Catching up to Prague

Ah, Europe, with your centuries of intricate history, hidden courtyards & coiled backalleys, myriad cultures in travel-sized countries, and predisposition to food poisoning. If I'm behind in posting, blame the unknown Polish toxin that had me bed-ridden for my first day in the Czech Republic. But no worries, I'm back on my feet, and tomorrow, the wide world of Prague awaits.

But to finish up Poland properly, here's few photos!

The hodgepodge of architecture styles of Wawel Castle & Cathedral. Here Polish saints, national heroes, & monarchs are entombed in the handsome church. We climbed to the top of the bell tower in the back for excellent view of Krakow on a clear winter day.



Krakow: A lazy lion on Market Square, the elaborate interior of 14th century St. Mary's Basilica, and Brian feeding swans on the River Vistula beneath Wawel Hill














We also visited Auschwitz and Birkenau, names synonymous with evil. The sites were not as well presented as the National Holocaust Museum in D.C., but the importance of visiting, perhaps, is simply realizing as you stand in the cold rain that yes, evil does exist and yes, this did happen to millions of people. That anyone could have survived seems impossible to me....

Electrified fences surrounded the bleak compounds. Many of the original structures were destroyed by the SS, who tried to hide the evidence of the "Final Solution" while they retreated. Four of the five crematoriums were dynamited, while Crematorium IV was burned down by the sole prisoner rebellion at Auschwitz.

Taken from the guard station over looking the train platform in Birkenau. Here in 1944, the Nazis rushed train cars full of Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers. Almost one half of all Jews killed at Auschwitz were Hungarian Jews gassed in a 10 week period during that summer.

Back in Krakow, we wandered Kazimierz, the old Jewish district with no more Jews. Throughout this part of the world, it seems to be a reoccurring theme. Here in Prague, we visited the Josevof district where tens of thousands of Jews used to live (including the famous Franz Kafka). Today, virtually no Jews remain.

More from Prague tomorrow.