Playing in Poland!

Christmas Market in Krakow

For my last adventure before heading home for Christmas, I made a week-long stop in Poland to visit my cousin (no, she is not Polish, she is just studying there!).  I know Poland seems a bit random after three months in Africa, but my flight home had a layover in Zurich, Switzerland, which is a short two hour and $100 flight to Warsaw, so I decided to take advantage of the excellent 5-Star "mat and breakfast" accommodations at my cousin's apartment :) 

The Center in Krakow

My cousin is currently living in Krakow, so after I landed in Warsaw on Monday, I took the bus from the airport to the train station, then a three hour train ride from Warsaw to Krakow.  I was hoping to enjoy the scenery...little did I know that it gets dark at 4 pm in Poland in December!  And thank goodness that my wonderful sister Kellie brought me my winter coat when my family came to visit, because it was quite a bit colder in Poland than Africa!!  However, despite the cold and the dark, I had an awesome time with my cousin. 

I spent Monday to Friday in Krakow, a city that I am now completely in love with.  It is so much more fun to visit a city when you have a "local" to show you around.  My cousin has been living and studying in Krakow since October, so she was close enough to a local for me.  It was so much fun to check out all of the cute local spots with her, including the Christmas market, an amazing display of nativity scenes, an ice skating rink, the best zapikanka spots, and many many MANY local bars and restaurants!  I can't believe all of the cute places there are to hang out.  Five days was not nearly enough time to hit them all, but we certainly gave it a valiant effort!!

The "Swing" Bar

The "Singer" Bar

Zapikankas!  Delicious!

Ice Skating

Lots of Locks :)

We did make sure that we did our "homework" each day....a typical sightseeing stop like a museum or monument of some sort.  We hit up the Schindler's List Museum, housed in the actually factory building, visited the castle and saw several old churches (from the outside!), and we went to a classical music concert in a famous and beautiful old church which was excellent.  We also walked across a bridge with hundreds of padlocks locked to the rail.  When I asked my cousin why, she told me that when people get married in Krakow, they write their names on the lock, lock it to the rail, and throw the key in the river.  What a cute tradition!  However, apparently if you want a divorce, you have to swim to the bottom of the river to find your key! :)

On Wednesday, I visited Auschwitz.  It was, of course, a very sad experience.  Walking the same path from the train tracks to the gas chambers as hundreds of thousands of innocent people did less than a century ago is a feeling that really can't be described.  Seeing rows and rows of barracks and knowing that at least 700 people lived in each one is difficult to even imagine.  But the part that had the biggest effect on me was seeing the displays of personal belongings (including hair) that were taken from the Jewish people and other prisoners upon entering the camp.  Seeing an enormous pile of 40,000 pairs of shoes and knowing that they belonged to a tiny fraction of the people who were brought to Auschwitz gave me a small perspective of the massive amounts of people who lost their lives there.  It was definitely an experience that I won't ever forget.

On Friday, my cousin and I took the train back to Warsaw to spend the weekend there.  We were quite the adventurous explorers with our map written only in Polish!  We even explored Praga, the only neighborhood that my cousin was explicitly warned NOT to visit!  We checked out the Old Town (which was actually completely destroyed during WWII, and rebuilt shortly after), the super adorable Christmas market in the town square, and, in keeping with our tradition, several bars, restaurants, and cafes.  And we even did our "homework" by visiting the Chopin Museum and attending a piano concert featuring many songs composed by Chopin (he was from Poland, obviously!).  We were a bit lazy on Sunday, and spent most of our time eating crepes and croissants in a cute cafe :)  Then Sunday afternoon, my cousin took the train back to Krakow, and I headed to the airport for my flight back to Zurich.  I'll be home tomorrow!!!

Presidential Palace in Warsaw