Krakow
Further Afield
Wyspanski art in the Medical Building in Krakow
Nowa Huta
October 12, 2004
On Sunday I went to Nowa Huta for a “cultural experience” gone terribly wrong. In
short my impressions were torn, half it was sad and half it was Russia. I guess
I saw little culture in the place, not because there was none, but simple because
that’s so familiar to me, having lived in Russia. It looked like Izhevsk, Russia
with minor changes.
It was sad because Krakow is so much better off than Russia in general, but Nowa
Huta really is Poland and all classes of society. Physically it was any other Russian
city, except more trees and parks. It was also like a Russian city in that the people
were poorer in general and people were drinking in the streets everywhere, not to
mention every bar I passed was packed and loud by 1:00pm.
What really stuck me was that every church was full and people were outside listening.
Not to mention the street names being very different, the names showed that Poland
survived and rejected the communist times, whereas in Russia every street is still
named after Lenin, Marx, the Soviet Union, or has the word “red” in its name.
The people here seemed much more defensive than the people I run into downtown Krakow,
but perhaps that’s only because it’s typically more working class and the population
is older whereas downtown has a lot of students.
On the way there I noticed an airport (ok, I lied, I didn’t, but I’ve been told
of its existence); this was apparently used by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI.
Also I couldn’t help but try to get over some of the newer buildings on the way.
There were some very modern buildings and it made me feel like I was truly in an
American city. The reality came crashing down however when I saw a brand new building
beside a half finished building that looked like it hadn’t been touched for years.
As I came closer to Nowa Huta it was impossible to miss the smoke stacks of the
iron mills and the noticeable pollution saturating the air.
As I was leaving Nowa Huta after my three hour tour the tram stop had a man who
was noticeably on a few drugs and his state was frightening. There was a girl there
who seemed physically scared and kept inching away from him, I blamed her little
and joined her on the other side of the platform. We were both glad to see our tram
arrive soon afterward as he stayed behind.
Podgorze & Jewish Krakow
December 6, 2004
It was definitely the WWII Jewish weekend for me. On Saturday I went to Podgorze
with Elizabeth and experienced a unique part of the city’s history. The city flirted
with occupation between Poland and the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, both of which helped
the city prosper in different ways. None-the-less it’s now famous as the home of
the Krakow Ghetto and so this is why I came.
We started out at Kopiec Kraka, the birthplace of the city and saw the living legend
of the mythical burial place of the city’s founder, King Krak. The views were good
from here, overlooking the entire old town and surrounding areas of the city, but
the thick air prevented any great visibility.
We next went to Cmentarz Podgorski and simply walked around, but quickly moved on
to the first piece of the ghetto walls, nestled under Maximilian’s Bastion and not
far from Kosciol sw. Benedykta. The rest of the walk was nice and St. Jozefa was
amazing… from the outside.
Finally we made our way over to Fabryka Telpod: Oskar Schindler’s factory. We walked
in and found our way around. The people there looked at us strangely and soon we
found an exhibition. We entered and saw that it was nothing more than a clothing
show so quickly left.
Kosciol Jozefa in Krakow's Podgorze district
Eternal Flame & Barbican in Krakow
Sheraton Hotel in Krakow
ul. Straszewskiego in Krakow with my apartment and Oskar Schindler's apartments
in back
Train Station in Krakow