Wieliczka, Wawel Castle & Kazimierz

We woke up in the morning to find snow! Brrr.... Fortunately we knew beforehand that it would be snowing that Saturday, so we decided to visit Auschwitz the day before, since it involved spending a lot of time out in the open.

We set off for the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines, which was a short bus ride from the Old Town itself. The mine is included on Unesco's World Heritage List; everything there is made from salt- the chandeliers, altarpieces, sculptures, etc. The highlight of the visit is the richly ornamented Chapel of the Blessed Kinga; a beautiful chapel made of salt! Visiting the salt mine was a really unique experience! :)

We headed back to the city and finally found time to visit Wawel Hill. South of the Old Town, the hill is crowned with the Wawel Castle and Cathedral, both of which are enduring symbols of Poland. We were a little short on time, so we didn't get to see many of the attractions within the castle grounds, but it was nice just to walk around. We did pop into the Cathedral to take a quick look though.

Wawel Castle

Apparently, Krakow is a city founded upon the defeat of a dragon; hence the many dragon-related souvenirs! :)

We moved on to Kazimierz- the Jewish Quarter, where we visited the 15-th century Old Synagogue, the oldest Jewish religious building in Poland. It now houses the Jewish Museum, and it was really interesting to check out the exhibitions on Jewish traditions. We didn't have enough time there though, and it was a pity that we had to rush through the exhibits since the museum was closing! :p

It was a our last night in Poland, so we decided that we ought to have dinner in a Polish restaurant. We ended up at Chlopskie Jadlo, a really unique cellar restaurant with a country inn theme- complete with wooden benches and traditional music. Dinner was absolutely delicious- hubby had the veal schnitzel, and I opted for this...

Bacon roulade stuffed with meat and mushrooms in an aromatic herb dressing,

served with Silesian dumplings

We had beer again (of course!) and this time, it was Okocim! I have never had so much beer in my life! :)

Auschwitz & Birkenau

This was probably our main reason for going to Krakow. The site of the largest German Nazi concentration and extermination camps was something we had to see. It was such a heavy experience, and words simply cannot do it justice.

Getting to Oświęcim (Auschwitz in German) wasn’t too difficult, although we were quite shocked to discover that people who didn’t manage to get a seat (it was a really, really small bus) just had to stand the entire journey. That’s one and a half hours of standing! Gosh.

It was really cold when we got to Auschwitz. I was slightly taken aback to see so many people there, but once we figured out where to buy tickets and the guidebook, we left the noisy crowd behind and wandered onto the camp grounds.

We were greeted by an entrance bearing the words ‘Arbeit macht frei’- which ironically, translates to ‘Work Brings Freedom’. The prisoners marched through these very gates to their 12 hours (or more) of slave labour, and returned from a day’s work carrying the bodies of their dead friends. On the small square by the kitchen, the camp orchestra would play marches, mustering the thousands of prisoners so that they could be counted more efficiently. Inside the camp, there were rows and rows of buildings where people were imprisoned; these now house exhibitions detailing the atrocity of the Holocaust.

At times, it was almost too difficult to read the explanations on how people were systematically tortured and exterminated. And then, there were such powerful displays- rooms full of human hair (which were taken from the dead and sold to make cloth), shoes (belonging to both adults and children), empty suitcases, spectacles… the list goes on.

The Nazis rounded up all the ‘undesirables’ from the areas which they conquered- including Jews and gypsies, promising relocation to other parts of the German empire. The unsuspecting victims thus packed all their valuables, thinking they were headed for a better place, but subsequently found themselves at the death camps. The Nazis separated them to those who were fit to work, and those who were not. Those who were not fit to work, including women and children, were sent to the gas chambers to die. Others, like twins and dwarfs, were subjected to cruel experiments by the infamous Dr Mengele.

The Execution Wall

I had to hold back tears many times throughout that day, and I often saw other people wiping away theirs. It was so sad to know that man could be so cruel to their own kind.

Leaving Auschwitz, we moved on to see Birkenau, some 3 km away. In some ways, Birkenau was even more shocking. This vast, purpose-built and grimly efficient camp had more than 300 prison barracks and four huge chambers complete with crematoria. The camp stretches almost as far as the eye can see; and one simply cannot hide from the overwhelming, lingering despair.

