Super duper late update... ;)
I'm not gonna explain the usual way I did last time (showing pictures and then elaborate... lol). Part of the reasons is also because it's quite a while ago.. haha...
Krakow-Auschwitz trip (25/12/09 - 28/12/09)
My first white Christmas was apparently not WHITE!! LOL... the snow melted day before Christmas, so the temperature was pretty warm around 9-10C in Krakow. I spent my Christmas traveling to Krakow instead.
To travel to Krakow, the best way is by 3 hours train ride. 5 of us from Warsaw (Kio, Hwei Teng, Geetha, Ray and me) with Hao Chii and Hoh from Krakow...
It's my first time joining seniors for a trip, and finally paying a visit to my Krakow comrades. =) I felt really happy and grateful when there were seniors picked us up and helped us with our luggage bag once we arrived at the train station. To all seniors of Krakow thanks for bringing us around and staying at your apartments.
Unlike Warsaw, Krakow is a tourist spot. Once you reached there, the atmosphere is totally different. Nice, relaxing mood instead of stressful and busy city lifestyle in Warsaw (but!!!! I still like studying in Warsaw..LOL..). Most of the old town buildings and streets were so well preserved. Surprisingly, restaurants and shops that we went can communicate in English ;)
Traditional Polish food that I tried for the first time here is pierogi (Polish dumplings with carrots/potatoes/chicken meat/turkey..etc)
Since it's Christmas, most shops and museums were closed. So we didn't do much of exploring nor learning a lot from museums and Jewish synagogues... The best places of Krakow I think were the St. Mary's church (Kosciol Mariacki), Old Town Market Square, with horse carriages during the day, and the Christmas market =)
They sell hot wine in the Christmas market, so when you are freezing cold, getting a cup of hot cup of wine is ......
oh! not forgeting the Wawel Castle, such a great view when you are outside the castle, looking down and you can see the amazing view of the river and night lights of Krakow. next to the wawel castle, Wawel Cathedral . There's also a Krakow dragon that will blow fire out of its mouth every 2-3 minutes... there's a legend of the Krakow dragon.
For me, I think I really learnt more about Polish history when we had a one day trip to Auschwitz. If anyone have a chance to travel around Poland, Auschwitz is a place that he/she should check it out. I had many of my questions about Polish history/Holocaust/World War II answered when I visit Auschwitz.
We had a great tour guide who did a great job on explaining what happened to the people who send to these concentration camps, how they felt at that time, the process and the suffering in these camps. There are rooms with displays of remaining luggage bags, tooth brushes, bowls, shoes, glasses and even combs of the victims, photos of victims with their dates of entry and death below (mostly not exceed 2weeks to 2 months)...etc..
There's one room which strike me most that even the tour guide didn't want to go into that room again, rather she stays outside while letting us have our reflection on our own when we saw with our own eyes...
Victims' belongings were sorted, stored and subsequently departed for Germany...The victims were killed in gas chambers within 30-45mins (they were lied by the Nazis that they were heading to shower room). None of their bodies were remained, their hairs were cut off, packed tightly into bags to sell and send to factories (making hair cloth). Human ashes were used as fertilizer, and for filing in nearby ponds or river beds.
...and what was that room about?
7 tons of human hairs. Hairs from the victims... These were the remains which the camp authorities had not yet managed to sell and send to factories inside Reich.
There are 3 concentration camp, and we went to tour 2 of them (Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Auschwitz III).
The last photo in my slide was a english translation monument,
"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million of men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe
Auschwitz-Birkenau
1940-1945"
p/s: some sentences above were copied from Auschwitz Birkenau Guide-Book for more accurate info. If there's any mistakes or anything more to add, please do comment below. Thank you. =)
Auschwitz-Birkenau
1940-1945"
p/s: some sentences above were copied from Auschwitz Birkenau Guide-Book for more accurate info. If there's any mistakes or anything more to add, please do comment below. Thank you. =)
We had a christmas dinner and also gathering with all Krakow comrades. It's really good for me to get to know all seniors and fulfilling my promise to pay a visit to Krakow, meeting the 9 of my batch friends who are studying in JU. =)
Update about my previous exam, Thank God, really praise Him for blessing me with a great Krakow trip, and passing of my Histology retake exam and Anatomy Head and Neck exam. I felt so relieved to have a 3 weeks break after all the exams. (6 more days to count down and the break will end =/ )
Late congrats to Susu (Sue Ting) for best student award in KTT. =) CONGRATS!!!! Proud of you girl!
