I woke up around 7 and showered as usual but the bus for the salt mines wasn’t leaving until 9:15 so I had so time. I mostly used this time to write and download some documents to read for Oxford that night on the train. I left a little early to stop at the grocery so I could buy a little something for the trip (since breakfast at the hostel was provided). I got a fresh made pastry/Danish thing which was delicious and I only paid around $.50! The bus ride to the salt mines was much shorter than to Auschwitz and I had booked with the same company so the minibus was very similar. We met the guide when we got off the bus but to tell you the truth I feel that paying the tour company I did is a bit of a rip off because once on site both at Auschwitz and the salt mine you have to enter with a guide anyway. The site provides that for individuals so in reality what I was paying for was the transport which was nice and picked me up only two minutes away from the hostel but I think just figuring it out myself would have been a bit more complicated but much more cost efficient. I know this now and if I ever return or in future similar situations I can apply this bit of realization I gained. The salt mines themselves were pretty amazing. We walked down about 200 feet to the first level of the mine and were able to go down two more levels. Apparently, there are nine levels in total but the ninth level is flooded. They no longer mine salt there but they pump up the salt water and evaporate the water to get salt. The basic structure was tunnels and caverns, some big, some small. A lot of them had statues built out of salt and dedicated to important people in the mine’s history. One of the first and most memorable was one of Nicholas Copernicus who had visited the mine as a boy and so they know that the mine was visited even in the 1500s which is amazing to think about. There were multiple chapels and one pretty big one that is actually open on Sunday for mass to the public. I had reliefs carved into the salt walls and chandeliers made out of salt. It was beautiful and I will put up the pictures I have as soon as it can. The mine itself was very extensive and even had a room for reception and concerts, a restaurant, and much more. The tour lasted around three hours and we only saw about one percent of the mine our guide told us. There is also a more extreme tour where you actually put on mining gear and a head lamp and get to crawl through the mines. If I ever get back there at a young enough age I truly want to do that but I think the basic tour was great for my first visit. We went back to the city and I stopped off at the hostel to wash up and check the time of the Jewish tour. I had some time so I went up and wandered around the castle grounds and just looked over the city and the river. It was very relaxing and I wander down to the main square and just people watched until the tour. In Krakow, and I’ve seen them in other places in Europe as well, they had water spikets which either have a constant flow of water or you have to pump it. This water is clean and drinkable but is also used to wash hands and things like that. So, I was sitting by the fountain and just watching people’s interaction with this. The cutest little boy ran over and pumped forever and his dad pumped a few time but he was so determined to get it working and he finally did, thinking it was fantastic. The tour finally started at three and was about three hours. The tour guide took us to the Jewish sector and showed us many important places, all the time explain the history of the Jewish people there in Krakow. The Jews originally had their own city with their own laws and ruling and this is the area of Krakow called Kremnica. The tour was pretty good, I was just really tired. I didn’t know this but almost all of the movie Schindler’s List was filled there and it was about the Jews of that area. The guide told us that the film of course wasn’t accurate and that the Jews originally lived in Kremnica. They were expelled to the other side of the river but since the actually Kreminca still was filled with structures from the WWII period they decided to film the movie there, not actually where the Jewish ghetto was. This was all very interesting and I am glad that I went but I was really tired so I headed back to the hostel with the intention of showering. I stopped off at the grocery to buy some fruit and something sweet for the ride and I also bought some bread from the street vendor. I figured I could eat that with peanut butter and some fruit and that would be perfect. When I got back I had to get the keys to unlock my luggage because I had to check out that morning and the hostel was storing my bags. In the process of getting some things out of my bag I ran into the Irish guys from the other night and we started talking about I don’t even remember but by the time we were done I had the desk keys for about an hour so I figured I shouldn’t keep them and shower. I went to get on the computer and talked with the Irish guys some more because they were having a coffee in the kitchen. I have decided I really liked them and so we took pictures and added each other on facebook. They both actually live in London and said they would show me around. I also found out that they were leaving on a night train as well around the same time so we decided to go to the station together. They were a true blessing because they insisted on carrying my bags, which I felt horrible about but they would hear nothing about it. All I carried was my backpacking pack and the carried my small backpack, my black bag as well as their own backpacks. They got me on the train after some confusion about my seating, loaded my bags onto the luggage racks and said goodbye. At this point, I decided I really like them and plan to keep in contact. The only other person in my cabin was a Slovak guy and so we spoke for a while. I told him what I knew in Slovak and then read some stuff on my computer, falling asleep in the process. The train ride was long and fuzzy since I was sleeping on and off and was pretty groggy. I didn’t pay for a sleeping car because it was a bit extra so I just had a regular seat but after the Slovak gut got off I laid across three seats until some business people got on around six in the morning. This is about the some of my trip and it starts running into the next day and so I will leave it here.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Time in Krakow Coming to a Close
