The Vagrant Gypsy Life

Tue Sept 13 – : Thu Sept 15 Poznan (D16 – D18)

Poznan is a very pretty town, but there is not a whole lot to keep a tourist around for long. It is the 5th largest in Poland and used to be the capital a long time ago. I decided to take it easy and rest a day after 2 weeks of non-stop tourism.

I met a Welshman who had been living in Poznan for 5-6 years. He gave me a tour of Poznan and also took me to a food fair. Bob had lived in India for two years and had been to Kerala and I got the impression he enjoyed meeting someone fro there. Interesting life he has had!

In my time in Poland, I ran into quite a few Polish folk who spoke Spanish and it gave me the chance to coninue to practise my Spanglish. There are also a lot of Spaniards studying/ travelling in Poland.

Fri Sept 16 – : Sat Sept 17 Warsaw (D19 – D20)

Spent just the two nights in Warsaw as it didnt quite capture my fancy. It is pretty big and people seemed on the move, much like every capital city! I liked some parts of the town, and enjoyed the days I spent there and covered a lot of ground on foot.

I met a Georgian lady at the hostel who, when I told her I was from India, rattled off names of famous actors and actresses from Hindi movies and songs from the movies. Indian movies used to be extremely popular in the old soviet union.

Sun Sept 18 – : Wed Sept 21 Krakow (D21 – D24)

I took an early train to Krakow and got to Krakow around noon. It was a bit cloudy and cold, but I walked around a bit. Also met up with a couple of Danish girls whom I had spent a day with in Berlin. We walked around for a couple of hours before saying goodbye as they were off to Slovenia that night.

I loved Krakow! It seemed lively and quiet enough to suit my style. I cooked, but also did eat out a few times. I walked around Krakow Monday and visited the Jewish quarter. Jews were a big part of pre-WW2 Krakow. The Hebrew school, the synagogues, all worth a visit.

I had planned to go to Aushwitzh Tuesday. Woke up with a headache and spent most of the day in bed. It was a rainy day and I reckon I didnt really miss much.

Wednesday morning found me on my way to Aushwitz. I caught the 6:00 train to Osweicim. I got directions to the Auschwitz museum from a friendly girl at the train station. It is only about a km from the train station. There are plenty of tours to Auschwitz, but having read about Auschwitz, I wanted to be on my own, without having tell me what to think and what to see. The two concentration camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau (about 2 km apart), are open to public. The main camp, Aushwitz is free to public from 08:00 – 10:00 and 15:00 – 18:00. Birkenau is open to public all day long.

Auschwitz, on first view, looks like a university campus. The buildings that have seen a lot of horrors like dorms. They have quite a lot of information to offer a visitor. I hadnt quite expected it to be as overwhelming as it was and I am glad I had some time to myself to deal with it before waves of crowds arrrived. The first set of prisoners sent to Auschwitz were Polish prisoners, German prisoners (homosexuals and others that the Nazi state deemed undesirables), Russian POWs. It wasn’t till later that they had European Jews & Romany folks sent to the camp. But looking at the numbers, the casualties among the Jews outnumbered the others by a significant amount.

Each of the buildings deals with different aspects. One dealt with how the Polish were affected by WW2 and the camp, another dealt with the sufferings of Jews in the Netherlands, another with the treatment of the Romany people….

The museum has re-constructed a lot of the areas, since the Nazis tried to destroy as much evidence as they could, of their brutality. The museum also does highlight the prejudices in the European nations and doesn’t absolve them of blame either. Maybe we are all to blame, all of us, for the cruelties that were bestowed. Reading about how some people made money off the sufferings of others cannot really help your breakfast sit well in your stomach. Even through all that, the courage of some people to help those in need, even at a cost to their lives, does give the visitor some hope.

The museum has reconstructed the public hallows, where folks were hanged to death or by their hands, as a punishment for all to see. The gas chambers, the courtyard where they shot prisoners, they are all quite gruesome. But the one thing that touched me was the suitcases with names on them which were displayed in a room. That building also had on display, Jewish prayer shawls, shoes, hairbrushes, combs, etc.. Enough to give one a small idea of how many people were murdered. The human mind does have difficulties dealing with millions!

After I had spent about 3 hour at Auschwitz, i had to leave, and I missed seeing the gas chambers, the quarter of the German officers and a couple of other things.

