Day 16 - 18, Krakov to Vienna

(Sorry for the delay, I wrote this a LOOOOONG time ago, but have not had much free internet access... so, here you go...)


Well, the night train from Berlin to Krakow. What an experience! We were on the top bunks of a 6 bed cabin, and the first issue was getting the ladder up. We couldn't get it to sit properly, so had a wobbly ladder and a luggage store in the way of getting into bed. The next problem was the head room. Even me, Paula, couldn't sit up with out hitting my head on the top. :( we were also beaten to the room for the luggage by the 2 other backpackers on the bottom bunks. Sigh. Never mind.
There was also the issue that there was no where to get anything to eat or drink on the train. Just when you want a last cup o tea before beddy byes.
All good.
So... the night train to Krakow... long. Slow. Noisy. Smoking on the train! And I am sure the toilets flushed onto the tracks... interesting.
Right. So Krakow... HIGHLY recommend the hostel we stayed at. Not only has it been the cheapest we have had yet, but when we turned up at 9am in the morning, they offered us breakfast and coffee! The room was fantastic, we had a private room and we shared facilities (including a very nice kitchen) with 2 other double rooms, so it was kinda like flatting!
After we had our coffee and breakfast, we decided to go walkys. Unfortunately the weather was not very nice. We were trying to think when it had last rained on us... Ireland, maybe? Never mind. Walked through the old city sector of Krakow and found somewhere dry and warm to sit for another coffee (well, we had been on the train all night.... ) and learnt how to say thank you in Polish (have no idea how to spell it, but it sounds like Jen-kwee-air).

We headed back to the hostel and had a really nice hot shower :) felt so good!! No more smelly backpackers for us!! In the afternoon we headed to the Wawell (pronounced with v's) castle which was free to walk about the grounds. On the way we saw a lot of penguins, ops, I mean nun's. As there were 2 nunneries that were on our way. If L.A. Is the city of angels, then I say Krakow is the city of nun's. The castle grounde were lovely. If we had had more time and money, I think a look inside some of the buildigngs would be good. But you can't have everything.
We walked on to the Jewish Quarter, which had an amazingly different feel to it. The highlight of the walk was going into the old Jewish cemetary, which had been founded in 1551 (I think?). It managed to survive a lot of battles over time, but was badly damaged in WWII. They are in the process of preserving and repairing a lot of it, including the synagogue on site, but have made an impressive wailing wall out of the fragmented parts of headstones. Very cool.

Back at the hostel, they put on a supper! Traditional Polish soup, and all sorts of cold meats and bread and fruit and stuff. Honestly, the best hostel! You would not have to spend money on food when staying here. Breakfast is good, and you can make some sammies for lunch and take them with you. Then they put on supper. And they are friendly. And they help you find buses to Auschwitz, which is what we did the next day. :)
Onto the bus to Oswiecim (or its German name, Auschwitz) on Wednesday, as we decided to do the trip ourselves, not at 90 zl (about 30euro) each. The grounds and museums are free to enter at both Auschwitz and Birkenau. Although we did buy the tour guide book at 3zl (1euro) which was good, but not really needed at Auschwitz, as it had a lot of information in English. But it was quite crowded and the tour groups that we kept running into were HUGE. It is a little off putting when there are signs around saying please remain quiet and respect the site, but there are 5 groups of about 30 people listening to a tour guide who pushes you out of the way. Never mind.

We both found Auschwitz to be a little over run, but still haunting. However, Birkenau. (which we got to on the free shuttle bus...) That is another story. The train tracks. The unloading ramps right next to the train tracks, that you have read about, and seen in movies, are there. It is unsettling. To look about you and see fences and the remains of 'horse stables' as far as the eye can see. To see the remains of gas chambers and crematoria that the Nazi's tried to blow up as they were leaving. To see lakes and pits that were used to dispose of the ashes. To walk into buildings that are still standing and contain the bunks. It still feels sad.

Birkenau is such a massive site, on 171 hectares. We both wish that we had gone there first and then onto Auschwitz, as we didn't really explore Birkenau enough. Things to do in the future.
After that sobering experience, it was back to Krakow and onto the night train to Vienna.