My parents have several Polish friends and visited the Polish countryside about 15 years ago but did not enjoy it at all. Regardless, I wanted to make my own mind up about the country and in early 2019, I visited Warsaw and Krakow with a school friend. The first adventure started in the airport, where we had to run to our gate as we had gotten distracted at Starbucks during the final call (a recurring theme on this trip), but we made it in time for the flight.
We arrived to -1°C and although it didn't rain, it was mostly cloudy and cold throughout our trip in Poland. Neither of us speak any Polish, however we were in big cities where English was enough to get by, so that wasn't a problem.
Warsaw
We started our trip in the nation's capital, Warsaw, where we arrived at the Old Town to a sombre atmosphere despite crowds, however we soon learnt that the locals were honouring the late Pawel Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdansk who had been murdered only a couple of days beforehand. In all honesty, I don't remember much about the city other than the beautiful Old Town, which was very picturesque, and the high-rise Palace of Culture and Science (which you could ascend to overlook the city). We also visited the classic landmarks via a hop-on-hop-off bus, including Łazienki park (which was pretty, but given that it was Winter, slightly underwhelming), the Royal Castle, and the Wilanów Palace.
After our stint in Warsaw, we planned to catch a train to Krakow, which would take about two and a half hours. We got to the train station nice and early, so early in fact that we had time to get Starbucks, so we ordered our drinks and waited. We kept waiting, watching the barista *very* slowly making the second drink, and then realised the our train was departing in a couple of minutes, so had to leg it across the station and up some stairs (with a small suitcase, a backpack, and a coffee each), only to see our train depart before our very eyes. Luckily, we managed to book a ticket for the next train out and we were even offered a full refund for the train we'd missed (despite us being entirely at fault), which was very much appreciated, and at last made it to Krakow.
Krakow
Krakow was more memorable to me than Warsaw, perhaps partially due to our visit to Auschwitz (which I will expand on later). The Old Town here was also very pretty, however there were other sights that definitely stuck with me more, for example the former Jewish Quarter, which features the 'Ghetto Heroes Square', a square with 70 empty chairs representing the last location of many victims before they were taken to various death camps. Nearby is Oskar Schindler's former factory (now a museum), as is Bernatek Footbridge, which features sculptures of acrobats and is very cool. Other sights that are worth visiting include St. Mary's Basilica, Wawel Cathedral and the Barbican. We also visited a bar called 'Alcatraz', which provided novelty but the featured prisoner wax figures were slightly disconcerting. One thing I did enjoy greatly was the food in Poland, specifically the 'pierogi', or dumplings.
Auschwitz
From Krakow, we went on a guided tour of Auschwitz. I had read a lot of books and seen a lot of films about the Second World War and the Nazis (including Schindler's List, which is based off of the aforementioned Oskar Schindler) and found them to be heart-wrenching but I felt that it was important to visit Auschwitz in order to learn more about the atrocities committed and keep the memory of the victims alive. I was prepared for a very emotional day, however although it was shocking, I felt like the guide just presented us with a lot of facts as opposed to personal accounts and so, it wasn't as emotive to me as the books I'd read and films I'd watched on the matter. Having said this, other friends have been and found it extremely heartbreaking, so it probably depends a lot on each person and tour. Nonetheless, we learnt a lot about the mistreatment of the Poles and about the Nazi leaders' lives. It was also freezing at the time and we learnt about Josef Mengele (the infamous Nazi 'doctor') whilst standing outside in the snow so imagining prisoners dressed in thin pyjamas whilst working outdoors in the middle of Winter put the callousness into perspective.
I learnt a lot on this trip and would definitely recommend visiting the country if you get the chance!
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