Krakow

It was good to spend some days in the one place, Krakow. My first shock was all the English I heard while walking around, so many tourists with many English speakers. Krakow is a very pretty town with lots of colourful old buildings that have not been rebuilt like in Warsaw and Wroclaw. It has a great town square with an old hall in the middle plus a bell tower and a cathedral on one corner with outdoor cafes and restaurants encircling the square.

There is also a castle on a hilltop overlooking both the centre of town and the river, what a location. It, as in so much of Poland, has a stunning cathedral which also has a huge bell up the top. I also got to see the state rooms for free, as free on Sunday. I liked the friezes around the ceilings and the wooden ceilings in some of them and the 'framed' ceiling paintings in some of them and huge tapestries including ones featuring the building and loading of the ark. Also visited the Crown Treasury and Weaponry - so many swords, cannons, guns and armour in one place but also some absolutely stunning plates, cups and clocks made from gold. Both the weapons and the riches were decorated with gems and carving and painting. Wow.
Had the confronting and very sobering experience of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenhou concentration and extermination camps. At Auschwitz it was the collection of 43 000 pairs of shoes and false legs and crutches amongst other things that brougt it home. Also the photographs of some interred and the short time they actually survived there, either being sent to the gas chambers or dying of illness or starvation. The film I saw at the start was very confronting, so much so that children under 14 can't watch it. In contrast it was the size of Birkenhau - it is huge, and the chimneys being all that remain of many of the huts plus the size of the partially demolished crematoria and gas chambers. I can see why it will hopefully encourage visitors to do everything in their power to prevent this ever happening again.
Following on from this I visited the Jewish Quarter in Krakow where there was a Krakow-focused Holocaust Museum, particulalry interesting because of the personal stories it told. Some so sad and some with hope and amazing survival.

On the other extreme I also visited the Salt Mines where salt used to be dug from underground. But while mining the salt, the miners also created lots of salt statues of people and scenes as well as a chapel and most amazinglz a church which was entirely made of salt - the altar, bas reliefs on the walls, a statue of Pope John Paul II after his visit and statues. Amazing. What impressed me the most was the fact that miners did it rather than artists.