DAY 120 – On the road again to Poland

July 17 - "Sbhom" (Good-bye) & "Czesc" (Hello)

We left Prague and our wonderful host, Odile.  "God only knows when we shall see each other again?"  (A line from Fiddler on the Roof.)  Off to our next adventure and country  (I think it's our 19th country in four months - only 12 more to go and three more months).

The train in the Czech Republic was beautiful with internet and clean bathrooms.

I must have worked too hard on my blog last night.  Very comfy train seats, but I can sleep anywhere, anytime, any way, on any bed/couch after 4 months.

  The ones in Poland, however, were a different story.  HOT, SLOW, DIRTY and no internet.  We had a very quick connection in one town on the way and the train was running behind schedule.  We hurried and ran and dashed down the stairs, through the tunnel, up the other side to a train with the doors opened and ready to pull out.  I think it was the last one of they day, so we were lucky or we might have been camping out in the RR station....not a pretty one either in Poland.

A Polish man wandering on the RR tracks

 Poland is the 9th largest country in Europe.  It regained its independence shortly after WWI.  Two decades later, in September 1939, WWII started with the Nazi Germany and Soviet Union invasions of Poland. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war.  

Our visit to Poland began with three nights in Krakow with a young couple who had been born and raised in this city.  (and neither of them had ever visited Auschwitz or had the desire to)

Anita and Wojeiech of Krakow

We got to the city in the early evening.  We had a hard time figuring out how to make the transportation transfers to their flat outside the city.  We finally did, however, with some help on the streets.  We got off a stop too early, and walked what felt like miles with our backpacks on.  We finally arrived to such a nice, neat, tidy, beautiful flat that they had just purchased.  It was decorated so cute and very clean.  Anita made us some soup which tasted to nice after our journey.

Krakow is one of the oldest cities in Poland.  Situated on the Vistula River, the city dates back to the 7th century. 

Krakow collage of important buildings

After the invasion of Poland at the start of WWII, Kraków became the capital of Germany's General Government.  Poles and Jews were classified as subhumans by the occupiers and were targeted for eventual extermination. The Jewish population of the city was moved into a walled zone known as the Krakow Ghetto, from which they were sent to German extermination camps such as Auschwitz and the concentration camps like Plaszow. 

Birkenhau Gate - trains led to the extermination gas chambers

 Although looted by occupational authorities, Kraków remained undamaged at the end of WWII, sparing most of the city's historical and architectural legacy.

This is a short post as tomorrow I'll take you to Auschwitz and Birkenau and will need more time to put it all together.