First of all, happy birthday Dad! Yayyyyy!! I hope you did something fun today. Today we all woke up at 6:30, or at least I did then had to wake up my roommates, then went to the complimentary breakfast. The breakfast was decent, although the water they gave us was actually disgusting, and I can't even tell you what it tasted like. They had eggs and sausage and cereal though, so it was good. I ate a big breakfast then we got on the bus that would take us to Auschwitz at 7:30. The bus ride there was about an hour and a half, and the driver had put in a movie that was all about Auschwitz. It was the most graphic video I've seen of the Holocaust, so the entire bus was in silence and it stayed like that until we returned at 3. We got to Auschwitz and the female tour guide was nice and paid for all of us to use the restroom. This isn't the same tour guide as who is chaperoning us. She gave us headphones and she spoke quietly into a microphone and we could hear her through the headphones, allowing it to still be silent when walking through the place. It was really crowded, but everyone was so respectful and solemn. I can't really describe what it was like to walk through Auschwitz. It was powerful. Almost our entire group was in tears at the end of the tour. The scary thing is that I can't even comprehend it. I mean, we can all imagine it and picture what happened, but we can never comprehend actually experiencing it or what it actually was like. After we finished walking through, the bus then drove us over to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The shear vastness of this place scared me. There was a nice memorial at the very end of the railroad tracks and there were a lot of families placing flowers there, and it was heartbreaking. The most powerful experience I've ever witnessed was here. There were four black gravestones in front of a ditch, marking where the ashes were buried from the crematoriums. There were about 100 people walking together to the graves, and when we reached them, everyone stopped. No one moved or said anything. It was dead silent. I've never witnessed anything like that before. It was eye opening. We didn't spend as long here because most of the buildings were burned down when the Nazis were trying to destroy their evidence. It was eerie seeing the still standing chimneys though marking where each barrack used to be. We did walk through a crematorium/gas chamber at Auschwitz, and a barrack at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and there's not words to describe what it felt like. After we finished touring, we got back on the bus, and it was silent for the hour and a half back.
On to a happier note....
We got back at about 2ish, and we stopped in our hotel so my roommates could grab a coat (it is really nice weather here though considering). After I forced them not to take a nap, we walked to St. Mary's Basilica and walked around. We saw about five brides in total today, as apparently they like to take their pictures in Krakow's Main Square and in the Basilica. We couldn't get a tour because it closed at 2, but it was so beautiful inside. After that, my roommates stopped at a Starbucks to get lunch. I refused to eat at a Starbucks in Poland, and I wasn't really hungry anyways what with my breakfast and my visit to Auschwitz. They then went shopping and I tagged along, seeing I cannot leave them because I hold the room key (which I took from them smartly). They bought dresses and the rich girl bought a leather jacket. At about 5, we went to find someplace to eat. We ended up eating at a little restaurant outside right in the Main Square where we could watch everyone pass. Street performers were right near us so it was an amazing view. I had lamb stew, an apparent specialty of the local restaurant, and it was actually really good. Lamb is amazing. One of the girls got chicken on a skewer and the other got ribs and french fries. The only downside to sitting down to eat is that it literally takes forever to get your meal and your check. I know it's a Europe thing to take long meals, but I really do miss the efficiency of American restaurants. While we were eating, the girl with me not from WNE apparently had texted her Polish cousin to meet us (?) so he and his girlfriend pulled up two chairs and sat with us for the remainder of our dinner. They were really friendly and spoke really good English and taught us how to say 'hello', 'thank you', and 'I'm sorry' in Polish. They then took us to see Wawel Castle, which we passed yesterday on our carriage ride but didn't walk around. The Castle closes too early for us to get a chance to walk in it, but we walked around and saw this statue of a dragon. Apparently there is a story that says a dragon used to live in Krakow and there's even this 'cave' on the side of the castle where it supposedly lives. The statue also literally shot flames from its mouth every so often, and it was right near a river so it was absolutely beautiful. They then took us to the Jewish section of Krakow where we saw a lot of beautiful synagogues (I had to explain what a synagogue was to one girl) and a lot of cute little stores and restaurants. They then wanted to meet up later with us to take us to a bar and a club, but I declined obviously, and my two roommates agreed. I was then asked by my roommates repeatedly why I didn't want to go, because apparently being an introvert is something no one is able to comprehend, or that it's just not my style or kind of scene. Anyways, they went back to the hotel to get ready, and I joined a group of girls from our tour group who were going back to the Main Square. I was hungry since I only ate soup, so I joined them to get food. I ended up getting this dessert that was being grilled in front of me. It was kind of like a pierogie with sweet cheese filling topped with a cranberry compote. It was hot and amazing and less than one pound. The conversion here is really good. I took out 50 Polish currency from an ATM (weirdly food places do not take card, even the restaurant, but tourist places do take card), and it was only about 16 US dollars. That 50 Polish currency paid for my supper and dessert and I had money left over. I also got a hot chocolate at another place and when they said hot chocolate, they literally met melted chocolate. It was the best drink I've ever have. It was liquid chocolate. And I got this cinnamon pretzel thing to take back to the hotel with me. All this and I had change left over from 50 Polish currency which is 15 bucks. Amazing. Anyways, I'm now in the hotel room alone, as my two roommates just left to go to a club. This cinnamon pretzel round thing called something with a Z is amazing, and I think I'll continue reading Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones, by the way, is an amazing book. Why didn't I start it sooner?
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