Birkenau

International Monument to the Victims of Fascism

I leave you with a quote seen in Auschwitz, by George Santayana:

‘The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again’.

May we never forget this part of history.

Off to Krakow, Poland!

We got up early in the morning to catch the S-Bahn to the airport. We were greeted by a nasty surprise though- there was a public transport strike going on, which meant that only one train was going to the airport (instead of two). So there we were, rather stressed out by the thought of missing our flight! Groan.

Thank God we managed to get there on time; and we checked in quickly using those check-in kiosks; very convenient.

Munich airport

Our adventures for the day were far from over. When we arrived in Krakow, the Immigration Officer at passport control gave us SUCH a hard time. He inspected our passports with a magnifying glass, asked for our return flight and accommodation details; and through it all he wore such an unpleasant expression on his face. I think that was seriously the longest I have ever had to wait to get into any country. Was so darn annoyed- duh, seriously, if I were an illegal immigrant leaving my country in search of a better life elsewhere, would I choose Poland???

Anyway, we finally got through, picked up our backpacks and then proceeded to catch the bus to town. I have to say that the signs in Krakow, in general, are really not that easy to follow. We finally found the bus stop, waited half an hour for the bus and then off we went to town. The route to town was rather odd, because the bus seemed to be going through small villages all the way (i.e. not a highway or trunk roads).

We finally got to town, and then decided to be gung-ho and walk to the hotel, instead of catching a taxi, and we ended up getting lost. Walking up and down with a huge backpack was certainly no fun at all. :p

The hotel was situated very near the Old Town so that was nice. Hubby commented that the layout of the town was rather unique, as there was a ring of greenery around the town centre, which made the walk quite pleasant.

The beautiful Old Town Square (Rynek Glowny) is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is dominated by the spectacular 16th-century Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), the 14th-century St.Mary’s church, and the Town Hall Tower. One thing I noticed was that people seemed to be really like flowers- quite a lot of people brought bouquets to greet their loved ones at the airport, and you can see people buying and carrying flowers everywhere. Even Rynek Glowny was filled with flower vendors!

The beautiful Cloth Hall

Munching a pretzel we bought from one of the many street vendors, we walked down ul Florianska right up to the Florian Gate and the Barbican, a defensive bastion built in 1498. After exchanging Euros for Polish Zlotys, we went in search of dinner.

We stumbled upon this nice restaurant called Nostalgia, featured in our Lonely Planet. I was so excited about trying Polish food, heh. Hubby ordered the pork loins in green pepper sauce, and I ordered a traditional Polish soup called ‘zurek’, which had sausages and slices of hard boiled egg in it. Now I’m not sure whether ‘zurek’ is meant to taste like that (*cough* *splutter*); if I may say this in the words of dear Fatboy- it was saltier than the Dead Sea! :p

My super-salty 'zurek'

I was so stuffed from having to eat the soup with some bread, that I had little room left for my main course- Russian dumplings, which were dumplings filled with cheese, and complimented with a sprinkling of bacon bits. They were so filling, and I simply could not manage to eat all of them.

Oh, and beer was Zywiec this time! :)

Farewell dinner at Hofbrauhaus, Munich

We left Salzburg and arrived in Munich in the late afternoon. The highlight of the evening was the farewell dinner at the world-famous Hofbrauhaus.

It was a buffet dinner, and while the food wasn’t great, it was decent enough. It was the atmosphere that was so memorable! People were packed tightly at long tables in a big hall, enjoying the food, the Bavarian music, and of course, those HUGE mugs of beer!

The hall we were in was filled with tour groups; it was so hard to get in and out of our chairs.. :p (But I guess it’s a small taste of what a beer tent at Oktoberfest would be like!)

The performances were quite entertaining :)

We sang, danced, and made a lot of noise! We tried to finish the 1 litre mug of beer, but it was just too much- what with all the food we already ate, heh.

Look at this monster mug!

Overall, it was a wonderful evening indeed. Later, back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes to our wonderful fellow travellers, with promises to share photos and keep in touch.

Our COSMOS Bohemian Rhapsody tour was over, but we still had a bit of travelling to do! Watch this space for more!

The Hills are Alive, with the Sound of Music...

