It's been a while since KC or I have written a full blog-post, so I've decided to provide you with a few highlights from the past few weeks. We're leaving for Denver the day after tomorrow, and I'm going to miss Eastern Europe like mad!
I was planning to post a ton of pictures tonight, but the internet is being particularly finicky. I'll show you some soon, promise!
12.7 - 20.7: My Mom and Brother Visit Prague
Prague has been really fun and I've constantly wanted to share it with my family, so it was quite cool to have Adam and my Mom here for slightly over a week. Unfortunately my Dad was busy with work stuff and couldn't come, but that means he'll just have to go on every cool trip possible in the future to make up for it!
In Vaclávski Naměsti a few hours after arriving. They don't look too tired, do they?
While they were here, KC and I acted as personal tour guides, being sure to show Mom and Adam all of the cool sights, restaurants, and antique stores in the city. The four of us ended up spending a fair amount of time shopping since Adam was going crazy for antiques and Mom was eyeing garnet jewelry and crystal. We also traveled to Bratislava and Vienna, both of which were fascinating (albeit quite expensive since they're on the Euro). I'll talk about these more when I post the photos.
22.7 - 26.7: KC and I Explore Poland
Most of my ancestors on my Dad's side are from Poland (or Russia, depending on which period of history you're thinking of), so I really wanted to go there this summer. We spent four days traveling around the country, visiting Warszawa, Gdansk, Sopot, and Kraków, and switching between night-trains and hotels for our sleeping accommodations. It was fantastic to see the countryside where my family is from, and now I can better imagine what their lives were like. I found the Polish language to be insanely difficult, but it was quite worth it to see Poland.
Warszawa
It seems like a lot of old cities have certain historical events that hang in the air for years after they occur. Budapest has Soviet rule, Wien has the Hapsburg Empire's heydays, and Warszawa has World War II. Over ninety percent of the city was razed by the Nazis following the Warsaw Uprising, which understandably left a huge scar on the national psyche. Amidst the rebuilt city are numerous monuments to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto and the heros of the Uprising - even though this was over half a century ago, it doesn't seem like anyone will be forgetting the painful impacts of the Nazi occupation anytime soon.
Gdansk and Sopot
We were originally planning to head straight to Gdansk after Warszawa, but decided to go a bit farther north to visit Sopot first instead (oh, the beauty of rail passes. . . ) It is a fairly swanky resort town along the Baltic coast, and its claim to fame is the longest pier in Europe which extend about 500m into the sea. KC and I have been hoping to go swimming and escape the summer heat since we got here, and being in Sopot was the perfect opportunity to do so!
After changing into swimsuits in the KFC bathroom, we headed for the surprisingly crowded beach. It was a lovely, sandy place with cliffs jutting out in the distance; we stepped into the algae-filled Balticas soon as our stuff was securely piled on the sand. THE WATER WAS SO COLD OH MY GOD. Even though it was an incredibly hot day, my first steps into the Baltic were less refreshing than I expected - we knew it would be chilly, but wow. After a few minutes of acclimation we got used to the cold water, and then it was easy to see why the beach was so crowded: shallow water, gentle waves, startlingly cool water . . . awesome. Plus, now I feel like quite the badass because I can say I've swam in the Baltic Sea.
We spent the afternoon wandering around Gdansk, which is quite charming and a good place to eat fish thanks to it being a port city and all. KC and I enjoyed a very filling dinner of fried flounder and a massive baked potato with broccoli, mushroom, and yoghurt-dill sauce -- East European food is so heavy and so delicious! There were a lot of nice churches in Gdansk as well (Poland is generally quite religious), but after seeing so many we began to grow a bit jaded and stopped visiting them. Along the river there are a few buildings which remain completely in ruin, presumably from Axis bombing during WWII, and these stood out to me most. I never really thought about how bad German occupation was for all Poles, especially those in places like Warsaw and not just the Jews. Even though the country is a great place to visit, it seems like they still haven't been able to recover from the damage done during the war.
Kraków
We woke up the following morning a few miles outside of Krakow thanks to a night train, and began exploring the city post-haste. I really like Krakow, and would love to go back. Our hotel was in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district, and we got to take a lovely walk to the river while waiting to check in. (I have concluded that former Jewish districts are almost always the coolest places to be in Central/Eastern European cities).
KC and I agreed that while we were in Poland, we needed to visit Auschwitz. I just wouldn't have felt right going to Poland without going there, too. The fact that my family is from this region and a number of them were murdered during the Holocaust made the trip particularly difficult -- it was absolutely horrible. I don't really know what to write about Auschwitz other than that seeing it made me feel physically ill. It is as though evil still hangs heavy in the air there; the vileness of it will probably remain in that place forever. I ended up skipping a few of the more gruesome sites on the grounds in an effort to maintain some semblance composure and keep from vomiting; after all, once you see something it can't be taken back. Once I have had more time to process everything I will probably be able to write about it more coherently, but right now I can only reiterate how incredibly heartbreaking the whole visit was.
After the trip to Auschwitz, KC and I felt really somber and physically and emotionally drained, so the rest of the evening was quite quiet. Going to a place like that isn't something you can just brush off when you hop on the train back home.
We spent the last day wandering around Kraków, visiting the castle, old town, and exploring more of Kazimierz and the suburbs. It was definitely my favorite of the Polish cities we visited, and I would like to go back at some point to get to know the place better. We visited a particularly interesting district on the outskirts of town called Nova Huta, which literally translates as "New Steel Works." As you might guess, it is a Socialist Realist town built by Stalin, and is absolutely bizarre. All of the buildings look shockingly similar, the roads are extremely wide and lined with lots of greenery, and the town is centered around a gigantic steel mill. The Polish Solidarity movement was quite prominent here, and dissidents were actually able to use the wide Soviet streets to hold protests during state-sponsored rallies. It was fascinating to explore the place, and I really want to learn more about it.
I can't believe we are leaving for Denver in less than forty-eight hours! This summer has been absolutely amazing and I am going to miss Prague so much. I'll post some general reflections (and more pictures!) once we get back home, but right now I have to go pack!
