FALL SKETCH TRIP Part 3: Auschwitz and Krakow, Poland

Friday was certainly the most highly anticipated day of the week, for better or for worse: it was our visit to Auschwitz and then Krakow.  I really don't know what to say about this part of my trip...  all I know is that (a) every single human being should visit Auschwitz or some other concentration camp at least once during their lifetime, and (b) I will probably never go back to one ever again.  It was eerie, uncomfortable, and so up-close-and-personal that it didn't even feel real.  I only took about 5 photos, none of which I am going to put up, but you can imagine what remains in that horrible location.  All I can say is that it felt very surreal to be taking a tour on a lovely autumn day, well-fed and quite warm, at what had once been the most dreaded place on the entire planet.

We were glad to get the heck out of that creepy town, so we found the train station and headed towards Krakow.  Normally, this should have been an hour-long train ride; but the rickety old train took 3 hours to get us there.  I guess it's not Poland's fault that it's so behind in the times... but we were glad to arrive in Krakow, which was much nicer than I was expecting.  We wandered over to the city's central square, a huge area filled with medieval architecture and bustling with young people.  I ordered a delicious meal at the restaurant we went to: a flaky pancake sort of sandwich and some hot spiced wine.  But that was it for our brief venture into Poland, because shortly after dinner we headed back to the bus station for the very last leg of our journey: Vienna.

Krakow's central plaza