Duncan and Joe

Joe and I both wanted to see Aushwitz as part of our travels through Poland. We knew it would be a difficult, yet important, day trip to make. We boarded a bus to Aushwitz in the early afternoon from the old town.

Putting the experience into words is difficult, but it was undoubtedly one of the most emotional, educational, influential, and important parts of the trip. 

Joe and I split up so we could each explore parts of the city we’d been interested in. 

I wanted to see more of the Polish countryside, so I checked out one of the rental bikes again. I headed off with a general idea of where I wanted to go, but that quickly shifted when it because clear bike paths on that route were limited. I followed a more established bike path, which eventually just turned into a thin dirt path along a river. It took only thirty minutes of biking to go from the heart of the city to remote parts. 

The countryside, aside from the architecture, felt a lot like Massachusetts, something I’d noticed in Germany as well. When I’d go through stretches where there were no buildings in sight, it truly felt like I could have been biking through a town somewhere in the Northeast. 

I followed the path northwest away from the city, and then back down southwest before hitting the Wisla river and following a path along the river back into the city. Once back in the city I visited the Wawel Castle, a beautiful castle with what I found to be a somewhat boring interior (I’ve never been a big fan of tapestries), but worth seeing regardless. 

That night Joe and I went full in on a Polish meal. We ate more peroggies than either of us care to remember. 

We were originally planning on skipping Warsaw, but the train to Berlin from Krakow travels through Warsaw, so it seemed like a logical place to spend a couple nights. Warsaw was fine, but lacked some of the more distinct cultural elements we’d seen in other cities–perhaps years of fascism and communism took their toll on the more vibrant ways of life. I think we’d also been spoiled by the rest of the cities in Europe–it’s hard to compete with the seafood in Lisbon or the sausages, potatoes, and beer in Munich.

We traveled via high-speed train from Krakow to Warsaw in the early afternoon.

The first, an unmissable, thing we saw in Warsaw was the Palace of Culture and Science. As you can probably tell from the name of it, it was built during the Soviet-controlled Poland era, and is apparently a somewhat controversial building because of that (and because it dominates the aesthetic of the city). 

We ate some delicious Shwarma near our apartment before heading off to do some exploring. 

That night we had more delicious Polish food, though by this point we were getting a little tired of the heavy meat and potatoes diet. 

Day two we tried to be more cultured and went to the Chopin museum. It was alright. I love his music, but I’m not sure I really needed to see a whole museum on this guy. 

We went to the technology museum after the Chopin museum. Honestly, after going to the Deutches museum in Munich this museum was pretty disappointing. It looked like most of the exhibits hadn’t been updated in forty years and were in bad need of some love.

I swear we didn’t eat KFC in Poland. Really, though, locals love this stuff. The longest lines we saw were to order at KFC. It did not disappoint, and occasionally it’s nice to have a predictable meal when so much of what you’re eating is new.

We took a lot of time to catch up on our various projects in Warsaw. It was a good place to recharge before heading into what we knew would be a whirlwind stretch of Berlin->Israel->India.