I looked in those people's eyes, I saw their saddness, and all I could think to do was say sorry. Sorry Sorry Sorry.
As intense as that visit was I think it is incredibly important that part of that has been preserved. People from all over the world need to see and hear about what happened there so that those horrors never ever re-occur.

And there was Prague. Prague is everything everyone says it is. It is a must see city. Again we were staying in the centre in a hostel and again it was SO much FUN. We did a lot of sightseeing and had lunch on a boat as it took down the river. It was sad because it rained all day everyday we were there but it didn't take away from the beauty of the city itself. We visited the city hall, the cathedral, and two castles. One of the castles was outside the city and was so incredible! First off the grounds were beautifully kept, the garden was so elaborate and the attention to detail was incredible. We had some free time for lunch there and to wander and discover and it was wonderful. There were peacocks roaming free in the garden! And they were so beautiful! And instead of having water in the moat, get this, there were bears! And when we went in to get a tour of the castle I discovered whose castle it was; Franz Ferdinand the guy who was assasinated and consequently caused the world war! I thought that it was pretty cool that I got to tour his house. He was crazy obsessed with hunting though and inherited this humongous collection of armour and weapons so his house literally covered, floor to ceiling, wiht dead, stuffed animals, guns, and armour. It was crazy. He killed over 300 000 animals in his life and went hunting every single day of his adulthood. There was so much I would say he had a slight obsession.....

Once Prague was through we were off to our district conference in Trebic.....so read on!