Warsaw

First things first about Warsaw, I want to thank Lucazs (a friend of Jared's) for showing me around the city!  Although, never again will I try the "meat jelly" -- that was just a little too adventurous for me!  That said, we did go to very great restaurants!

Warsaw is about the same size of Columbus, and also has a very large mall -- although that's where the similarities end.  About 85% of the city was destroyed during WW2 and was subsequently rebuilt -- with the old town being built in the same style it was before.  It was the 4th historic site in Poland to be added to the UNESCO list.

I only spent one full day in Warsaw, so didn't get to fully explore it nearly as much as the other places that I visited on my trip, so this post is more bare than some of the others - sorry about that!

I will say, if you go - the Oki Doki hostel was a fairly nice hostel -- however, you may want to ask about the private rooms.  Not that I didn't love being in a room with a 14 year old girl and her mother from Taiwan, but I did feel like I was at a middle school slumber party and had a chaperone.  That said, there was a bit of a party in the bar that provided some entertainment, and made me wish that I had been drinking that evening.

The picture doesn't even come close to doing justice to just how awkward this was to watch...

Lastly, I was not as well prepared on this trip and missed some large events in certain cities -- but have no fear, I did end up in Warsaw for Retina Week.  Not going to lie, all the eyes did freak me out a bit.

Krakow 3: Wieliczka Salt Mine

The Salt Mine just south of Krakow is also a main attraction for visitors to Krakow, and while it didn't have the same emotional significance as Auschwitz, it was definitely a must see.  Just don't ask me to pronounce the name...I tried for a good 30 minutes, it's never going to happen for me.

The mine produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007 and was one of the world's oldest operating salt mines.  It's also believed to be the world's 14th oldest company!  Not too shabby!  Although the 54 story walk down the mine stairs was almost a deal breaker for me, it was worth it!  Almost everything in the mine was made out of salt, walls/floors/ceilings/sculptures/etc -- our guide said that it was perfectly fine to lick the walls to see for ourselves, but I had to take a pass on that one, I definitely believed him.

One of the best parts of the salt mine though was a huge chapel right in the middle of it.  Our guide told us that it was a very popular place for weddings, and immediately after all the girls (myself included) said in unison "time to find a Polish guy to marry so we have an excuse to get married here as well!"  To our surprise, even some of the guys were saying the same thing!  

Krakow 2: Auschwitz

One of the reasons it's taken me so long to update my travel blog is that I'm trying to figure out the best way to summarize my trip to Auschwitz.  For as long as I can remember, after people learned my last name - the first question was almost always - so you're Jewish?  No, I'm not.  But that doesn't mean that visiting this place was any less real for me.  I'd be hard pressed to think of another event in my life that caused such an emotional reaction in me.  When I got back to the hostel after my visit, I couldn't talk to anyone and just sat on my bunk bed and absorbed all that I saw that day.  It's something that I am glad that I did, and something I will never forget.  For those that haven't experienced such a thing, you probably will not understand, and my pictures certainly won't do it justice.  I suggest that anyone who has the opportunity visits one of these places at some point - it's an important part of our history and really puts what you learn in school into perspective.  The rest of the post is all pictures taken that day - they can explain it better than I can.