/* BUILDING THE BLOG */
08 December 2007
Poland - very educational, but don't let that put you off.
Poland has had it pretty rough over the last few hundred years, and had the worst time possible over the five years of WWII. It was invaded in 1939 by the Nazis, and then two weeks later by the Russians (Hitler and Stalin were buds back then and split it between them). Practically all of the Jews there were killed (millions, including 300,000 in Warsaw alone), either through direct murder in the gas chambers, or by being worked and/or starved to death in the ghettos or concentration camps. Millions of other Poles were also killed by the Nazis and the Russians, and the entire city of Warsaw was completely destroyed in 1944 as revenge for an uprising by the local home army, an uprising that would have been successful (the war was practically over at this point) if the promised for assistance from the allies (especially the Russians, who sat on the other side of the Visla river watching the action) had arrived. And then of course when the Nazis finally gave up in 1945, the Red Army moved in and took over Poland for the next 40 years.
Considering the rough history they have had the Polish people are amazing. Warsaw has been completely rebuilt: the old town exactly as it was before the war, and other parts have sparkling and exotic skyscrapers and shopping malls, and the country looks to be thriving. Important WWII sites have been preserved (from marking important battle and execution points throughout the city of Warsaw, to the now museum sites at Auschwitz, preserved as they were 60 years ago). We might forget the horrors that happened back then, but it's going to take the Poles a lot longer, and with good reason.
Highlights (although understandably not all fun ones) of our trip to Krakow and Warsaw were:
- Staying in the old Jewish quarter in Krakow (in a lovely new Hostel) and the city itself, which is charming.
- Seeing one of Leonardo Da Vinci's best paintings, the Lady with an Ermine, in the Princes Czartoryski Museum (Heather thinks it's way better than Mona Lisa).
- The Wieliczka Salt Mines, with a massive chapel dug directly out of salt-rock 300 metres below the surface.
- Visiting Auschwitz, especially the Birkenau part which is just so massive, with accommodation for over 100,000 people, although the worst part is that most people that arrived never even spent a night there, being sent straight to one of the four gas chambers.
- Warsaw old town, which is pretty much brand spanking new, although you wouldn't know it.
- The Warsaw Uprising Museum. Relates the events of the fateful two months in late 1944, when large parts of Warsaw briefly saw freedom, before being systematically flattened. Even museum expert/snob Heather was mightily impressed with this one.
- We saw a bunch of other musuems in Warsaw. We thought the Marie Curie museum was crap, the Chopin one pretty good, the Castle was confusing but impressive and the History of Warsaw Museum was huge but well set out.
The recent history of Poland is a bit depressing, but the current state of Poland rocks and is kicking arse. If you get the chance to go, go.
And now for Heather's food comments:
Pierogi are excellent, it's like Italy meets China in a dumpling/ravioli type food. And they are extremely tasty when served with a jug of hot lard with bacon bits swimming in it (that's the savoury ones - meat, mushrooms, spinach, cheese, potato, lentils). The sweet ones (containing cheese, poppy seeds, plums, apple) are drowned in cream. Guaranteed to make you happy!
