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Auschwitz-Birkenau

July 16, 2016 by Dee

There’s no easy post about exploring Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. I took the opportunity to visit as I was driving from Kraków to Wrocław and it wasn’t too much of a detour to spend half a day soberly reflecting on this particularly dark aspect of human history.

I’m glad I went, it’s easy to lose the scale of the story from this distance (both geographically back on the other side of the world, and in time after all these years) and I think memorials like these are important so that we never lose sight of what evil humanity is capable of (though given today’s current state of affairs, it feels as though we’re losing that sight, regardless).

You can read a whole lot more about the museum at their website. Other than that I’ll let the images speak for themselves.

The entrance to Auschwitz I – The text reads – Arbeit Macht Frei – it translates as Work Makes you Free – which of course was an outright fabrication. There was no freedom here.

Our guide Marta who’s been doing this tour for 10 years, and feels the effects of it daily.

Auschwitz was a hub for prisoners from all over Europe. Political prisoners, gypsies, and of course Jews.

Empty cannisters that held Zyklon B the cyanide based pesticide that was used in the gas chambers at Auschwitz,

Belongings left behind by victims

Sleeping Quarters

Flogging post

The wall against which people were shot. Rebuilt/reproduced by former prisoners.

The gallows on which Rudolf Hös (Rudolf Hoess – commandant of the camp for 3.5 years) was hung from, built especially, next to the gas chamber, and within view of the house he lived in so long, he

The last remaining gas chamber

The roof through which the Zyklon B was dropped

Inside the chamber

The Crematorium

The entrance to Birkenau

Ruins of Krema II

Ruins of Krema III

Don’t be fooled by the soap dishes… there never were any

Kraków

July 13, 2016 by Dee

Two days in Kraków wasn’t nearly enough. Like Prague, it’s beautiful, has old world charm that’s beautiful and with its rich history and beautiful aesthetic it has been another complete highlight of this trip (who am I kidding, there has been highlight, after highlight, to the point I can’t identify any low points). The differential between Kraków and Prague is the radical difference in the number of tourists, a welcome respite from madding crowds!

The pictures that follow start with a focus on ‘Rynek Główny’ the Main Square, bustling with tourists, performers, vendors and restaurants of all sorts, it is dominated by St. Mary’s Basilica in one corner, the Cloth Hall in the center and the food pics that follow it were sourced at a couple of restaurants around the square’s perimeter. Great food, good times…

After the images of Kraków are scenes from the Wieliczka Salt Mine one of the most prominent tourist attractions in the region and well worth half a day to see. It’s a 3 hour walking tour traveling deep underground and walking several kilometers of the 287 kilometers of tunnels. The mine worked right up until 2007 when dropping prices diverted the mine to tourism rather than production.

It has an impressive cavern that functions as a chapel, complete with chandeliers made with rock salt crystals and statuary and icons carved from stone and salt blocks from the mine.

It’s a really impressive place all round and I’d go back in a heartbeat!

Rynek Główny (main town square) at Sunset

St Mary’s Cathedral

The Cloth Hall

The Cloth Hall with St Mary’s in the back ground

Inside the Cloth Hall

St Mary’s Basilica

Restaurants on the Town Square

The Town Hall Tower

Say cheese, Dan!

Pierogi – new favourite

Pork Medallions… not mine, sadly!

Dumplings, Sauerkraut and… meant, honestly can’t recall if it was beef or pork… probably pork.

In the Old Jewish Quarter

Sunset over the Vistula

Wawel Royal Castle

Dragon of Wawel Hill

Wawel Royal Castle

Wawel Cathedral

The legend of Princess Kinga who’s suitor found her ring in Krakow

Statue of King Kazmierz, Wieliczka Salt Mine

The underground cathedral

St John Paul the 2nd

Crystal (salt crystal) chandelier

Katowice, Poland

July 12, 2016 by Dee

Leaving Vienna for Poland I collected my rental car and hit the road. And so the adventure began… the first hurdle, the fact my rental car is a manual… which means changing gear on my right… thankfully the pedals are on the same side… so it was only a case of getting my right hand operating the gears instead of my left!! Thankfully it takes less time to get used to being on the opposite side of the road and the car than it does to get used to the foreign drivers and the fact that on the motorways in Czech and Austria the limit is 130kmph and in Poland 140kmph!

I drove from Vienna to Katowice, a journey of about 4 hours and got there unscathed (thankfully a recurring theme throughout the trip) and was graciously met by our team mate Piotr and his lovely wife Ola where I joined colleague Dan and his wife Marianne with whom we spent the next few days.

Our one day in Katowice took us to visit Jasna Góra, a monastery at Częstochowa and one of the most holy sites of pilgrimage in the Catholic Church and the spiritual centre of Poland.

The monastery is famous for its icon of ‘The Black Madonna’ and whose mircaulous history (documented here) began in Poland in the late 1300s). The icon is periodically veiled, presumably for preservation and was covered when we got there; however, we waited long enough to see her and were rewarded for our patience.

I tiptoe around my faith these days, particularly where it pertains to the organised church, and to be honest, even more so for such massively institutionalised organisations like the Catholic Church, but even so, the day was actually a moving experience, so many devout and dedicated people in a peaceful atmosphere. I’m glad to have been there.

Monastery of Jasna Góra

Kardynal Stefan Wyszynski statue in Czestochowa, Jasna Gora

Mosaic of the Black Madonna, Poland’s holiest icon

Gate to Jasna Gora

I find this a littile incongruous… an arsenal in a monastery… needed as the site has a bloody history… but still.

The Icon was covered, the pilgrims await

Occupying myself finding pictures as we waited for the icon to be revealed

Ex votos, and effects left by pilgrims

The Veiled Icon

The unveiled Icon!

Inside the main basilica

Some of the stations of the cross

Statue of Pope John Paul II

Vienna

July 11, 2016 by Dee

The whole reason I hatched this plan to go to Europe was to attend WordCamp Europe in Vienna and so the middle week of my travels centred around the gradual arrival of old and new friends as we all converged on the Museum Quarter to live and breathe WordPress for a few days.

Happily a bunch of my teammates from XWP were also attending so we took the opportunity to have some hang time as a team, to vision cast and to do crazy things like cycle through the Wachau Valley in the rain (the worst effects of which were mediated by the fact we stopped at several wineries on the way…).

Vienna is beautiful I felt very little like a tourist as there wasn’t a lot of time for sightseeing. Most of the images below are from a walking tour we did on our second day, and a spontaneous trip to visit the St Stephen’s Cathedral where we took a trip up the tower for some aerial views and a visit to the catacombs for subterranean ones (no pictures allowed there, sadly). The highlight of the experience in Austria for me was catching up with friends, old and new and having the opportunity to share my experience as a meetup organiser with such a receptive audience.

Happily I’ll be back there for a day on my way back to Frankfurt and my journey home, will play the full tourist then!