Poland: Crying & Couchsurfing in Krakow, Piwo & Parks in Poznan, Gorgeous Gdansk

I have to admit I was not sure about going to Auschwitz. Mostly because I was on my own. But arriving before 07.00 in Krakow, there was not much to do and I would not meet my couch surfing host until in the afternoon. The museum, however, opened at eight and there was a bus going to Oswiecim shortly after my arrival. And yes, this is maybe something you should see if you happen to be in the neighborhood. Also the entrance is free, so I had no excuse.

I have seen exhibitions, documentaries and read books on the topic. I have even, in highschool, seen awful pictures of skinny victims to the Holocaust stuck through their rectums on branches of a tree - the kind of pictures you will never forget once you have seen them. But actually being there physically, on the actual location, seeing the actual things that remain, was sad in completely another way.

Which was exactly what I feared, and which was exactly why I had been reluctant going there on my own. Knowing I am a very emotional person, and super sensitive to atmosphere, I knew I would cry. And I was right - seeing hundreds of kilos of Jewish women hair, still in braids tied at the ends, was too real for me. 

Crying publicly when you are on your own is not socially accepted in Northern Europe. So I started my stay in Poland by wishing I had stayed South of German borders, where nobody would have considered me strangely emotional in any way. (In the end I decided to be proud of my tears, because I was the only person I saw doing this alone. Everyone else was in groups with guides, or - if unaccompanied like me - couples and families.)

Early in the evening I met up with my host and I had yet seen pretty much nothing of Krakow. My host turned out to be a sort of free salesman - he made jewelry out of old silver cutlery which he then sold in the street markets. I doubt that the apartment was actually meant for living in - there was a toilet and a separate zink but no kitchen and the space was divided into rooms more by dirty blankets hung up everywhere than by actual walls. The whole place was covered with dirty, greasy tools and screws and metallic things, and the security lock was clearly home made, on the spot. Everything was as dirty and chaotic as it used to be in my grandfathers shed in the countryside when we as children found it ten years after anyone had last set a foot there. But here, it was also damp as a swamp. An almost hidden basement "flat" with piping so old and bad that everything smelt mouldy. The chairs and sofa were almost falling apart and everywhere there were large holes of different kinds in the fabrics.






My host was very, very friendly though, and let me exercise my Spanish in my own tempo (he was originally South American), softly helping me to find the right words. We went to the supermarket together and bought food which he cooked for me, we listened to music and talked about a bit of everything. But I dared hardly move around his place because of all the dirt, and I was for the first time in my life severely worried about getting bed bug bites while sleeping...



The second night I had made plans with another couch surfing host, and I was deeply ashamed of my spoilt middle class exhalation of breath while leaving the dirtiest place I have seen someone live in indoors.

My new host was a young woman who studied architecture. We immediately got along very well, and I accompanied her to nearby town Katowice to see some modern architecture and interesting renovation projects of old buildings.

Old warehouses turned in to art exhibition halls

The Cultural Arena  in Katowice

My new friend and I had a lot to talk about and spent a really good day and evening together. I got to sleep in a comfortable (clean) bed, something I had not done too often lately after all nights on trains and buses. And my last day, I did the inner city of Krakow and experienced the crazy times it is in May when the student festivities are going on - masquerades in the streets, lunch rock concert on the Main Market Square and beer-and-vodka-bars full at 13.00. Polish party times!

Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarters in Krakow

On the way up to the castle

One night in a bed, one on a train... Arriving likewise early in Poznan, a university city in Western Poland, I was very tired. I rented a room in a villa some 10 minutes by bus outside the city centre. After leaving my luggage and working for a bit, I took advantage of the sunny weather and headed for the inner city to see the Old Town and some nice parks.

The Opera House in Poznan

Memorial for the workers who died in the uprising
in 1956, known as the Poznan revolt, against the
communist regime

Beautiful pillar reserved for announcing and
promoting cultural events

Richly decorated hot dog booth

Polish modern art in display on a square

In the evening I met up with a friend from last Summer's Dutch course and his girlfriend, and went out for a few beers. While drinking, heavy rain started falling, and still did so when we had to leave. My Polish friends then taught me how you endure to get wet and cold - you stop halfway to the bus for a vodka shot...

Old amphi theatre

My last day in Poznan was spent working a bit, having coffee with my friend to say goodbye and then an afternoon of walking around the huge and very green Citadell Park of Poznan.

The next day I was once again waking up extremely early to take the morning train to Gdansk on the Northern coast of Poland. Here I was met by sunshine, but a lot cooler temperatures, and I could clearly feel I was on my way back to the North.

Gdansk was a very cozy and beautiful old city reminding me of both Copenhagen and Amsterdam. My two days there were spent working and in the afternoons walking around the pretty small city, which welcomes a lot of tourists, mainly from Scandinavia and Germany.

Richly decorated facades and the time typical gables of the houses, lots of Medieval buildings and cobble stoned streets and squares let you sense the rich history of this old trading city that has been tossed back and forth between Poland and Germany for centuries, and sometimes has been its own liberated sanctuary. The city also played an important role in freeing Poland from the communist regime in the late 1980's.

Gdansk was truly a charming but quite calm city, with lots of genuine restaurants along the mainly pedestrian inner area of the old town, and on sunny days it is of course also a pleasure just sitting on the quays at the water front among the half-timbered and red brick houses watching the boats come and go. For a weekend of slow walks, cheap beer and rustic food, Gdansk is a place I can definitely recommend, and was a calm and friendly place to end my stay in Poland.