Once again...I have abandoned my blog..hehehe...coming back from visiting, I started writing my thesis with the hope to complete it by August but I know the chance of me doing so is so slim!!! anyway.....
(Pic: Old Town Warsaw) Chilling out after my exam, I made a trip to Poland (2-10 July), this time was all by myself. Enthusiastically, I brought along my laptop thinking about writing my thesis but there was no way to write it during a vacation :p (bikin panat ja bawa laptop). Had a chance to meet a Sabahan there, a cutie Denna J. Mojuntin who is currently pursuing her studies in Medicine...a future doctor :D Introduced by a friend through FB, we then met in Warsaw for the first time. She was kind enough to show me around. We visited the Old Town and later the Golden Terraces shopping centre (HRC is located next to it) to have our lunch - KFC the fast food that I have been craving for all this while. I guess I have never had KFC ever since I arrived in Switzerland. I wonder why there is no single KFC outlet in here *strange* whilst Burger King and McDonalds are found everywhere. Then the fulfilling moment was, for the first time of my 2 years abroad (in Switzerland), I attended an English mass in Warsaw with her. It was such a nice feeling..I was taken aback for a while. Since my arrival in Lugano back in 2007, all masses I attended were in Italian. Attended a mass in Rome, lagi la sandi....in Latin ...huhuhu...
(Pic: The Parliament Building) Warsaw a metropolitan city, a new reborn city after the WWII just like any other cities. The only attraction I like is the Old Town - although I thought some of the buildings were not so 'authentic' but I really enjoyed having a stroll along the area. Not authentic in the sense that buildings were renovated, thus changing some original builts resulting the 'original art of work' were gradually vanished. Through a day tour, I managed to see some parts of the city by visiting the ghetto, a kind of a memorial site remembering those perished in the war, the Royal Baths Park (where you can see peacocks :p), Palace on the water and Royal Lazienki Park (Frederyk Chopin - the famous Polish pianist statue is located). I remember the tour guide had pointed on one building where Hitler stood at one balcony before. I blindly took some snaps but not sure which balcony though :p Well I bet 3 days is enough to visit Warsaw unless you really want to visit museums, galleries or theatre. Spent 4 nights in Warsaw then I went down to Krakow for another 4 nights before flying back to Switzerland.
(Pic: The camp guarded with barbed wires) Reaching Krakow, I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, (dark tourism) - a concentration camp (Konzentrationslager Auschwitz) a place where a massacre took place during the WWII by Nazi, killing about 1.5 million people of which 1 million were Jewish, raided all over Europe. Nazi carried with them a motto of 'Arbeit macht frei' (Work brings freedom) therefore all victims were forced to work, convincing them that working would bring freedom. It is a big area, with a lot of blocks. It has been turned into a museum in 1947 in remembrance of the victims and was opened for public viewing in 1994. Auschwitz is one hour by car from Krakow. I had a sad feeling visiting the camp. I could really imagine how people were killed as explained by the tour guide. People, man, woman, young, old, children, boy & girl - all were merciless and brutally killed. They were locked in the cells, with no food and they died of starvation, some died of suffocation, some lack of control diseases, forced labor and some even were shot dead at the death wall and some ended their lives on the gallows. The worst part was when the poisonous gas (Cyclone B) used. People were locked in the gas chambers, naked, and the gas would be channeled through to some pipelines or holes. This was the instant method used to terminate people's lives and the first experiment were done on women regardless of pregnant or not :(
(Pic: The 'beds' in Birkenau camp) As we were told, the moment the door was opened, it was like a bursted dam, a throng of corpses came forth as they gathered in front of the door, trying to open it with the hope they could release themselves. There were some scratches on the walls too, nail scratches, they were trying to get out from the cells. The corpses were burnt in an open area and later there were crematoriums built to avoid being tracked! You could see display in every room occupied with shoes of adults, children, clothing, luggage - everything. In Birkenau you could see the room and bed accommodating the prisoners - made of bricks. The 'bed' at the ground floor was allocated for injured and older people who couldn't climb the stairs up. People were only given food once a day, in the evening after having spent the whole day working - with only a small piece of bread. The anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet Union troops on January 27, 1945 is celebrated on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Holocaust Memorial Day (UK), Holocaust Memorial Day and other similar memorial days in various countries.
Very sad indeed! Upon returning from the visit, I slept with the scenes in the camp attached to my mind *scary*. I wanted to capture some pictures but unfortunately visitors are only allowed to take pictures outside the building..(jadi ambik gmbr dinding ja la :p). Visitors can take as many pictures as they want in Birkenau though because it is an open area while Auschwitz is a museum. Some of the visitors in our group managed to take pictures some of the rooms inside the museum secretly though :p
(Pic: The Last Supper carved on the wall) My next destination was the Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka. It is one of the oldest operating salt mines in Poland. The mine has been the source of producing table salt since the 13th century until it was stopped in 2007 and has been transformed into a tourist attraction. Very interesting - you would walk down 63 meters underground, about 2.5km to visit what are kept inside. It is amazing enough to find various sculptures of historic and mythic figures including statues of famous people around Poland carved from salt. Two chapels can be found inside the mine with the salt carved sculptures of Jesus, Mother Mary including The Last Supper and other saints as well as the decorations such as the chandeliers. Often it was referred to as the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland due to its large chamber with walls carved resembling wooden chapels built by miners in earlier centuries, an underground lake and exhibits on the history of salt mining found underground.
(Pic: The Main Square) Since the population is 90% catholic, churches, cathedrals and chapels are everywhere in Poland (in fact not only in Poland but almost everywhere in Europe). Visiting cathedrals is not allowed during mass service but there is a small chapel provided if you want to have a quiet moment with God. It is the same thing in Krakow. Strolling around Krakow especially the old town, you would stumble upon lots of churches, chapels and cathedrals besides other historical buildings. I was not sure how many churches/cathedrals I have visited. I wanted to join the Footstep of John Paul II tour but it was not just my day. The availability of the tour didn't match my schedule and it required a minimum of 2 persons taking it altogether. The tour was held on the day I was leaving for Switzerland. There was a tour the day before but it was in Polish so the intention was halted. I prefer Krakow than Warsaw could be due to my inclination and interests more on historical buildings. I enjoyed walking around the town, capturing pictures, visiting places etc. Krakow is the place where you can track down the history of Jewish too, starting from its culture, cuisine to people especially in the Jewish Old District. I thought of visiting the site where the shooting of 'Schindler's List' movie took place but it was closed due to maintenance. 
Well, in fact there are so many places to visit in Krakow. The Main Square itself is so entertaining. I encountered many amusing things and scenes and some even funny incidents. One performance caught my attention while wandering around the Main Square was a guy performing his marionette show, attracting visitors using puppets resembling world famous stars such as MJ, Elvis Presley, Tina Turner and Celine Dion. So talented! He would pause for 5-10 minutes before recommencing the next show. I watched him performing 5 times during that day! Awesome!. It happened too that from 9-12 July an International Festival of Streets was held so there were so many interesting shows staged for visitors, free of charge! I like one of them, the group from Ukraine, it was so hilarious and engaging! Too bad, I just managed to watch the shows on the 9th only as I have to go home the next day. As usual, on any visits I made there would be 1000+ pictures captured and this trip was not exempted either :p I don't know what are those pictures captured but hey wouldn't it be nice to keep good memories? Times cannot be turned back!
