Poland: Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Krakow

town square

clock tower

As we said goodbye to Prague and the Czech Republic, we said hello to Poland! We were slightly confused as to why we were boarding an 11 hour train when Prague and Krakow were only separated by a 5 hour drive, but we found out soon enough.  After being almost scared to death when our train stopped for 3 hours and we realized we were no longer connected to the conductor train, we finally got back on track to Krakow and arrived at 7am when it was about 30 degrees! From there, we took a bus to Auschwitz where we joined a walking tour. The tour lasted for 3 hours and included both Auschwitz and Birkenau on the tour. It was a really moving experience, with a lot of exhibits, but for the most part, many of the buildings had been burnt down before the camp were discovered. To keep this post moving in a happy direction, im gonna skip over to when we arrived in Krakow! Know, let me highlight once again how cold it was, 27 degrees! Which was really tough as it has been around 60 degrees here in Rome. In Krakow it was pretty foggy so it was hard to see a lot of the buildings, but it was still a very cool town to see with a lively center. After grabbing some pierogies for dinner, we walked over to the Krakow Castle and got to see the famed dragon statue. Then we hung back at our hostel for the night since we had to get up early to fly home. Luckily, in the morning, the fog had lifted and we were able to see some of the buildings and take some pictures! It was a really nice day and although we didnt get to see a lot of Krakow, it was still interesting to see the different buildings.