Day 10: Bad Places and Close Encounters with "White Gold"

When we were planning our trip, we came across two places that we thought we should see while we were in the vicinity of Krakow: Auschwitz and Birkenau (http://www.auschwitz.org.pl), and the Wieliczka Salt Mine (http://www.kopalnia.pl). Both are UNESCO world heritage sites.

Auschwitz and Birkenau are the German names of the camps. The Polish equivalents are Oświęcim and Brzeźinka. They operated between 1940 and 1945. It was quite surreal to walk through the compound buildings and view the exhibits while being told of the horrifying details of what happened there. It was a very dark period in Europe's history.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine was opened 700 years ago. Mining operations ceased completely in 1996. Although only about 1% of the mine is open to the public, the tour takes 2 hours to complete. One of the highlights of the tour is the Chapel of St. Kinga.  Not only does it feature numerous figures and chandeliers carved out of salt, it has an active congregation with a regular church service every Sunday.

We ended our day with dinner at a local restaurant called Miód Malina (http://miodmalina.pl/). Matt was so happy with his knedle dish that he actually took a photo of it with his iphone. =) 

Auschwitz gate:

Auschwitz sign:

Auschwitz Birkenau gate, taken from within the camp where prisoner selection took place:

Auschwitz Birkenau stable remnants.  Prisoners were housed in converted stables:

Gas chamber and crematorium:

Cess doing a taste test at the Wieliczka Salt Mine:

St. Kinga's chapel at the Wieliczka Salt Mine: