The alarm goes off at 9 and I’m probably still a little drunk. We drag ourselves downstairs to eat the free breakfast, which is far better than any free hotel breakfast I’ve had in the states, and includes scrambled eggs and ham. Unfortunately, we have to choke down our food because neither of us are feeling that great. Now aware of where we actually are, we walk the few kilometers to the city center and find the bus station. We buy tickets to the town of Oswiecim and get on the bus. The trip takes about an hour and a half, and because of our crazy night and lack of sleep, neither one of us have a very comfortable ride. I have the same initial experience with Auschwitz that I had when I went to the Alamo--I’m completely confused at how it exists in a town. I always imagined it would be located in a barren field somewhere far from civilization, but there is a town living in the shadow of this monument to horror; there is a mall within walking distance from the gates.
There’s not much that I could tell you about this place that you’re not already aware of. In addition, there’s no way to describe the gravity of that place--the way it has the ability to make your heart so heavy and pile more weight than you think you can handle upon your shoulder--so I won’t even try. The one thing I noticed that I wasn’t expecting is that it isn’t ugly; the grass was green, there were birds singing in trees, the buildings don’t look terrifying (from the outside). I had almost assumed that the things that happened there would have had a Chernobyl-type effect on the land. Anyway, we walked around and through the buildings, many of which have been turned into sort of a museum. It was nearly 3:00 by the time we left, which meant we didn’t have time to go down the road to Birkenau. I am told that it is even more gruesome, and that children under the age of 14 aren’t allowed to visit that site. It’s probably a good thing that we couldn’t go, because I don’t know how much more either one of us could handle.
We’re pretty quiet the entire ride back to Krakow. We get to town and go find a polish restaurant for some food. It has a log cabin feel, with a stone hearth and blazing fire in the main room, as well as some delicious food. Full and warm we walk back to our hotel to shower and nap again. We head back into town and meet up with some more people from CouchSurfing. Zenia, who is a first generation Pole from Chicago, and her friends Matt from London and Echo from China. They take us to a techno dance club that is too loud. JM and I don’t feel like drinking because of the last two nights, so we sip sodas. Echo has some crazy stories, when you can hear her, but Zenia and Matt are more interested in making out. We hang out until about midnight and then call it a night.
There are couple of inches of snow on the ground when we wake up. Our free breakfast is delicious this time around, and we’re feeling pretty good about the trip, overall. We get packed up, check out, and head back to the main market square. We walk around for a little bit and then start making our way to the bus station, determined to get it right this time. There’s a giant, four-story mall on the way, so we walk through. It’s packed with people and looks like any other mall. We get on the bus and watch two year old movies overdubbed in Hungarian, but with English subtitles. After nearly eight hours on the bus, we finally make it back to the apartment. The really strange thing about taking a trip from Budapest was that the whole time I kept thinking that when the trip was over I should be going home, but instead I knew that I would be going back to Budapest. Still, it was a great trip. Next up is Rome, tentatively planned for late February.
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