day 2 - krakow/ auschwitz/ wieliczka salt mine (2/11)

day 2 dawned bright and uh. foggy? but it was beautiful... and we were going to auschwitz to see the concentration camp lol. so we got up, and missed the tram by 2 minutes -.-" but it was quite fun waiting hehe.

gordon & huixuan attempting the 5th position

anyway. the tram brought us to the train... and this was the park leading to the train station... pretty right? (krakow was pretty... just maybe a bit too chill-out cos the two days were holidays =S)oh.. right... and while we were trying to buy tickets to prague... the guys found out that the train to auschwitz was leaving in uh... 10 min. so we got the tix... 5 min left... and ran to the station, up the train... and 1 min after we got on it left! Gosh.

on the train i finally noticed what one of the guys was wearing 0_o... guess who?

stripes + flowery print = mark

so the train ride took 1 1/2 hrs (wow.) and after we got off we had to trek to the concentration camp... getting directions with lots of weird hand gestures on the way. it was quite hilarious really. and it was yet another 1km walk. (i guess we're quite used to walking after being in london...)

really cute recycling bins!and finally we're here!

so the auschwitz camp was actually 3 different camps, where the 1st one we went to had the museums and stuff. well. and the shuttle to the other camp (with ruins and land and stuff) supposedly came every 30 min. so we rushed through the first camp then went to catch the bus to auschwitz-birkenau (the 2nd larger camp).

and THEN. we found tt the information gave us the wrong info! and it was the bus every 1 hr... so we waited around for a bit... and got kinda worried cos we wanted to go to the salt mines... and the journey would take 2 hrs... and it was 1... we hadn't seen the other larger camp... and the last english tour at the salt mine was at 4pm 0.0

and THEN... Daddy God provided! we went to ask a cabby if he would send us to the other camp - somehow one of the cabbies spoke pretty good english and offered us a round trip: taxi to birkenau, then to the salt mine, then back to krakow! and the rate wasn't too bad... 300 in total for all of us (consider that the exchange rate was something like 1 pound = 4 polish zlotys)... about price of a cab fare in london for a much shorter distance. awesomeness. so for the rest of the trip we could sleep in the cab!

so we were really chill for the rest of the day... taking photos as usual. it was strange being at auschwitz on a sunny day though... the feeling was completely wrong lol. should have come the day before when it was grey and rainy. in the end i ended up taking black and white/ colour accent photos so i could get the feeling. uber happy cos i got more artsy photos!

cross and you're dead! unplanned giordano shot: the sky was sooo blue! this has no photoshopping on my part!planned giordano shot: we could be models!train tracks are really good for emo shotsand more emo shotscos of the holiday people were going around lighting candles in front of graves... emooo and check out the difference between colour with beautiful skies
and greyscale... the whole character of the pic changesi really like this onethe long road ahead: but i can't decide whether the b/w one or colour is nicer lehand i want this kind of nice slim legs =P

so after the 2nd concentration camp the taxi man (who was really nice) drove us to the salt mine in under 2 hrs... i think he was travelling at double the speed limit at one point 0.0 gosh. but we got there in time for the tour... and even got to sleep =). really blessed. and really an adventure... cos in the span of 36 hours we took a plane, bus, tram, train, taxi - not much more transport we could experience in krakow i think -.-"

workers in the salt mine?the very clean bathroom... lol. my salt mine pics didn't turn out too nicely so i can't be bothered to put them up.

and we got driven back to krakow... where we went to get train tix to prague. at the counter we realised that the price had changed since that morning - 3 pounds more expensive! and the ticket was quite expensive to begin with... ~ 40 pounds after conversion. gosh. our flights to krakow and back from prague were about the same price as that ticket =S. but we got them anyhow... and went for dinner. thank God the place we tried to go to on the 1st day was now open (and it was quite the cosy cute cafe! alliteration hehe.)

cosy right?! the chicken cafeda vinci chickenchicken scream~ don't eat me!

after dinner was dessert... *yum*
2nd day conclusion of krakow: uh... not sure why people say it's that beautiful... but it's a nice chill place... and probably more beautiful in spring/ summer (which incidentally is when all the tourists go). food is so-so... but dessert was yummy... all in all a satisfying day. blessed! by the presence of random english speaking people on the way who tried to help us, and the 'cheap' cab ride without which we probably couldn't have gone to the salt mine =).

back at the hostel... and preparing to go to bed... gordon discovered that he had lost his spectacle case! and it either had to be in the salt mine or in the cab =S so his itinerary for the next day was planned out - go back and get spectacles. gosh. and there ended the day... with gordon wearing my spare specs (too bad i didn't take a photo! he looked like harry potter cos the specs were rather small for his big face =P)

...

just a random thought... i just realised that i forget how blessed i am to be in london... amidst the amount of work and things i have to do while in london... uber blessed (to even be here... and to be able to go for holidays) - and all the more so cos Daddy's with me =).