Excursions! (Prague and Krakow)

Because we are taking history classes, a main aspect of our dialogue is visiting sites and museums. While in Prague we learned about Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. After watching the film, we visited the street he was assassinated on and the church where his assassins hid out. They were cornered there by the Nazis and none of them survived. We were able to go inside the actual crypt they were hiding in and could see bullet holes in the walls. We also visited the sight of the town Lidice, which was one of the villages completely destroyed in retaliation for Heydrich’s death. It was very tough to hear about the stories of the families who lived there and see pictures of the town before and after its demise. The women and children were taken into camps and the men were executed on the spot. Some of the children were adopted into German families and we were able to hear them talk about these events on video.

Krakow is more famous for its medieval history when it was once the most wealthiest cities in Europe, due to its large salt mines. Here we visited Wawel castle, the Schindler Factory museum, the Jewish quarter, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. What was interesting about the earlier history of the city were all of the myths about dragons, a creature you will see much of in Krakow. Outside of Wawel castle there is even a dragon statue that breathes fire. The Schindler museum was really interesting, in part because some of the movie was filmed there. The Salt Mine was an incredible experience. We traveled 135 meters underground where there were large rooms made completely out of salt complete with sculptures and chandeliers. The large wooden staircases and the elaborate displays are indescribable. Auschwitz was expectedly an intense experience, and no words can really relay what it was like to be there.

We have plenty more visits planned for the next two legs of the trip, Warsaw and Gdansk, so more to come on those later.