Krakow, Poland. Sunday, 26th May, 2022.
What a day! A blend of the good and the evil, the happy and the sad! Unforgettable! One of those days that will always stand out in memory, whenever we recall our trips to Europe and even otherwise.
Woke up at 05:00, making the 05:15 alarm redundant. Finished the morning ablutions, ate breakfast; and set out by 08:30. Walked to the hotel Vienna House in the Galleria Krakowska complex, using the mini foot-overbridge to cross the road, consciously avoiding the metal chains of yesterday's mis-adventure. The hotel was the first pick-up point for a conducted tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau. A trip I had been waiting for, since May 2020.
The mini-bus (approx. 20- something seater) arrived on time, at 08:45 and after two more pick ups, the vehicle was almost full. We were on our way. To the infamous historical sites! Passed many interesting and charming villages on the way, embedded in the abundant verdure in the soothing Polish countryside. A pleasant run of a little over an hour saw us at Auschwitz.
The guide from the bus - named Greg - gave us instructions and a break of 15 minutes. We then met our guide for the camps at the entrance to the Auschwitz Concentration Camps museum. A shudder runs down my spine even as I type this! The word 'museum' connotes something nice - something pleasant from the past. Here it was just the opposite! The 'museum' here is the actual barracks of World War II-red brick structures- spread over a large area, housing sordid exhibits of cruelty and sadism, serving as a grim reminder of the extent of barbarism and savagery that humans can stoop to! We were subjected to a security check, akin to that at an airport; our tickets were matched with our identities and then we were handed over the radio with headphones.
Now began a gruesome journey through hell, that lasted an hour and forty-five minutes. We travelled through the darkest phase of Europe's history - from one barrack into another, each silently recounting a tale of unbelievable horror and man's inhumanity to man! The well preserved, sordid exhibits are mute witnesses to the atrocities committed on innocent humans and serve as a grim reminder to all of us as to what abysmal depths can insane ambition cause a human being to fall to! It was heart-wrenching to learn of the torture - narrated in a sombre tone by the excellent guide -inflicted on the Jews and other prisoners - men, women, pregnant women, children, babies!! No one was spared! The ways in which they were murdered would make the Indian god of death Yamraj, hang his head in shame!
We moved on to Birkenau, the site of a much larger concentration camp and gas chambers. This was just a five minutes' drive away. The driver parked in the parking lot, which was approximately half a kilometre away from the infamous site. We walked in cold winds under a cloudy sky, with the sun playing hide-n-seek, to the main entrance - an arch with the red coloured building spread out on either side; and a railway track passing through the arched gateway- of the largest concentration camp during WWII. I had seen this picture a number of times - in magazines, on the internet, on the cover of my all-time favourite book; and today I had it captured in my camera. This camp is spread over a huge area. We had to walk a lot, all the time praying for the rain to keep away. Here too, we entered barracks to see more gruesome exhibits - in one of the barracks we went down a narrow staircase into a narrower corridor in the basement. The guide warned us to walk in a single file! The corridor had tiny cubicles on either side, where 'defaulting' prisoners were herded into, four or five ladies in one cubicle, standing throughout the night, in complete darkness. The only source of light/ventillation was a small aperture in the ceiling! How many women would have remained alive in the morning? I felt claustrophobic just visiting it for a couple of minutes! The extent of cruelty - even dishonouring the corpses of the hapless Jews - was unbelievable! We even saw the actual cells where the poisonous gas Zyklon B was released from the ceiling, killing hundreds of Jews at a time! We also saw the crematorium where innumerable cadavers were thrown on top of one another in a heap and then set ablaze! There is more, but I wish to stop!
After finishing the Birkenau tour I wished, for the first time, that the mad dictator had fallen into the hands of the Soviet army, in April 1945!
Something good to tell - in our group was a young, fair, good-looking girl. We thought her to be a local, that is, a European, until she spoke something in Marathi to Urmila! We were surprised to the core! She turned out to be an Indian from Mumbai, working at Amsterdam, in the Netherlands! One meets really interesting people during travel!
The return journey to Krakow was quick, lasted just under an hour. We disembarked at the same stop where we had boarded the bus this morning. Back to our hotel, just a five-minute walk away. Washed, refreshed. Set off again for food - we had shared just a Ritter Sport chocolate after breakfast! I had found an Indian restaurant named 'Indian Masala' on Google Maps. The map showed that it was just a ten minutes' walk away. We walked to it, through a beautiful garden, full of Sunday evening revellers- joggers, bicyclists, skateboarders, strollers. Reaching the restaurant, we discovered that it was situated on the periphery of the Main Market Square! Unknowingly, we had walked to the Market Square, the same square which we had taken a tram to travel to, yesterday! Distances here are pretty short, but appear large on a map! Ate a lovely meal -Jim Beam with coke, Chicken Tikka Masala, naan, Veg. Pulao, roasted papads served with green and tamarind chutneys; and plain curd. This was served by a Nepali lass who spoke to us in Hindi. The restaurant had a lovely ambience, too. Though we had enjoyed the meal, we just could not forget what we had seen today!
Walked back the way we had come. At a Polish pub that we passed by was put up a prominent black board with something interesting written on it! See it for yourself, in the picture below! We couldn't agree more!
Back in our room, I booked Uber Taxi for 08:45 tomorrow - ride to Krakow main railway station. Leaving for the capital - Warsaw - by the 09:54 Inter-city Express.
Wrote this entire diary entry sitting on the long and broad ledge of the window of our room on the second floor. The window was open, the writing interrupted to shoot pictures/videos of passing trains running on the railway tracks quite close to our hotel.
It is now 20:22 and I need to work out how to travel from Warszawa Centralna (Warsaw main railway station) to Hotel Holiday Inn Express Warsaw - Mokotow.
