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I was born very far from where I'm supposed to be and so I'm on my way home.
--Bob Dylan
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Annoyed!
Ok. So I'm getting a little worried here. I'm supposed to be flying across the world to see a certain someone and have had no word about whether that's still on. There's no reason why it shouldn't be, but some confirmation would be nice. On top of that, the last few days have been pretty random. I'm, gonna try my rest to relay this positively... I tried typing this entry last night but the power cut out and I lost 2 pages...
Anyhoo, I feel bad for Prague. It's this beautiful city that I absolutely skirted right over. I spent a day and a half there because frankly I thought everything there I had seen everywhere else already. My first day I went on a walking tour and got to see the Old town, Main Square, Jewish Quarters and Castle district. I just didn't feel like there was much more for me to see in the city center. My second full day, I did go on a day trip though, with 2 more chill Aussies, to a town called Kunta Hora. There's this church there whose entire interior is decorated with human bones. 40,000 people's skeletons helped to make ornate chandeleirs, vases, coat of arms, wreaths, towers, and these massive furnace like structures. The cool thing, though, is that it's not meant to be sinister in any way. The whole thing is supposed to symbolize eternal life and some other nice message. Basically the cemetary of the church was too small to hold everyone and they just thought they'd put the remains to good use... all right, yeah it was creepy. There was also this amazing Gothic and Baroque Cathedral in this little town. By far the collest thing there were these gigantic frescoes painted on the interior of the various chapels in the Cathedral. I've never seen anything like that. Basically, that was my time in the Czech Republic; weird seeing as I was most looking forward to Prague, right?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention all the crap I went through that second day. So one of the girls I was visiting the church with got pickpoketed on the train. Some jerks stole her wallet and we spent the morning searching for a police station, 4 of which we found, but only the last of which could actually take care of our problem.
Then! When we got back from Kunta Hora, I was delighted to find out that my train to Krakow (yes I decided to go, my pass worked there and I couldn't see a reason not to) was leaving 25 minutes early. Now that might not seem like much. But when I needed to take a train and bus to get back to my hostel, pick up my pack and then reverse the process, it was daunting. I had just over half an hour. I would like to say, though, that due to my amazing amazingness, I JUST made it. However, I proceeded to take the WORST train ride of my entire life. The night train to Krakow was horrendously crowded. I found a compartment with a pregnant lady only to find out that my part of the train would be splitting from the part of the train going to Krakow. I tried to find a seat on the proper part of the train but had to spend and hour having a breakdown in between the sleeping and sitting cars next to the stinky bathroom. I finally got a seat in a compartment with 5 other people that was ridiculously uncomfortable. So there's the crap, don't worry, it gets better.
So I made it to Krakow, albeit sore and grumpy, at 6am. I found my hostel easy enough and agreed to pay a little extra to stay in a room that was available right away, I was exhausted! I awoke and what's a girl to do when she's been in a city for a few hours? Well, visit a notoriously horrific concentration camp of course! Yeah, I took a tour to Auschwitz, a true testament the atrocities committed during the Nazi regime. It wasn't as shocking as I thought it'd be, but I think that's in part because I'm slightly desensitized to it, having learned so much about that time during my schooling and personal research. It was still daunting. The magnitude and calcuated/ systematic way that such despicable things occurred is really hard to fathom, even when it's right in front of you. As if to set the mood, it thundered the entire time we were there. Right before we left, as we exited the only remaining Crematorium and gas chamber, it started to pour. It was weird because before we got to the camp it was sunny and when we left it was sunny. It seemed like the rain cloud had just settled over Auschwitz. While I didn't cry, i did feel physically ill a couple of time. Most noticeable when I had to look at pictures of children that were killed and some of their clothes... barely larger than my hands. They also have put in the exhibit section of the camp, the material belongings found that used to belong to various victims. The most startling was probably the 4,400 pounds of human hair behind glass that the Nazi's shaved from their victims and used to make nets and cloth. The prostetic limbs, Jewish prayer shawls, spectacles, and mountains of shoes didn't help either. It was a really emotional experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it. Poland would have been worth the trip just for that.
Today I just walked around Krakow. The Main square market here is absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it. Just this massive massive space where people eat and perform and sit and dance and chat and people watch. It's beautiful.
I definitely need to come back and spend a decent amount of time here. This is another country that is ripe with history... it's been invaded by no less than 12 empires! (Doesn't help that it's super flat).
But if all goes as planned I'll be in Kyrgyzstan in about 36 hours... the end of my trip in solitude. As if! I have met SOOOOOO many amazing people.
So far I've been to:
Switzerland: Geneva, Bern, Luzern, Interlaken, Zurich
Bavaria
Austria: Salzburg, Villach, Vienna
Slovenia: Ljubljana
Croatia: Zagreb, Split
Hungary: Budapest
the Czech Republic: Prague, Kunta Hora
Poland: Krakow, Auschwitz
next up: Kyrgyzstan
then... school 
"Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!"--Anonymous
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Posted: 9:49 AM, 8/8/2007 in Unspecified |
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| good to hear from you today, what an amazing journey!! I am so proud of you and the responsible mature way you have ventured out into the world. hoe Kryzgestan? works out if it doesn't not to worry you have been on amazing journey, enjoy it and hold the memories close to you. |
Posted by mom at 4:35 PM, 8/8/2007 |
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