Krakow & Auschwitz

Trip Start Jun 09, 2008
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6
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Trip End Jul 04, 2008


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Where I stayed
Sleeper train
(Warsaw hotels)

Flag of Poland  ,
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I didn't intend to visit Auschwitz at first when I entered Europe, because my Eurail Pass didn't cover Poland. I didn't want to spend much money on extra railway routes, but I couldn't resist the temptation to visit there. As you know, it is one of the most notorious places in the world, because of the largest concentration camp of Nazis, which is a museum now. Thanks to Schindler's List, more people may know how the camp was during the WWII. To get to Auschwitz, I took a sleeper from Prague to Krakow. Krakow was a big city, but I was not interested except Main Market Square. After my visit the square, however, I really had nothing to do. So I looked for the bus station to go to Auschwitz. There were a lot of TI offices around the city, but they were not helpful, because they just told me how to join a tour to Auschwitz, not how to get to the bus station. I didn't realize the bus station was located at the back of the train station until I walked around the city for one and half hour and exhausted.

It was a longer ride to reach Auschwitz than I had expected. But I was lucky to catch a direct bus for Auschwitz museum, not Auschwitz. In fact, the two bus stops were very far away, and if I took a bus for Auschwitsz, I might have been lost in the city. The museum was admission free like Dachau, but I took a guided tour. The tour was excellent with an English-speaking guide and a useful handset, and it lasted 3 hours including Auschwitz I and II. The barracks looked like apartment buildings in a quiet town and from their outside appearance, it may be difficult to imagine how the prisoners' life was. There were a lot of remains collected from prisoners, such as shoes, clothes, suitcases, and hairs, before they were killed in the gas chamber. I took a shuttle bus running between Auschwitz I an II which was free and useful, if you had checked the timetable beforehand. In Auschwitz II, I found more barracks and the headquater shown in Schindler's List. It was a great place to remember the tragedy of the War, but it was a pity that much fewer Japanese were seen in Auschwitz than Prague or Chesky Krumlov. By the way, I don't want to say this, but Japan doesn't have many war remembrance buildings like ones seen in Europe or Oceanea. At the headquater of Auschwitz, I saw a school excursion group from a local school. That must have been a nice experience for them.

I had some time left in Krakow after coming back from Auschwitz. According to Rich Stevens' guide, Main Market Square was an only must-see in Krakow. He said you were able to see a typical European market there, but unfortunately, I couldn't, although I visited there twice: in the morning and evening. Instead, however, I found a cheap Internet cafe near the square and stayed there for 2 hours until the departure to the next destination.
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