Krakow!!

So...the night train dropped us off in Krakow!

I loved the big market square in Krakow and it was great that it was right before Easter because they had lots of Easter festivities going on!  The weather was pretty terrible while we were there...cold and raining.  I pretty much wore every layer I brought every day to keep warm.  Here's a picture recap...

Day 4 highlights:

 The market square

 More of the market

 Love the Easter decorations!!

 Just outside the wall of the city

 The gate to the city wall

 Just outside of the city walls

 The small church on the market square

 Inside the cloth hall

 Leah and Emily

 Pierogi!!  

 Jewish cemetery

 More of the Jewish cemetery

 Prayers written on the wall of a synagogue for those that could not afford the prayer books

 Dessert at a hotel...just what we needed after a long cold day of walking around

Kebab!!!!!  Yay!!!!

We started off our day with a town walk from Rick (Rick Steves...our bff).  We learned several times that the Tators invaded in 1241...a date that I think is now ingrained in my brain.  It was freezing cold and misting/raining all day.  We even had to make a stop at our hotel to layer up.  We finished up our town walk in the Jewish Quarter.  It wasn't as involved as the Jewish Quarter in Prague but we saw some interesting synagogues and cemeteries.  We warmed up in a nice hotel lobby with coffee and desserts.  It was so nice to sit down, remove some layers and rest.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the market and the cloth hall.  We finished up the day with Kebab's for dinner...my favorite!!!!  Tori and I had Kebab's in Australia and I have loved them ever since.  Unfortunately they don't have them here in SC so it was a great treat...it was just as good as I remembered it!!  We headed back to our hotel and relaxed after a early morning and a long day.

Day 5 highlights:

We spent most of the day at Auschwitz.

 Auschwitz I:  A work camp where lots of Poles as well as Jews lived and worked.

 The barracks at Auschwitz I

 Glasses that were found at Auschwitz II when it was liberated

 Suitcases found at Auschwitz II when it was liberated

 Shoes found at Auschwitz II when it was liberated

 More of Auschwitz I

 The killing wall where people were shot

 The gas chamber at Auschwitz I

 The crematory at Auschwitz I

The outside of the gas chamber and crematory at Auschwitz I

 Auschwitz II...just inside the walls.

 More of Auschwitz II

 Some of the barracks left standing in the distance at Auschwitz II

 Looking back at the entrance to Auschwitz II

 The railroad goes right down the middle of Auschwitz II.  The train car in the distance is one that used to bring prisoners in.  They were so packed in the tiny train car for days.

 One of the gas chambers/crematory that was destroyed around the time of liberation

A memorial written in all different languages.  This is the English one.

 

 Another gas chamber/crematory that was destroyed.

 The living quarters for the prisoners.  Several people were crammed onto each of the levels of "beds".

The bathroom for the prisoners.

On a lighter note...we headed back to Krakow for the afternoon/evening.

 Of course we got coffee/dessert to warm up and relax in the afternoon.

Interesting sculpture in the town square.

 

 Cool night pics of the town

 We walked down this street about a million times.

 The cloth hall.

The cathedral.

 

 The inside of the cloth hall.

 The market was still going strong.

 The cathedral again.

This day was pretty sobering.  We spent most of the day at Auschwitz.  We took a bus from Krakow about an hour and a half away to Auschwitz.  Apparently (I didn't know this before) there is Auschwitz I, II and III.  We went to Auschwitz I first and then took a short bus ride with our tour guide (who was awesome!!) to Auschwitz II.  I learned a lot about some of the details of what happened during that time and what the people that were there went through.  Some parts were hard to see or think about but I'm really glad that I had the experience.  The rainy weather was perfect for the overall mood of the day.  We ended the day with a little shopping and an awesome dinner at an Italian restaurant that was so cute and super yummy!!

Day 6 highlights:

 Marianne and Emily's room

 Leah, mine and Dori's room

 I think this is a church but I can't totally remember the significance.

 Wawel Castle

 More of Wawel Castle

 A view from up on the castle grounds

Inside the castle walls.

We didn't have as much to pack in on our last day in Krakow.  We went to Wawel Castle and did the walking tour there.  It was FREEZING cold and windy.  Finally the sun came out and it was a little warmer but up on the hill when the wind blew it was miserable.  The afternoon warmed up a bit and we spent some more time at the market watching families bring their Easter baskets to the churches to be blessed before Easter Sunday.  It was a neat tradition and fun to see all of the families out and about together.  We managed to lose Marianne and Dori twice that afternoon but thankfully we caught up with them at the big head statue.  We headed to the train station and caught the night train to Budapest.  We got there early again and the platform number was up again.  Somehow Emily and I ended up running for the train again when it got there early and we were trying to figure out if we had the right train because a gypsy man confused us.  Luckily we made it and I slept very well on our trip to Budapest.

Budapest highlights are coming up...