Exchange Student Visit 2024: Poland

July 22nd and July 23rd:

Our journey began in Seattle. Jacob flew from Idaho Falls and met us at SeaTac airport. We had an uneventful 10 hour flight from Seattle to Frankfurt. We then had a quick hour and a half flight to Warsaw, Poland, where Justyna and her mom Martha met us at the airport. Martha rented a large van to transport us from Warsaw back to Lodz. It took us a couple of hours of driving (most of the kids fell asleep during the drive). We first went to Justyna’s grandmother’s apartment in Pabianice for an amazing dinner. After talking for a while we then went to her grandmother’s cabin in the woods, where we would spend a few nights. 

Great Dinner made by Justyna's Grandma

Dinner at Justyna's Grandmother's apartment

Going to the cabin for the night

 July 24th: 

This morning we went to downtown Lodz and started out at Manufaktura, which is an old textile factory that has been turned into a beautiful shopping area. We then went and visited the Posnanski palace and museum. Israel Posnanski was a wealthy industrialist who made a lot of money in the textile industry. 

Manufaktura

Posnanski museum

Justyna's school

 After grabbing some lunch, we went to a very interesting textile museum. While we were there we met up with Jakob and his family. Jakub was an exchange student from Slovakia that was in the U.S. the same year as Justyna. He and his family drove five hours from Slovakia to Poland to visit with us. We ended the day eating at Ikea and relaxing back at the cabin.

Textile museum

July 25th: 

This morning we went back into Lodz with Justyna and her mom and met up with Jakob and his parents.  We walked down Piotrkowska Street, which is one of the main streets in Lodz that is lined with shops and cafes.  For lunch we all went back to Justyna and Martha’s apartment where they cooked up some delicious food.  

Manufaktura

Downtown Lodz

Lunch at Justyna and Marta's apartment

Jakub from Slovakia and his parents

We then said goodbye to Jakub and his parents, as they were getting ready to drive back to Slovakia.  Later in the afternoon we went to the Lodz Zoo, which had some amazing exhibits and a completely new enclosed area.  The kids loved the zoo.  We ended the day back at Manufactura, where Justyna and Martha treated us to some amazing hot chocolate!  

 

Lodz Zoo

Hot Chocolate!

Inside the cabin

Outside the cabin

July 26th:

We boarded a train this morning heading to Krakow.  Justyna and her mom joined us on the journey.  After leaving our bags at our AirBnb, we went for a walk through the old town section of Krakow.  Krakow is a beautiful city, with many old buildings.  There were a lot of tourists, but it never seemed that crowded.  

On the train to Krakow

Krakow

Main square in Krakow

We wound our way over to the river and walked along the river over to the old Jewish quarter called Kazimierz.  Most of the Jewish population were either killed or left during World War II, but there are still several synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the area, along with a small, but vibrant Jewish community.  For dinner we found an amazing restaurant that made delicious pirogues.  We ordered several plates of both sweet and savory pierogi.  We ended the evening wandering around the old town again and watching people in the main square.

In the Jewish Quarter

Jewish Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter in Krakow

Jacob on Jacob Street

Pierogi dinner

Jewish Cemetery

July 27th:  

After breakfast we took a bus to Wieliczka, a city just outside of Krakow.  There we visited the Wieliczka Salt mines, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The salt mines are over 700 years old and are enormous!  Our tour was 1.8 miles long and went down over 500 feet, but we only saw 1% of the mine!  The salt mine is most famous for the statues and carvings the miners created over the years.  Most amazing were some of the chapels that the miners created, all from salt!  The miners were not trained artists, but created amazing pieces of art out of salt.  At one time the mine provided over half of the income for the Polish royal family.  Inside the mine they also had life-sized dioramas that explained how the salt was mined.  Horses were used for a long time to move blocks of salt and run the elevators (the poor horses spent their entire lives underground).  

Going down the 400+ steps into the salt mines

One of the many statues inside the salt mine

The largest chapel in the mine... everything is salt!

Outside the salt mine

For lunch we went to a cafe that Justyna and Martha recommended that had great tasting food that tasted more like a good home-cooked meal than a restaurant (it also had a great sitting area with lots of plants).  Afterward we went over to Wawel Castle, which was home to the Polish Royal family for generations.  We spent some time looking around at the beautiful rooms in the castle and enjoying the gardens on the grounds.  There were amazing views from the castle overlooking Krakow and the river.  

Wawel Castle

From there we walked to Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory.  This was the factory that Oskar Schindler owned and where he had Jewish Prisoners work for him during WWII.  Some of the movie “Schindler’s List” was filmed on site.  The factory is now a very informative museum displaying what life was like in Krakow during the war.  We ended the day with a long walk back to our AirBnb and some kabobs on the way.

Inside the Oskar Schindler Museum

Oskar Schindler Factory and Museum

July 28th:

Today we took a train to visit the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau.  Auschwitz was a very sobering place.  Most of the brick buildings are still there and many contain displays of items that belonged to the prisoners there, like a huge display of shoes and luggage.  One display was a huge pile of human hair that took up half of the room.  They said these displays are just a fraction of what was really left here.  We went through some of the buildings and some of the areas where they kept the prisoners.  We also went to one of the gas chambers that was still standing (the Nazis destroyed most of them toward the end of the war to hide the evidence). 

Entering Auschwitz

Auschwitz

Shoes belonging to prisoners

The killing wall

Gas Chamber

 

After Auschwitz we took a bus over to Birkenau.  You arrive at Birkenau near the main train gate (called the death gate by the prisoners).  This gate featured prominently in “Schindler’s List”.  The sheer scope and size of Birkenau is hard to fathom.  All that is left of most buildings are the chimneys.  There are rows and rows of chimneys stretching out over the camp.  Each building could hold up to 700 prisoners.  We walked down the tracks where the trains full of prisoners would unload.  20% would be sent off to work camps; 80% would only be here for two hours or less before they were sent to the gas chambers.  Two of the largest gas chambers and ovens are now rubble.  The Nazis blew them up at the end of the war.  We were able to walk through one of the buildings used to house prisoners.  The sleeping areas were so small and they were able to have 12 people sleep in each triple bunk (the strongest prisoners would claim the top bunks so they wouldn’t have bodily fluids drip on them).

Birkenau

The Death Gate at Birkenau

Destroyed gas chamber and ovens

Inside one of the prisoner houses

  

In the afternoon we met back up with Justyna and Marta and wandered around the old town one last time.  We ate some wonderful street food for dinner and grabbed our bags and went to the bus station.  We said our goodbyes and boarded a double-decker night bus to Germany.  Jacob and Siena were on the top level (poor Jacob had to hunch halfway over to fit), while Elise, Becky, and I were on the bottom.  Becky and I were sitting right next to the bathroom, which meant our seats wouldn’t recline and every five minutes someone would open the door with a blinding light and let it slam shut.  Plus, every hour the bus made a stop to pick up and drop off passengers.  Since we were also sitting next to the exit, at every stop all of the smokers would get off and smoke three feet from the door, which meant all of the smoke would blow right back in the bus!  Needless to say, we did not sleep much on the 10 hour overnight bus to Berlin.

Last day in Krakow

Great street food!

Double-decker night bus to Berlin