I woke up around 7 and showered as usual but the bus for the salt mines wasn’t leaving until 9:15 so I had so time. I mostly used this time to write and download some documents to read for Oxford that night on the train. I left a little early to stop at the grocery so I could buy a little something for the trip (since breakfast at the hostel was provided). I got a fresh made pastry/Danish thing which was delicious and I only paid around $.50! The bus ride to the salt mines was much shorter than to Auschwitz and I had booked with the same company so the minibus was very similar. We met the guide when we got off the bus but to tell you the truth I feel that paying the tour company I did is a bit of a rip off because once on site both at Auschwitz and the salt mine you have to enter with a guide anyway. The site provides that for individuals so in reality what I was paying for was the transport which was nice and picked me up only two minutes away from the hostel but I think just figuring it out myself would have been a bit more complicated but much more cost efficient. I know this now and if I ever return or in future similar situations I can apply this bit of realization I gained. The salt mines themselves were pretty amazing. We walked down about 200 feet to the first level of the mine and were able to go down two more levels. Apparently, there are nine levels in total but the ninth level is flooded. They no longer mine salt there but they pump up the salt water and evaporate the water to get salt. The basic structure was tunnels and caverns, some big, some small. A lot of them had statues built out of salt and dedicated to important people in the mine’s history. One of the first and most memorable was one of Nicholas Copernicus who had visited the mine as a boy and so they know that the mine was visited even in the 1500s which is amazing to think about. There were multiple chapels and one pretty big one that is actually open on Sunday for mass to the public. I had reliefs carved into the salt walls and chandeliers made out of salt. It was beautiful and I will put up the pictures I have as soon as it can. The mine itself was very extensive and even had a room for reception and concerts, a restaurant, and much more. The tour lasted around three hours and we only saw about one percent of the mine our guide told us. There is also a more extreme tour where you actually put on mining gear and a head lamp and get to crawl through the mines. If I ever get back there at a young enough age I truly want to do that but I think the basic tour was great for my first visit. We went back to the city and I stopped off at the hostel to wash up and check the time of the Jewish tour. I had some time so I went up and wandered around the castle grounds and just looked over the city and the river. It was very relaxing and I wander down to the main square and just people watched until the tour. In Krakow, and I’ve seen them in other places in Europe as well, they had water spikets which either have a constant flow of water or you have to pump it. This water is clean and drinkable but is also used to wash hands and things like that. So, I was sitting by the fountain and just watching people’s interaction with this. The cutest little boy ran over and pumped forever and his dad pumped a few time but he was so determined to get it working and he finally did, thinking it was fantastic. The tour finally started at three and was about three hours. The tour guide took us to the Jewish sector and showed us many important places, all the time explain the history of the Jewish people there in Krakow. The Jews originally had their own city with their own laws and ruling and this is the area of Krakow called Kremnica. The tour was pretty good, I was just really tired. I didn’t know this but almost all of the movie Schindler’s List was filled there and it was about the Jews of that area. The guide told us that the film of course wasn’t accurate and that the Jews originally lived in Kremnica. They were expelled to the other side of the river but since the actually Kreminca still was filled with structures from the WWII period they decided to film the movie there, not actually where the Jewish ghetto was. This was all very interesting and I am glad that I went but I was really tired so I headed back to the hostel with the intention of showering. I stopped off at the grocery to buy some fruit and something sweet for the ride and I also bought some bread from the street vendor. I figured I could eat that with peanut butter and some fruit and that would be perfect. When I got back I had to get the keys to unlock my luggage because I had to check out that morning and the hostel was storing my bags. In the process of getting some things out of my bag I ran into the Irish guys from the other night and we started talking about I don’t even remember but by the time we were done I had the desk keys for about an hour so I figured I shouldn’t keep them and shower. I went to get on the computer and talked with the Irish guys some more because they were having a coffee in the kitchen. I have decided I really liked them and so we took pictures and added each other on facebook. They both actually live in London and said they would show me around. I also found out that they were leaving on a night train as well around the same time so we decided to go to the station together. They were a true blessing because they insisted on carrying my bags, which I felt horrible about but they would hear nothing about it. All I carried was my backpacking pack and the carried my small backpack, my black bag as well as their own backpacks. They got me on the train after some confusion about my seating, loaded my bags onto the luggage racks and said goodbye. At this point, I decided I really like them and plan to keep in contact. The only other person in my cabin was a Slovak guy and so we spoke for a while. I told him what I knew in Slovak and then read some stuff on my computer, falling asleep in the process. The train ride was long and fuzzy since I was sleeping on and off and was pretty groggy. I didn’t pay for a sleeping car because it was a bit extra so I just had a regular seat but after the Slovak gut got off I laid across three seats until some business people got on around six in the morning. This is about the some of my trip and it starts running into the next day and so I will leave it here.
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