day thirteen . 13 may

krakow, poland

at 8am in the morning, we assembled in the city center for our day trip out to auschwitz concentration camp. one of the biggest and most well-knowned concentration camps around, due to the large number of victims (mostly jewish) who were exterminated there, it is around 1 ½ hrs drive away from central krakow.

auschwitz

having been to dachau, i thought auschwitz will be more or less the same. well, i was wrong.

our guide, a local polish i suspect, was very strong and succinct in his explanations. probably because of his personal experience (his uncle was a victim of the nazi occupation) his dislike for the germans, the sarcastic remarks and dark humor gave the tour a totally different dimension.

unlike dachau, auschwitz still retained a lot of the original structures as well as evidence of crimes. seeing these in real-life as opposed to merely hearing about them does indeed make the message more powerful.

barbed wires and electrical fences

one of the most shocking and powerful exhibits had to be the glass display case (spanning the entire length of the room) of victims hair. an estimated 20,000 victims’ hair are placed in the case, as evidence of how due to lack of space, the nazis had to burn all the bodies of the prisoners and recycle every single part of the victim which could possibly be recycled. hair was one of the very few items that was left untouched.

where the bodies were burnt

similar display cases also showcased the prisoners’ luggages (which they brought with them to the camp) which had their names written on them, their personal belongings like mugs, scissors, etc. the names seem to give face to these victims, whose identity, due to the large numbers, have been reduced to mere numbers.

luggages of victims

victims

auschwitz was an emotional experience but a must-go for every visitor to krakow.

that afternoon, we took up another tour, this time round, to the welka salt mine. its amazing how the whole place is so well maintained and our 2 hours tour only covered 1% of the entire salt mine. the place is huge.

statue made entirely out of salt!

after dinner, we took an overnight train to prague. this time round, we got a 3 man cabin, and it was so nice we couldn’t believe our luck!

macdonalds, with its value 2eur deals, has became our best fren on this eurotrip

krakow was definitely not on my initial top 5 list of “places I want to visit” on this trip. but now, it ranks as one of my favourites so far. maybe it is its deep history and the strength of its people. im not sure. but i know that it showed me a side of europe i hadn’t seen. the closest we have gotten so far is probably bratislava, but i definitely find krakow having more character and oomph than slovakia’s capital.

its an unexplainable affinity i have with this place.

day twelve . 12 may

krakow, poland

what a way to start the day! we were literally thrown out of the train!

its crazy how despite waking up early, i went back to sleep and in the end, we almost missed our stop. good thing the conductor came knocking on our cabin and started shouting in polish for us to get out of the train (lucky for us, we didn’t understand what he REALLY said) the very minute the last of our belongings was out of the train, it moved off. ok. I guess we screwed up their timetable and caused delays for the rest of the day.


we are in poland!


looking disheveled from the train episode

still, as if to compensate for that, we got a damn good deal for our hostel. free breakfast and wi-fi has become our gauge for the desirability of our accommodation. so when a place promises both, we are in heaven.

our 1st stop of the day is wawel castle. but before i move on further, i must say that everything about Krakow seems to be a direct opposite of how i imagined it to be. its not as cold (i imagined the place to be freezing cold) and its not as backward. in fact, when i got off the train (ok, when i got THROWN OFF the train), i saw galleria, zara, saturn and carrefour. so no. i was not in a very backward place.


on our way to wawel castle

back to the castle. it was like, a castle. wat made it memorable was tat we saw the polish president! he was apparently visiting the church so we just hung around abit to catch a glimpse of him.


eagerly awaiting the arrival of the president

that's him!

other den that, the castle is just like any other castle. but this is probably the least inspiring places in krakow. because everything from henceforth is very very nice (:

preztel. not a fan.

stopping for some polish pasteries

we visited the jewish quarters which is one of the biggest around since poland has one of the largest population of jews outside of israel. entering the synagogue, I didn’t know what to expect, since this is the 1st time i went into one – men had to cover their heads so yinghao had to wear a cap.

the cemetery was interesting though. as the bodies couldn’t be cremated, the cemetries usually get to cramped that the tombs are all very near to one another. i also noticed how there seemed to be small rocks placed on top of the tombstones. a check with the lady manning the place enlightened us. apparently, the rocks, just like flowers, are offerings to the deceased. rocks are used instead of flowers as they do not wither, hence symbolizing eternity.

entering the jewish quarters

check out the small stones on the tombs

it was however, the jewish museum across the street that captivated me. it showcased the lives of the jewish living in poland during the time of war, and the everyday men and women who became heroes in their own ways.

the photo exhibition was very powerful, and what’s interesting was that it depicted not the sufferings of victims or of the war, but instead, what is left of the jewish community now, some 50 over years after the war. im really glad to have spent the afternoon there.

