Hi people,
I haven't posted for a bit so here's roughly what I've been up to:
If you've seen some do the other posts, you know by now that on Monday we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau and it was extremely difficult for all of us. Our time there was harder than anything else we have done this year pertaining to the holocaust. Being at the site where over a million people were murdered over a span of only a few years was overwhelming and incomprehensible. I can't even picture what 1 million people looks like. We ended our trip to that dreadful place with a group discussion - a "share circle," a "pow wow" as some of us dubbed it. Talking about the experience was cathartic and helped everyone recuperate from the stress we all were feeling.
On Tuesday, we visited Majdanek. The camp was clearly more preserved than the barracks at Auschwitz were, so we got a better visual of the setups of Nazi camps. We walked through a similar room to the one in the "evidence of crime" building at Auschwitz 1 filled with the shoes of victims. These exhibits are striking at first; the amount of people represented by the shoes on display is enough to make you feel nauseated. But after walking around the exhibit for a while, it got harder to see each shoe as an individual. After seeing so much of the Holocaust, I feel like we are becoming almost desensitized to a lot of the brutal details. We have been processing so much heavy information that it's hard to look at each new camp, each picture or video, and each survivor testimony with the same focus.
After so many exhausting days in the camps in Poland, some free time in Krakow was certainly in order. On Wednesday, we began our day with a bus tour of some notable landmarks and sights led by our fearless bus driver, Alek <3. We saw the site of Plaszow concentration camp, which is now a gorgeous public park. We stopped a few locations in the old Jewish ghetto that were featured in "Schindler's List," which was very cool. For the afternoon, we got free time in the SQUARE, which was center of the city and a very touristy area. Among the many sights to see in downtown Krakow were the Basilica of St. Mary, the Wawel Castle, and a few other magnificent churches. The Basilica especially was one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen in my life. (Pictures to follow.) Admission to the church was 5 złotys, and an additional 5 to take pictures inside. Not having proper coinage with me to get a photo license, I had to stealthily sneak some pictures in with my phone (Forgive me, father). After that a lot of us hit the Wawel Castle, way up on a hill about 10 minutes away from the SQUARE. Tha castle made for some regal photo shoots and some healthy frolicking. Tyrone got a picture with some lovely Korean women who share his interest in bucket hats. Dinner was at an outdoor cafe in a courtyard off of a side street in Krakow. The pierogis were great once they finally came, but the darn lady forgot my order -___- .
Adventures to come:
Haircuts
Jazz clubs
Funky pants
And Nuremberg
Stay posted my dear friends and family
Xoxo,
(Liam O'C)
PS - Mom, Dad, and Nora: I'm getting you all some great souvenirs, but I am only able to do so with money that Clare is lending me (thanks Clare). I'm doing ok financially, but I will be in debt when I return home. FYI. :) :) :)
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