Krakow, Poland

It was a cold rainy day when I left Budapest. A good day to travel. Arrived in Budapest without incident and walked to Kismet Dao Hostel. The references to eastern philosophy were what drew me there which turned out to be spot on. Nice staff, Brand new, spotless, free laundry, free breakfast with kitchen, nice common room and a 24\7 supermarket around the corner. The first night I just bonded with the crew of Irish and English travelers.Woke up to rain so I took my time rousing myself. Went for a walk in the on and off rain for about 3 hours, all the time keeping my eye out for a rain shell, but couldn't find any. That night the crew was bigger and around midnight we all decided to check out a club called "Frantic", but a couple of us were denied because we had on sneakers. So we went to "Prozack" instead which was cool. Looked deceptively small at first, but as you start exploring you find little offshoots everywhere. Wound up downstairs on the dancefloor with a couple of good DJ's spinning. Ordered a 7zt beer ($2) and gave the bartender a 20zt bill. "Do you want change?" "What do you think!!"The next day it was raining again, but can't let that get in the way of the necesary history lesson. So I broke out the emeregency rain parka (basically a trash bag with a hood) and after a little searching found the minibus going to Auschwitz. I spent the 1.5 hour trip wishing I could speak Polish so I could talk to the stunning Pole woman sitting next to me!Aushwitz is obviously sobering and depressing, stirring up a lot of anger! About every 3rd barrack has been converted into an exhibition with tons of literature in Polish, Hebrew & English. If you read everthing it would probably take a few days to complete. Each building deals with a particular aspect of the horror. Poles, Jews, Gypsies, etc. They have displayed:prison uniforms, prayer shawls, heaps of eyeglasses, shoes, suitcases and a really spooky room filled with about a ton of womans' hair collected after the gas chambers for sale to the fabric industry. Complete with traces of cyanide! Outside they still have the barbed wire fences and reconstructed part of the firing squad wall as well as a hanging post where 12 Poles suspected of aiding escapees were publicly hung to warn others. In general it's a horrible place, but seemed sterilized somehow?Walked about 30 minutes to the other camp: Birkenau. It's scale is incredibly daunting and dwarfs Aushciwitz in size. Even though its difficult to fully appreciate the size because most of the buildings have been burnt down their brick chimneys still remain and you can make out the huge area of the camp. It's more of a landmark than a museum. Not much literature here, just an opportunity to fathom the scale of the atrocities! Rows and Rows and Rows of barracks. Horrible conditions, horrifying experiments. Pure Evil! Upon disembarking the train the prisoners were lined up for selection. Not sure if it was better to be selected or not? 25% were selected for a slow drawn out death by hard labor, malnutrition and disease. The other 75% unfit for work marched thru a one way gate to the gas chambers. Went back and drowned my sorrows.Another rainy day. Went to check out the city anyway. Walked thru Rynek Glowny Square which is the largest Medieval Square in Europe. They carry on a tradition there where every hour a trumpet player performs a 5 note, two minute song which ends abruptly which represents the moment the original player got shot in throat with an arrow! Headed past various old churches and past Wawel Castle. From there continued souteast to the Jewish Quarter. Visited the Old Synagogue which is now a museum and the oldest synagogue in Europe. Saw a few more synagogues and circle the old cemetary twice, but apparently the entrances are sealed. Or maybe I'm just blind. I finally found a rain jacket at the Jewish flea market and everyone in Krakow can thank me for that because it immediately stopped raining and the sun came out!! :)Later after hanging with the Kismet crew we decided to go out to Prozak again, but they wouldn't let us in. I probably shouldn't have rolled up with 12 rowdy/loud Irish guys! Early that night the square was realy afire with activity because Krakow won their football championship and it brought out the riot police. But by the time we got there it was just a very quiet Sunday night.The next morning it was at least dry so I went to see Wawel Castle, the old Royal residence. Then rolled down again to the Jewish Quarter which is really kind of boring, but I had nothing better to do. Everyone was kind of burnt that night so I just collected my clean laundry (free!, which is nice cause you usually have to pay about $10 for one load in Europe!!) and packed up for Prague.