Exploring my Polish Heritage

After saying goodbye to John and Jaqueline I had another week until I was to meet up with my friend Hannah in the Republic of Georgia.  Since I had seen most of what I wanted to see in Turkey I decided I needed to go someplace new.  It was a tough decision but in the end I decided on Krakow, Poland since several friends gave it rave reviews and the flights were affordable.  I knew that my mom’s side of the family was polish so I asked my grandma if she knew where in Poland the family came from.  Turns out that my great-great grandparents lived in Krakow!  How fantastic is that…

Krakow

I flew to Krakow via Berlin, Germany and was surprised when I did not have to go through passport control upon leaving Germany.  And when I arrived to Poland no one asked to see my passport.  I guess that’s how it is when you travel within the European Union.

I arrived to Krakow airport at dusk and knew that I was going to love this place.  The temperature outside was perfect and I was surrounded by green meadows with red roofed houses.  I was quite content that I had missed the train into the city by 2 minutes and had to wait another hour for the next train.  I was just enjoying being outside in the beautiful Krakow countryside!

Krakow

I spent my time in Krakow wandering the streets of the “old town”, being entertained by the many street performers, and enjoying the smells which reminded me of my childhood days in my great grandmother house.

Levitating street performer in Krakow

Approximately 40 miles outside of Krakow is the infamous Auschwitz Concentration Camp.  It took about 3 hours to tour both Auschwitz I and Birkenau and at the end of the day everyone was emotionally exhausted.  I learned a lot that I had not known previously and there was one display that really got to me – the display case that contained heaps of women’s hair shaved off after the women were gassed.  Over 4,000 lbs of women’s hair had been found and that’s not including the hair that had been sold to textile industries for making blankets and clothes. 

Auschwitz entrance

Piles of prisoner shoes

There were also lots of pictures taken during that time showing how emaciated the prisoners had become.  The average diet in Auschwitz (bread/coffee/soup) permitted a prisoner to remain alive no more than three months.  There was one disturbing picture of a woman who had arrived to the camp weighing 165 lbs and 4 months later weighed only 55 lbs.

After the heaviness of Auschwitz I decided to do something fun and headed 2 hours south to Zakopane, a mountain ski town on the border with Slovakia, which in summer is a premier hiking destination.   The day I arrived it was sunny and warm and I spent the day getting acquainted with the city and figuring out the scoop on the hiking. 

Zakopane

I was excited about the day hike I was going to do - to this picturesque lake - but when I awoke the following morning it was raining cats and dogs and continued to rain the entire day and into the night.  I was so bummed but it gave me time to catch up on my travel stories and also to chat with other travelers - one of whom had been traveling for 4 years!