As with all the other cities, our visit of Salzburg began with a city tour. Amongst other things, we saw the Mozart’s birthplace and residence, the Residenzplatz and the Dom (Cathedral). Mozart is now a major tourist drawcard to this pretty town of Salzburg, but apparently, the man himself found Salzburg stifling and could not wait to leave. Heh.

Anyway, for the longest time, I was excited at the thought of taking the ‘Sound of Music’ tour when we got to Salzburg (which was where Maria and the von Trapp family had all their adventures). I love the movie, and I was longing to retrace Maria’s steps, singing ‘the hills are alive’ as I ran through the green hills. Hahaha!

After all that hype, we ended up deciding not to do the tour after all, since we heard that one cannot actually see that many of the movie locations in Salzburg itself (you had to go to nearby Salzkammergut or err… the Hollywood studio). :p Besides, we had very little time to see Salzburg, so we decided the time could be put to better use exploring the town itself.

With that, we decided to visit the Festung Hohensalzburg, a castle fortress built in 1077, which promised beautiful views of Salzburg and the Salzach River running through it. We hopped on the funicular Festungbahn, since I had no intention of climbing a hill with my sore feet. The fortress DID offer lovely views; and it was quite pleasant to walk around in the grounds and pop into the museums and staterooms open to visitors.

View of Salzburg from the fortress

Leaving the Festung, we then went in search of Nonnberg Abbey, which apparently was the place where ‘The Sound of Music’ first encountered Maria. We got there, looked around a bit, but still couldn’t see anything that we recognised from the movie! Cheh. Maybe we SHOULD have signed up for the tour after all! Oh well :p

We grabbed a quick lunch, and then munched on apples while we watched people playing chess on a BIG chessboard. It was sunny and warm, so we grabbed an ice-cream as we headed for Mozartplatz to board our bus.

See the big chessboard?

By the way, the man standing on the golden ball is a sculpture :)

A fitting song to sing as we left Salzburg?

‘So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye!’ :D

Vienna to Salzburg with a lovely day cruise!

Our journey from Vienna to Salzburg included a 3-hour cruise down the Danube river, from Krems to Melk. Trying to get on the cruise turned out to be quite an adventure! Our bus was too big to get past one low bridge; our poor driver tried inching forward slowly as everyone held their breaths, but the loud scraping sound we heard forced him to give up and reverse out of the road, while a queue of cars waited their turn to pass. That was stressful! And then, when we finally got to the pier, we found out that the captain of the boat somehow decided that he wasn’t going to wait for us (despite having agreed to do so), and we ended up missing the boat!

We were fortunate that a kind soul offered to get into her car and show our bus the way to the next pier, so that we could then hop on the boat. So there we were, along the banks of the Danube- a huge bus hot on the heels of a little car, chasing a boat.

We finally DID manage to get on, although it was only after half walking/half running from the bus park to the pier; huffing and panting all the way, while hoping my painful feet would not give way. :p

Drama aside, the cruise turned out to be a lovely affair. The weather was wonderful, and it was nice just to relax and enjoy the wind, sun and the charming scenery all around.

Enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Wachau region..

Simply breahtaking..

The cruise ended at Melk, and off we went to visit Melk Abbey. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a very interesting stop; pity we did not have more time there. According to Wikipedia, Melk Abbey (or Stift Melk) is a historic Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube.

Melk Abbey

Love this shot- it's the painted underside of a spiral staircase!

We also discovered a self-service ice cream machine near the abbey; a few of us were rather intrigued and had fun putting in coins and watch the machine go! The ice-cream wasn’t bad either, heh. Such a lovely way to end the afternoon!

We journeyed on to Salzburg, reaching our hotel in the evening. We decided to be adventurous and walked all the way to the old town centre to have dinner. We ended up at Zum Mohren, a lovely cellar restaurant serving traditional food.

Hubby had the Grilled Escalope of Turkey with Pineapple Mustard Sauce, and I had the Viennese Boiled Beef with Creamy Spinach and Ginger Apple Sauce. Boiled beef may sound boring, but it was delicious! For dessert, we had the cheese strudel served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream- it was unbelievable… *yum*

Grilled Escalope of Turkey

Boiled beef- also known as 'Tafelspitz'

The famous Mozart Kugeln chocolates

Later that night, our group met up at the hotel bar for a drink. Guess what hubby and I ordered- a beer named Edelweiss! How cool is that? :)