Best Western Premier Krakow

... took an uncompromising stand against the Communist regime.<br><br>The Pope has also addressed a congregation of two million worshippers in Katowice, Poland's industrial heartland in the south, and told them that workers should be able to join free trade<br>unions.<br><br>He said: "This right is not given to us by the state. It is a right given by the Creator."<br><br>If any one event had helped to create the psychological climate in which Solidarity trades union ...

... didn't come in till like 4 or 5 in the morning... oh well... I walked so much today...but Krakow is such a lovely city and most definitely one of my favorite places that I have visited so far. Day 2: Auschitz-Birkenau The hostel that I stayed offered a guided tour of the famous Nazi Death Camp which was a 30 minute car ride outside the city. There are really no words...it is just horrifying what humans can do to each other. How meticulous the Nazis were...the ...

... cheese, potato, cabbage, meat...). Pierogi is also THE traditional Polish dish.  Rightfully so and we didn't even need teeth they were so tender.  One squish of the tongue and your mouth is instantly filled with joy... sigh... ok, moving on, I am rambling about food again. Although we were quickly becoming hooked on the vibrancy and beauty of Krakow, we couldn't ignore what is just 70 km outside of town.  The Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camps are certainly a sobering reminder ...

... from their teeth and they were cremated in huge oven specifically built for this purpose. After the war, the commander of these camps, Rudolf Hess, was caught, tried and sentenced to death. He was hanged in a gallows built for him as he looked at these gas chambers and crematoriums. His home where he had a wife and 5 children was just on the other side of a wall from the gas chambers and crematoriums. Lving in this environment for ...

... I met so far. We were kind of talking most of the trip even though they couldn't speak any word in English and I couldn't speak any word in Polish. We used Italian as the common language but neither I nor them knew it very well so it was a very interesting conversation, probably very funny for a third person watching the scene. We all got off in Krakow but unlike me they would just change trains to go to Zakopane, maybe to pray for the souls of snowboarders ...

... Auschwitz in 1942, when he will witness the killing of prisoners in the gas chambers. * September 3, 1941 The first gassings of prisoners occur in Auschwitz I. The SS tests Zyklon B gas by killing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 other ill or weak prisoners. Testing takes place in a makeshift gas chamber in the cellar of Block 11 in Auschwitz I. The "success" of these experiments will lead to the adoption of Zyklon B as the killing agent for the yet-to-be-constructed Auschwitz ...

... by 4am I was drunk and ready fall anywhere, so I didn't feel like lugging my pack around. Now, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't like the idea of the train to Ukraine because this one departs at mid-day and arrives at midnight. WTF am I going to do in Ukraine at midnight? I think I might try to go to east slovakia for a day or two and then to Ukraine, maybe I can get a better connection. Last time I visited ...

... chambers where more than one and half million people were murdered was quite intense but one of those things that will stay with you forever and I guess makes you appreciate your own good fortune even more. The rest of our time in Krakow has been spent seeing the sights such as the spectacular castle and old town square, and tomorrow we will take in the old Jewish quarter of the city and I'll probably try to convince Renee to let me find the local football stadium ...

... right place. We got to the Salt Mines and then went in. The Salt mines are huge. I won't explin the whole tour as it goes for 2 hours but I will highlight some things about it. - You walk down 850 steps. - You go down 135m below. - The mines in total go down 350. - We only saw about 1-2% of the mines. - Everything in it is made of salt, the floors, walls, roof, statues, chandeliers ...

... largest medieval town square in Europe. Around the square is the impressive St. Mary's church on one corner from which a bugle call has been played every hour for over 600 years, in the opposite corner is a nice tall clock tower from which you can get a great panoramice view over all of Krakow. The next I got out to check out the mandatory town castle which in Krakow is a big complex comprising an impressive cathedral, city walls and various other medieval buildings. Unfortunately ...