Visiting Poland was a huge learning experience and definitely one of the biggest challenges I've had while in Europe. We knew we were going to have some difficulties when we arrived in the Lodz airport to signs posted only in Polish. It only got worse when we went to the tourist information point in the airport to find that they didn't speak English either. Somehow we managed to play charades to figure out how to get where we were going. We decided to take a taxi since Poland is sooo much cheaper that Ireland. 1 euro = 4 zloty. We took a taxi that would have normally been 20 euros for only 5. We had to show our taxi driver where we were going on the map, but had difficulty because the map was in English. Luckily we ended up finding our hostel within a reasonable amount of time. The hostel employees were amazing, and the only people in the three days we came across that spoke English.
The first day we walked around Lodz and saw the city. It got completely dark at 16:30, but we were still able to see a lot. We splurged on a big and fancy Polish dinner that only ended up costing us 5 euros each. We all ordered different things and split them amongst the three of us. Then we wandered around the city some more and got dessert at a cute little cafe (definitely taking advantage of the currency).
We had intentions of going to Aushwitz to see the concentration camps, but were unable to get any information about it. It understandably seems to be a topic that Polish people do not want to talk about. The few people we asked were reluctant to give us any information, usually brushing it off or changing the subject. Because of this and our short time frame, we decided to spend our second day in Warsaw, the capital. We lucked out because it just happened to be the day of Independence for Poland. This meant that all stores were closed and there were special events going on all day. There was military/equipment everywhere, parades, concerts, etc. The streets were packed and we found a ton of stuff to see and do. Unfortunately we couldn't understand a word anyone was saying, but it was still cool to wander around.
We spent our third and final day back in Lodz and went to the Jewish Cemetary. It is hard to explain that experience, but it is definitely moving. There were thousands of graves and to know that these people were tortured and killed with such hatred was horrible.
After leaving the cemetary we saw more of Lodz before heading back to the airport. It was interesting because it's not your typical European city. It definitely isn't touristy, so you get to
really see what it is like. It was an eventful trip, but it definitely feels good to be back home. You wouldn't believe it, but I'm now appreciating the Dublin weather. Poland, specifically our day spent in Warsaw, was FREEZING!! The constant rain didn't help the situation either.
Warsaw:
Belen & I
Some of the Polish military that we found everywhere. They were shooting off canons every hour or so.
Old Town:
Indira & I
Belen, Indira, and I. Going in a small group of three definitely had its perks!
Lodz:
Manufactora - the nicer part of Lodz, that actually isn't anything like the city itself.
The Jewish Cemetary:
The Getto. This was in the very beginning of the Hitler era when thousands of Jews were taken from their homes and crammed into small rooms. They were only given 300 calories a day, had no bathrooms, were not allowed to shower, etc. Within two months half of them had died. This part of the cemetary is filled with thousands of graves that have no names. The first getto was in Lodz because it was a smaller town.
