Nice train trip down to Warsaw with
two changes to get there. Planned to see the countryside but as it gets dark at
4:00pm, there is not much daylight in the day.
Stayed at the Premiere Classe in the heart of Warsaw. The city is now very modern with
lots of public infrastructure construction on train and tram networks in the
city area. The trams were very good to get around with as they have dedicated
roads and run very frequently.
Visited the old city, which ironically,
is really only 60 years old as it was literally flattened by the Germans in WW2. After the war a decision was made by the
Warsaw people to rebuild all the old city buildings in the original format
including the royal castle. All of these buildings have been wonderfully rebuilt
to their former glory and after seeing the pictures before the war then the
pictures after the Polish uprising to what is there today they have done an
amazing job.
We have started to hit Christmas
market territory wit a nice one opening
up that weekend in the old quarter and we popped down a few times (not allowed
to buy anything though).
Stalin was kind enough to give the
people of Warsaw one of his buildings, which looks better than the one in Riga,
but still very Soviet in design. It
actually looks like it belongs in a Batman movie film set.
Michael’s view is that Warsaw and
Poland are like a great football team. Firstly their colours are red and white
and secondly, they have a water symbol as a mascot (mermaid) and despite set
backs they keep coming back.
Visited the ghetto areas and cemeteries.
I am not sure how this would affect the city’s psyche as there are so many
memorials to the Jewish Ghettos, the Uprising and the later Soviet
occupation. You feel the city is looking
back at a scarred past, but whether the children of today suffer from children of
holocaust survivors syndrome
or are just ignoring it will be interesting to see, as there are reported cases
of anti semetic activity in the country. Visited Mila Street and saw number 18
and the monument to the fighters
Interesting seeing a city with a
population 1.7m with such good infrastructure that is able to move such a large
number of people. Cars seem in gridlock compared to the public transport.
Now in Krakow (Kracow) after a 3 hour
train trip on Sunday where we had to stand all the way as everyone was going
home from Warsaw on the weekend. Funny everyone just accepted it and sat
wherever in the corridors and vestibules and a compartment was set aside for
the blind and women with babies.
Staying at the Matejko
Hotel, which is on the edge of the old town,
5 minute walk to the town square. The hotel is named after a famous artist Jan
Matejko. We saw one of his works, Rejtan, in
the Royal Castle exhibition, which showed the stopping of the senators from
voting on the partition of Poland. This is one of the best hotels we have
stayed at for a while.
We visited Auschwitz-Birkenau for one
day. Firstly I was surprised by the sheer size of the complexes that were put
in place and in particular the number of brick buildings that are still
standing, as every movie I have seen depicts wooden buildings. We took a guided
tour, which had about 20 people in our group and there were another dozen tours
going on. I would hate to visit in peak season, as you would not be able to
move. The guide was Polish and very good in explaining the camps starting with the
Auschwitz one that was originally Polish Barracks and its growth from there. He
clearly stressed that the camps started off as concentration camps for Soviet
POW and Polish dissidents and did not become the Jewish extermination
facilities until later. He spoke well and gave accounts of survivors he had met
in the tours and how terrible the place was.
Birkenau (Auschwitz 2) was huge and
was the main place of the extermination with up to 6 gas/furnace chambers going
all day killing up to 10,000 people per day. Even the press gangs that worked
there were murdered every 3 months. As one camp commander told them the only
way you are leaving is through the chimney. All in all, it was a harrowing
experience and it is just so hard to fathom the despair, misery and cruelty of
such a place.
Thought Chris H was in town as there
was 3 carriage tram that had come off the rails, creating complete gridlock in
the area.
Went to the Matejko Museum that was in
the house he was born and died in (different rooms). There was a good collection of props he used
to paint his historic paintings and history of the famous Polish Artist.
Decided to send Michael to the Salt Mines and let me have a
day free to explore Krakow, plus the idea of being 300 m underground did not
appeal to me. The town has retained a lot of the old city including the Castle
and huge square. Michael enjoyed the salt mines and brought back some salt rock
for me. How thoughtful.
On Thursday, our last day, decided to
see Nowa Huta by tram. This
was the communist utopian village and was used as the showcase of true soviet
worker living. Not much to see other than drab buildings and even the statue of
Lenin has been sold off to Sweden. Well Christine, when you come here you will
have to book the crazy communist tours
that will greet you at the airport with a soviet polish welcome, take you in
their Trabant car. By the way the Trabant has been reviewed as mediocre performance, outdated and inefficient two-stroke
engine (which returned poor fuel economy for the car's size and produced
heavy exhaust), and production shortages.
The Trabant is often cited as an example of the disadvantages of centralized
planning. At
the arrival of the hotel they have a hero’s welcome band for you or they can
take you to Nowa Huta apartment, traditional Polish dinner and then an 80’s
disco.
Main Square
Streets were renamed in Nowa Huta and Ronny was seen as their saviour
After the visit went to Castle Wawel, but could
not get in as they had sold all their tickets for the day, so went to the old
Jewish Quarter and visited the Schindler
Factory. It has a good exhibition on how Krakow was affected by the Nazi
Invasion (never German) the creation of the Jewish Ghettos, labour camps for
the Poles and history behind Schindler and the factory. Undecided as to whether he was good or not as
he was a German agent, adulterer and black marketer, on the other hand for some
reason he risked a lot to save the Jewish people and is buried in the Catholic
cemetery in Jerusalem.
Well off to Prague on the overnight
train to explore a new city and country.
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