The next day, Sunday, I went to church. I hadn't figured out public transportation yet, and my hotel was located about a 45 minute walk from church. Fortunately, my hotel had a free shuttle that went to old town 3 times a day, and the timing of the first shuttle was perfect. That put me about a 10 minute walk from church. The branch in Krakow was really, really small and met on the third floor of some office building. Only 9 people were there, including the missionaries and me. The branch was an interesting mix of people. It was just....individual people. There were no families, no couples, and no children. (Although I think 2 people behind me were sitting next to each other, maybe they were together?) People were friendly, and one of the elders translated the meetings for me. Because the branch is so small, they only have Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. No Priesthood/Relief Society meetings.
Because church was very close to old town, I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around old town. Unfortunately, the battery in my phone/camera had died (probably because I was using the scriptures on my phone during church?), so I don't have any pictures. It was also raining, though it did let up after an hour or two. Eventually I decided to head back. The hotel's return shuttle wasn't leaving for over an hour, and so I just ended up walking back to my hotel.
The conference started on Monday and went through Friday. It was nice to catch up with friends and colleagues and hear about what people in our research community are working on. I gave a talk Wednesday morning, which I think went pretty well. Especially given how much I was still working on the data processing right up to the last minute! (Yikes!)
One of the excursions that the conference organizers took us on was to the nearby Wieliczka salt mines. These mines were in operation for hundreds of years, but aren't active anymore. It sounds kind of random, but this place was totally cool. The man made tunnel system is deep underground (over 100 m) and very extensive. We went on a tour of some of it, and were able to see many of the salt carvings that have been done.
To descend into the mine, we had to climb down 400 steps. (Don't worry, they let us take the elevator back up.) This is a view looking up the stairway.
Copernicus statue, made of salt:
They call these "cauliflowers," but they are clusters of salt growing on the ceiling.
There are several chapels in the mine. This is the largest one. It was amazing! There are salt carvings all along the wall that depict different scenes in the life of Jesus. They look three dimensional, but the dept is at most a couple inches. And all made of salt! So cool.
In this chapel, this is me in front of a carving of the Last Supper.
At the far end of the chapel, a carving of Pope John Paul II. They love him here in Poland (as you might imagine).
A close up of one of the chandeliers in the mine. The crystals are made from rock salt.
We had our conference dinner in a room in the salt mine, over 100 meters below the ground. Again, the chandeliers have rock salt for crystals.
We had plenty of time to check out the old town. Here's me in the main market square.
A church we passed (there are so many churches here), with statues of the original 12 apostles.
Yet another statue of Copernicus.
That week there was a Pierogi festival happening. (Pierogi = Polish dumpling.) They had all sorts of flavors and varieties to try. Here I am with a few. (Including a chocolate one with a strawberry inside!)
The castle not far from the main square, and so we walked down to see it. First we saw it at night, and then during the day. The coolest part was this fire-breathing dragon statue. Very impressive at night, albeit hard to photograph.
And during the day. (I have a picture of me in front of it, but the look on this kid's face was too great.)
Relaxing in Old Town with friends/colleagues from the conference. I don't know what I'm saying here, but it looks like it must have been really interesting.
On my last day, I had made plans to go to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp from WWII, where approximately 1.1 million people were killed (mostly Jews). While I had originally just planned to go alone, since I didn't know who would still be around and/or interested, there ended up being a group of five of us that went. It was a very, very sobering and powerful experience.
The sign leading into the camp. The sign reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" which is German for "Work Makes You Free." (I got chills the first time I read that, just from the sheer evil of it.) The original sign was made by prisoners of the camp and was stolen in late 2009 (how someone stole it is beyond me...it's not small), and found a few days later in northern Poland, broken in pieces. This sign now there is a replica.
Bit closer up.
Pictures from the camp.
The part of the camp that was the most difficult and moving for me was the barrack in which they kept some of the personal belongings that were found after the camp was liberated. There are items that the prisoners had brought with them, but were taken upon arrival (with the lie that they would be returned.) This included suitcases (with names written on them, as they were instructed to do so, in order for them to be "returned"), shoes (including a separate display of children's shoes), eyeglasses, artificial limbs, and personal items such as shaving brushes and combs. The sheer VOLUME of stuff was overwhelming. For the bigger items , the display cases literally took up a whole wall (probably at least 60 feet long), being probably 5-10 feet deep with a mountain of stuff. Also found when the camp was liberated was large amounts of human hair, as the prisoners heads were usually shaved upon arrival and their hair sold. (It was a valuable commodity back then in making various synthetic materials.) Over 2 tons of hair was found, and you can now see it all. It was at this point that the message becomes extremely personal as you reflect on the PEOPLE that lost their lives and you realize that there is no way to possibly understand the scale of the atrocities that happened here.We were also taken to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which is a nearby extension of the camp. This is where the prisoners would usually arrive. This is the main rail line into the camp.
An original cattle car used while the camp was in operation during WWII.
Site just behind the main crematorium where most prisoners were sent upon arrival. While I was in Israel two years ago, I learned that it is common Jewish practice to leave rocks on graves.
Right before the camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945, the Nazis knew they were coming, and so they used dynamite to destroy many of the buildings in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in an effort to hide their crimes. The remains of some of these demolished buildings are still there.
A memorial at the far end of the camp, that included plaques written in multiple languages.
This is the English version of the plaque.
Visiting Auschwitz was definitely a sobering experience, and not one I'll soon forget. The tour and museum were extremely well done and respectful, telling the story that needs to be told, but not in an in-your-face, overly-graphic, depressing kind of way. It was extremely moving. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go, as I feel like it's something that should be seen. Being so close to it (it's about an hour from Krakow), I felt like it was my human responsibility to go.
Once we returned from Krakow, we spent some more time walking around the old town. Then back to the hotel where I gathered my bags and took a taxi to the train station to begin the next, and last leg of my adventure! Onto Prague via an overnight train!
1 comment:
I really liked how you clarified that the statues were the "original" twelve apostles, in case there was any doubt hahaha
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