Poland (2018)
Inhalt/Content
Tychy and the Auschwitz concentration camp
First we went to Tychy where we met an aunt of Nathalie’s father. In this place there was a small lake where we had ice cream and a hotel which looks like a glass pyramid. Also the whole interior of the hotel was very Egyptian and probably belonged to the higher price range of the hotels here.
The same day we all went to Auschwitz together with our aunt. This camp complex actually consists of several larger camps of which we visited two: The arrival camp (open for entry) and the extermination camp (nowadays a museum). We both looked at each other the whole day and learned a lot about the inhuman history of this place.
Krakow
Krakow is one of the largest cultural cities in the area and was also the capital of Poland in the past. Here we already saw many works of art at the train station, a strange toy shop, a “hidden” soap shop and a Bitcoin vending machine. In the city itself there were many monuments and old buildings. We also went to the square near Wawel Castle, which is also known for the fire-breathing dragon Wawel (Polish Smok Wawelski). This dragon is said to have haunted the city. The king offered half of his kingdom and the hand of his daughter to the one who can kill the dragon. In the end it was a tailor who could defeat the dragon. He filled a sheep with stones and chili, which the dragon ate. The dragon quickly went to the river to put out the fire, but drowned due to the weight of the stones, which were now in his stomach. So the tailor got half the kingdom and the princess.
At the end we visited the University of Krakow, which of course we could not miss as students.
The last trip we made from Zabrze was to the salt mine in Wieliczka near Cracow. For this we had to book a tour from Krakow, otherwise it was difficult to get to this place by guided public transport.
At the beginning of the guided tour in the colliery you had to climb down a lot of stairs in order to get down about 50 floors. Here you could see the first rooms that also told little fairy tales and stories. The tour continued through the “Weimar Room”, among other things, in front of which a statue of Goethe was erected in salt. It is said that Goethe once visited here… we, as residents of Weimar, found the story quite amusing (Where was Goethe not yet!?). Afterwards we went through different chapels, souvenir shops and a restaurant at the end. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take photos in the whole mine without having bought a photo license first, which we saved up on the spot. Instead we bought some souvenirs. I found the salt bag the most cuddliest… and we still use the salt on special occasions.
