Poland
So this weekend I went to Poland!! It was a phenomenal experience and I am so lucky I had the opportunity to go!
So Friday I met my friend Abby and we took the train to the airport, we were so excited. We flew to Berlin first, and the airport there is super weird. It's like a giant warehouse. So strange. Anyway we then were flying to Krakow, Poland where we would be staying. Well the plane that was taking us there had propellers. We were a little nervous when we saw it. I've been on planes the same size that didn't have propellers too, so it was a little strange for me. Anyway we managed to get there safely! We arrived kind of late so we had to take a taxi to the hostel. The hostel was nice, but at first we were nervous because the building was pretty old so when we first walked in we were a little worried, but the floor where the hostel was on was redone and nice!
The next morning we woke up really early because our tour guide was picking us up at 8 to take us to Auschwitz. There were 4 other people with us, a nice couple from London and two Greek girls who are studying in Poland. Auschwitz is about an hour outside of Krakow, and during the drive the tour had a DVD that they played to give us some more background on The Holocaust. We arrived at Auschwitz I which isn't the big site everyone thinks of when they think of Auschwitz. There were actually 3 parts to Auschwitz- Auschwitz I, Birkenau, and Monowitz. Auschwitz I is just 30 brick buildings, and was more of where the SS soldiers were, there weren't tons of prisoners here in wooden barracks. The museum is in these buildings, and they've set up tons of displays to view. In some rooms they have thousands of items that the SS stole from the prisoners and were going to take back to Germany. There were millions of shoes, suitcases, eyeglasses, anything that could be of value, was taken from the prisoners. They also showed us the building where trials would take place, even though most prisoners were executed. There were jail cells that were 1 square meter and they would put 6 people in there to sleep at night. We also walked through an old gas chamber and crematorium. They told us how about 6 cans of gas could kill thousands of people. They made the prisoners believe they were getting showers, but they never came back. It's incredible how sick human beings could be. After we finished the tour of Auschwitz, we went to Birkenau which is about 5 miles away. This camp is huge. When you see pictures this is the place they are from. At one point it was over 7 square kilometers, with plans to double it in size. There are still 20 original wooden barracks, but the others were destroyed by the SS before the liberation. 90,000 people could be held here at any given time. They showed us a brick barrack that has been updated, but was still the same as the original. They were just wooden planks as beds and 6 people would sleep on one level. It was awful. We also saw the ruins of the gas chamber and crematorium that the SS also destroyed before liberation and they were huge. It's crazy to think about all the horrible things that went on there. It makes me really thankful for the life i have. I think it's a trip everyone should make, it's completely eye opening.
On a lighter note, after the tour we explored around the city of Krakow. It's absolutely beautiful! It's definitely very old and had lots to see. There were so many old humongous churches everywhere, there's also I giant castle. The city square was bustling with people and horse drawn carriages. We found a bazaar that We spent about an hour in. Everyone is so cool and so cheap. They are known for sterling silver and Amber. They had so many things that were Amber it was incredible! We continued to walk around and finally got dinner. We had polish sausage, potatoes, cabbage and dumplings. It was so stinkin good. I'm salivating from reliving it. I can't describe it any other way than amazing! We went to a few bars too to check out the locals, but that was about all we did. We were exhausted and we left Sunday early so we wanted to rest.
And that's about all from my trip to Poland!
Love y'all
Ellen
So Friday I met my friend Abby and we took the train to the airport, we were so excited. We flew to Berlin first, and the airport there is super weird. It's like a giant warehouse. So strange. Anyway we then were flying to Krakow, Poland where we would be staying. Well the plane that was taking us there had propellers. We were a little nervous when we saw it. I've been on planes the same size that didn't have propellers too, so it was a little strange for me. Anyway we managed to get there safely! We arrived kind of late so we had to take a taxi to the hostel. The hostel was nice, but at first we were nervous because the building was pretty old so when we first walked in we were a little worried, but the floor where the hostel was on was redone and nice!
The next morning we woke up really early because our tour guide was picking us up at 8 to take us to Auschwitz. There were 4 other people with us, a nice couple from London and two Greek girls who are studying in Poland. Auschwitz is about an hour outside of Krakow, and during the drive the tour had a DVD that they played to give us some more background on The Holocaust. We arrived at Auschwitz I which isn't the big site everyone thinks of when they think of Auschwitz. There were actually 3 parts to Auschwitz- Auschwitz I, Birkenau, and Monowitz. Auschwitz I is just 30 brick buildings, and was more of where the SS soldiers were, there weren't tons of prisoners here in wooden barracks. The museum is in these buildings, and they've set up tons of displays to view. In some rooms they have thousands of items that the SS stole from the prisoners and were going to take back to Germany. There were millions of shoes, suitcases, eyeglasses, anything that could be of value, was taken from the prisoners. They also showed us the building where trials would take place, even though most prisoners were executed. There were jail cells that were 1 square meter and they would put 6 people in there to sleep at night. We also walked through an old gas chamber and crematorium. They told us how about 6 cans of gas could kill thousands of people. They made the prisoners believe they were getting showers, but they never came back. It's incredible how sick human beings could be. After we finished the tour of Auschwitz, we went to Birkenau which is about 5 miles away. This camp is huge. When you see pictures this is the place they are from. At one point it was over 7 square kilometers, with plans to double it in size. There are still 20 original wooden barracks, but the others were destroyed by the SS before the liberation. 90,000 people could be held here at any given time. They showed us a brick barrack that has been updated, but was still the same as the original. They were just wooden planks as beds and 6 people would sleep on one level. It was awful. We also saw the ruins of the gas chamber and crematorium that the SS also destroyed before liberation and they were huge. It's crazy to think about all the horrible things that went on there. It makes me really thankful for the life i have. I think it's a trip everyone should make, it's completely eye opening.
On a lighter note, after the tour we explored around the city of Krakow. It's absolutely beautiful! It's definitely very old and had lots to see. There were so many old humongous churches everywhere, there's also I giant castle. The city square was bustling with people and horse drawn carriages. We found a bazaar that We spent about an hour in. Everyone is so cool and so cheap. They are known for sterling silver and Amber. They had so many things that were Amber it was incredible! We continued to walk around and finally got dinner. We had polish sausage, potatoes, cabbage and dumplings. It was so stinkin good. I'm salivating from reliving it. I can't describe it any other way than amazing! We went to a few bars too to check out the locals, but that was about all we did. We were exhausted and we left Sunday early so we wanted to rest.
And that's about all from my trip to Poland!
Love y'all
Ellen
Comments
Post a Comment