jewish musuem

photo exhibition

strolling along the streets of the jewish neighbourhood, i chanced upon a dark corridor which seems to lead to some houses. actually, it caught my notice as i saw a man walking in there, and my curiosity told me that i had to go in.

the corridor was very dark and dirty, and there was a distinct smell. it wasn’t a stench tho. at the other side of the corridor, was a opening which turns out to be a courtyard to people’s houses. i cant quite describe the feeling of this sight, but i know it was a powerful one. i would never have expected to see houses like this is europe, but den again, i always knew that eastern europe is generally less well-off than their western counterparts. it was very surreal seeing what i was seeing but i know this is as real as anything will get.

the paint on the walls have all fallen off and the rubbish chute was overflowing. the clothesline in the courtyard was filled with clothes and the staircase leading up to the houses was filled with trash.

courtyard

and then the very same man who i was following opened his window from his room and peered down. i felt a sudden sense of guilt overwhelm me. it feels as tho i have just been caught doing something which i wasnt supposed to, and i sincerely hoped wat he saw in my eyes were not pity. i felt like a kid who was caught stealing from the candy jar and i would have given anything to not have been caught in the situation. i left immediately but my mind just kept going back to that place.

interesting road signs

hole in the wall

anyways, we walked abit more and we reached the stare mistro (old town) in no time. the old town square is beautiful. maybe i am destined to love this place. i really like the old town square, although to the rest, it seems like any other square we have been to. st mary’s cathedral was cool and as if it was planned, it began to chime when we were there.

old town

st mary's cathedral

we explored further and caught a glimpse of the university, one of the oldest in europe. we den walked over to the new town, which was pretty near to the old one.

streets of the new town

for dinner, we had polish food at a strange restaurant filled with dolls, highly recommended by the tourist information guy. we tried the dumpling, pork cutlet and polish beer, which were all nice and yummy (:

spooky restuarant filled with dolls

day eleven . 11 may

travel

we spent a good amount of the day travelling. having left kobenhavn in the late morning, we arrived in lubeck in the afternoon and by reached szeczin in the evening. took an overnight train to krakow.

shopping at the cruise duty free shop, when our train got onto the ferry

back in deutschland!

day ten . 10 may

kobenhavn, denmark

our 1st stop of the day was to see the little mermaid statue, made famous by hans christian andersen, a danish himself. little mermaid has always been a personal favourite of mine, although i prefer the disney version better. i find the original one is a tad bit too melancholic.

little mermaid statue

as we strolled along the waterfront, we got to see the changing of guards at the amalienborg palace, nyhavn, a street by the river lined with resturants, cafes and bars – the place yinghao tried to explain was similar to clarke quay, kongens nytorv, where we got to try the yummy tulip hotdogs and of course, the famous stroget (pronounced stroll-yet) the world’s longest pedestrian thoroughfare.

outside the amalienborg palace

bars and restuarant lined nyhavn

tulip hotdog has a stall!


stroget - the world's longest pedestrian street

taking the metro, we reached christianhavn, an extremely interesting place where photo taking beyond a certain stretch (pusher street) is strictly forbidden. for it is here, where drugs are pedaled.

story has it that in 1971, a group of hippies created a “free city” of their own, which has since, became to be known as Christiania. christiania is a apparently not within the jurisdiction of the danish government and efforts by the government to re-claim this place only led to much protest from the 1000 odd residents living here. they have their own flag (3 dots symbolizing the dots of the 3 “i”s in its name – “christinia”) and there’s even this sign behind the entrance that says “you are now entering EU”. started by the flower children, the place is now filled with punks and druggies. very interesting place.

christinia flag

the 3 "i"s

border of christinia and the rest of copenhagen

at everyone’s recommendation, we tried the tarts at lagkagehuset.

bakery

yummy tarts - a "must go" for anyone with a sweet tooth (:

anal tours

on our way to yock song's house

that night, yock song made ginger chicken in sesame oil. it’s no wonder that fellow korean girls on exchange in denmark have labeled him the perfect husband material. since it was our last night in kobenhavn, we headed over to a pub over at stroget for some live music and drinks at an irish bar. despite the terrible vocals of the lead singer, it was still a great night out, marking an end to our short 2 day visit to copenhagen.

master chef at work

singaporeans!

night lights of copenhagen

kobenhavn is one of those pleasant places which is impossible to dislike. it was made better by the fact that i got to meet up with wanshan, and i really enjoyed the late night chats we had. still, its not a place i would think of going back, at least not so soon. maybe just like how yinghao likes it for its cleanliness and efficiency (very much like singapore), im not as excited about the place precisely because it resembles singapore far too much.

i like it but im not in love.