On trumpeters and dragons

I've been in Krakow, the former capital of Poland, for about 2 days, arriving by bus from Warsaw on Sunday around 3 pm. I had a little trouble finding the hostel, but it's pretty close to the main town square, so it was a nice walk around anyway. I came in through the old city barbican and gates, and then came down a narrow street bustling with shops, cafes, and kebab stands (a LOT of kebab stands). The hostel is located in a building that is under construction with no number on the front, but I reasoned that number 13 must logically be located next to number 11, so I went past the tarps hanging on the side of the building and found myself in a kind of small alley. There was a kiosk there in the front so I asked the woman working there where the hostel was, and she told me to go upstairs. When I got to the top of the staircase, a man came out and said "hostel?" and I said "yes" and he said something in Polish so I asked whether he spoke English. He nodded and then went on speaking Polish. But eventually he pointed me back down the stairs, further through the alley, which I saw opened onto a bigger courtyard with a restaurant in the back, and another set of stairs and a teeny tiny sign that said "hostel". So I went up those stairs and finally found myself in the hostel. I checked in and was told there was a free walking tour in 30 minutes so figured I'd check it out. I went over to the meeting place with another guest from Japan. The tour was good, and everyone was right: Krakow is a very pretty old city. Unlike Warsaw, it was pretty much spared during World War II so the buildings are all still more or less original. 

The largest cathedral is actually right down the road from the hostel, and there are trumpeters, four of them, who play out of each of the four corner windows of the top tower every hour. I love it, but I can see why some people who live here might find it annoying. The anthem they play has a silly story attached to it: the melody goes along and starts to repeat but is cut off in the second round and ends rather abruptly. As the story goes, back in the days when the trumpeters were used to protect the city (keeping watch from the highest tower and blowing the trumpet when enemies were coming), one spotted some Mongol armies riding in and started to sound the alarm. The Krakow army rallied and defeated the Mongols, thanks to the brave trumpeter, but the last Mongol arrow pierced his throat and he was unable to finish the song. Okay but according to our tour guide the Mongol attacks were before the towers were even built. Apparently the story was invented by a tour guide and perpetuated by an American tourist who also happened to be a writer and rushed home to write a children's book about it, only to discover later that it was untrue. Oh well... Makes for a good story anyway.

The Old Town is full of a lot of churches - we saw most of them and they have pretty much just run together for me. Krakow is also a big university town, so we saw the old university, where Copernicus was a student. Then we climbed the hill where the castle sits, and we walked around the courtyard for a bit. The castle was built on the spot where many decades ago a dragon used to live, devouring peasants cows and sheep and young daughters. The king offered his daughter and his kingdom to whichever brave knight could slay the dragon. Unfortunately, all the knights failed and the dragon ate them. Then a shoemaker tried, by feeding the dragon a sheep filled with fire. The dragon ate the sheep, then, in pain, opened his mouth and fire came out, but the dragon exploded. The shoemaker used the bits of dragon skin to make shoes, and that's why no dragon parts were ever found. Or the dragon never existed in the first place. You decide. In any case, stuffed and otherwise fake dragons are to be found all over the city.

After the tour, the Japanese guy and I walked around on our own for a bit then had some pierogi at a place recommended by our receptionist (filled with mushrooms and cabbage... Delicious). Then we kept walking to see the city at night.

We crossed the river but then headed back to the hostel - I was pretty tired, so just went to bed.

The next day I went to Auschwitz. I am struggling to find words to describe the place. It was very moving, but very harsh. I liked the memorials that were in various parts of the camp, placed by visitors as well as survivors. I think pictures will describe it better than I can.

The electrocuted fence, with a guard tower behind:

Memorial at the execution wall. It is located between two buildings. One is a barracks. Those windows are blocked so prisoners could not see what happened here. The other side is where political prisoners awaited their trial. Those windows were not blocked. They knew what their fate would be:

Memorial at the end of the railway at Birkenau, the extermination camp 3 kilometers from Auschwitz. This railway ends right at the crematoria.

Crematorium and gas chamber, destroyed by the Nazis 4 days before the camp was liberated, as a way to hide what was going on.

Barracks at Birkenau.

An inscription at the memorial at Birkenau. There is a block in every language spoken by the 1.5 million people who were imprisoned here.

For ever let this place be a cry of despair.

When the bus got back to Krakow, it was pouring rain, so I waited it out at the hostel for a while, and then, a couple hours later, strolled through Old Town. The guy from Japan and I went out to get a beer, and met three Polish girls, a Polish guy and a Libyan guy who invited us to a karaoke bar. So my last night in Poland was spent with representatives from most continents, in a karaoke bar. Oh and also the bar used to be a dungeon, so the walls were all made of stone and you had to go down this terrifying staircase to get there.

Today it's rainy again, so I walked around the Jewish neighborhood for a bit, but mostly just hid out in a cafe with a cup of coffee. There wasn't too much I could go into, but I did come across this cathedral (why is there a cathedral in the Jewish neighborhood? I do not know):

For now I am keeping warm and dry in the hostel, and I get on a train to Prague in just a few hours; I'll be there by the morning!