Poland

Warsaw

Arriving from Vilnius, I planned to spend the day exploring Warsaw before taking a bus to Krakow later on. The rain was pelting down the entire day but thank god for my preperation this trip, i didnt suffer too much. I walked an hour from the bus station to the centre of the city- because Im crazy and love to wlak when possible. I headed for the Museum of Jews in Poland where I was able to leave my bag, grab an audio guide and spend a few hours. I was due to catch a bus in the afternoon. I enjoyed my time in Warsaw so much that I even extended my bus two hours to have more time to explore. I spent at least two hours in the museum which was amazing and gave me such an insight into the history in Poland and the holocaust. After this I walked aroudn the city and had a delcious bowl of hot ramen and a glass of wine in the old town. The old town was very pretty apart from the rain. I had always heard people saying to avoid Warsaw and go to Krakow/Gdansk instead but I could have spent a second day there. Needless to say, I had a bus to catch and I was reuniting with my travel buddy Anthony again in Krakow. (Pronounced Krakov) 

Krakow & Auschwitz- Burkenau

When I got to Krakow it was pretty late so I wandered through the small cities parks and old town to find my hostel 'Hostel Benedykta'. It had been sold out so Anthony stayed at a different hostel for the first night. The next day I had my free breakfast, met Anthony and we headed out to explore the old town. We did the free wlaking tour but soon ran away out of boredom, but that didnt stop us from joinign the free Ghost Stories tour in the evening which proved to be so much better. The old town of Karakow was beautiful and was a lot bigger than that of Warsaw. We got our tickets to go to Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp the next day which both of us were eager to see. I recommend not buying from hostels, but instead buy from the kiosks by the square as its a lot cheaper. It wa sthat evening that i discovered an actual Pierogieria Restaurant serving all types of sweet and savoury 'pierogies' or Polish dumplings (first discovered in Manitoba, Canada in 2010, but originating from Poland/Ukraine). I think we went here two or three times during our stay in Krakow as it was such a charming restaurant with locals and tourists, it was cheap and the food was always so tasty.

The next day we took the tour to Auschwitz- Birkenau where we were guided around the concentration camp by a very good guide. She talked about the living conditions in the camps, brought us to different buildings and explained what each one was in detail and with such emotion that there was nothing but silence within our large group. We were in shock. Its one thing hearing about this camp during your lifetime through school, people talking, media etc but to come here and be surrounded by this unexplainable feeling was truly surreal and added so much to my journey through history. I had learned so much so far about war, communism, genocide, racism and now the holocaust. It was truly astounding.

The next day I was planning to leave to Prague, Czech Republic and onwards making my way to Budapest, Hungary eventually so it was time to say goodbye to Anthony and this great city of Krakow which taught me so much. I cant wait to go back again some day.