The Auschwitz Post

I feel compelled to write something about my recent day trip to Auschwitz, two hours outside of Krakow, but I find it a hard topic to discuss. It is already well known what went on there, but to see the remains of the death camp in person really tears at your soul. All I'll say is we had a lovely tour guide whose voice was sombre and yet soothing. This made walking through such a dark place more bearable.

I've posted a few photos on my album.

Update: One more think I'd like to mention on the subject. The day after our visit to Auschwitz we attended a Jewish festival in Krakow. It was a very moving thing to see the suffering of the Jewish people one day, and then a massive celebration of Jewish heritage the next.

Here be dragons.

The sound of the hours chime. A trumpet plays a welcoming melody to bring in the new morning. Birds squawk high above, dive bombing to pick up the scraps left behind by the drunken revelers the night before. Seven AM in Krakow is an interesting time, the workman are out on the street preparing the city for another day of heavy tourist traffic. The occasional sightseer can be seen taking photos of the fantastic architecture in the morning light. To the right you see one such photo. Also note the scary blue dude.

Krakow, the capital of the Lesser Poland Province, is named for the legendary King Krak who attained his status by slaying the fearsome dragon Smok. As you can see below, to celebrate this part of their history, the citizens of Krakow commissioned a sculptor to make them a small statue of the dragon. Every five minutes the Dragon breathes fire from his opened maw. You can, however, expedite this process by send him a text message with the text SMOK. He then returns with some lovely phrase in Polish to the affect of "I'm breathing fire for you." I unfortunately could not get him to do this, because I didn't have the right country code.

Now let me talk about something important: Pierogis and Vodka. A pierogi, as I hope you know, is like a dumpling stuffed with potato and onion, and any number of other things. Although we couldn't get a table at the restaurant boasting "probably the best pierogis in town" (hard to agrue with that), we were able to have a few at a small vegetarian restaurant. Good stuff. On to vodka! The shops and bars were full of different kinds of Polish Vodka, most not too expensive either. One particular kind I enjoyed was Żubrówka, Bison Grass Vodka. One might not think that grass could be flavourful, no offensive to any of my livestock friends. Oh, but it is. With a bit of apple juice it's like drinking a warm apple pie.

Which brings me to my final thought: Everywhere I went I saw Bison pictures and statues, but I'll be darned if I could find a living one anywhere round there. Maybe they're hiding in the grass.