Birkenau is set in a beautiful region, in the woods, and looks benign too, till one remembers and sees the remains of the buildings. The poor living conditions of the prisoners make even some of the slums in Mumbai look like resorts. Birkeanu dwarves Auchwitz. There is a railway line which brought in trains filled, busting to seams, with prisoners, mostly Jews from other parts of Europe. The women and children were sent straight to the gas chambers, while the men were sorted, according to health and ability to work and withstand long, cruel days.

Auschwitz

Thu Sept 22 – Tue Sept 27 (D25 – D30) : Zakopane and the Tatras

After about 6 weeks of city/ town life, it was lovely to get to the mountains and hike a while. 5 days! I walked everyday and averaged 5-6 hours of walking. The Tatras is beautiful, but it was crowded, even at the end of the season and the trails were terrible. It made walking downhill a chore, and not a pleasant one, either. However, the crisp mountain air, some of the solitary trails, and the views put me in a good mood. I also stayed in a hostel near the park, which did all to make the guests feel at home. It had a homely feeling to it, with the staff and the other travellers.

My last night in Zakopane, I went to dinner with a Polish chap and took him up on his invitation to try some Polish vodka. Bad idea! I dont remember much of the night after my head hit the pillow! Woke up tired and listless. Arrived in Krakow to realise that I had left my converter, charger for the camera and some cables back at the hostel. Had to go back to retrieve it since it was mroe convenient and cheaper to do so than to buy new ones. 4 hours added to my journey, quite unnecessarily.

Wed Sept 28 – Thu Sept 29 (D31 – D32) : Krakow

I enjoy being back in a town I had visited previously. It does provide the illusion of being home! Knowing the streets, some shops etc, makes one feel at home! I recovered from my days spent in the woods, in the bustling city of Krakow.

Fri Sept 30 – Oct 2 : Wroclaw (D33 – D34)

The train journey from Krakow to Wroclaw is the longest one I have had in Europe. The train was late as well.

Wroclaw is small and is more of a University town, full of bustling young college kids. It has a nice vibe and is charming, even if there is not a whole lot to do. Well worth a visit, and I spent two nights. Celebrated becoming older with a nice lunch and a quiet evening.

On a stroll on my last afternoon, I ran into someone with whom I played football in Dresden. Small world…

Off to the Czech Republic and Prague.

Wed Aug 31 – Fri Sept 2 2001 : Leipzig (D3 – D5)

The train journey was extremely comfortable and there were only a handful of people in my compartment.

I found Leipzig delightful. Located in eastern europe, it is a bustling tiny city with a famous university (and a few Nobel prize winners in the faculty) and plenty of students. On a couple of occasions, locals came up to help me when I had my map spread out in front of me and a lost look. One of them didnt speak English, but still managed to show me how to get where I was headed. I was warned that Eastern Germany still has a bit of Neo-Nazism and that I might encounter racism. I must admit that for about half a day, my first in Leipzig, I did look at every man with a close cropped head with suspicion.

I wandered the streets of Leipzig and managed to visit most of the tourist sites. The architecture in Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin and even parts of Poland looked quite alike to me. The visit to the Stasi museum in Leipzig was the most memorable of my activities in Leipzig. It shows in great detail how the Stasi spied on the people and kept an iron fist till the people revolted in 1989. They even have the banners that people used during their rallies and the night they stormed the Stasi building in 89.

There were plenty of tourists in Leipzig, but the numbers were dwarfed by the foreigners I ran into in Dresden and Berlin.

Sat Sept 3 – Sun Sept 4 : Dresden (D6 – D7)

Got to Dresden before noon on the train from Leipzig – only about a couple of hours of journey. Spent 2 nights there before heading off to Berlin.

I liked the new part (Neustadt) of Dresden more than the old part. The old part is lovely, full of tourists and lacked character. Neustadt made up in charm that it was lacking in sights. I had a conversation with a German who was delighted in having won a paid holiday for drinking beer – he won some contest and his trip was sponsored in its entirety by the beer company.

Sunday afternoon, I played football in the park with some Germans and some Spanish speaking forlks – from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Spain & Chile. It was lovely to be able to practise my Spanish and I enjoyed the couple of hours of kicking the ball around. (Update: I met one of the lads while walking around in Wroclaw! He was there visiting his Polish girlfriend. What a surprise!)

Mon Sept 5 – Mon Sept 12 : Berlin (D8 – D15)

I had a lovely week in Berlin. The city is huge and has much to offer a tourist. I stayed in a really good hostel. The staff were fantastic and I had a wonderful time at the hostel.

The weather was quirky to say the least. Rain, sun, cloudy days… ran the entire gamut. It was cold at night.

There are so many things I remember with pleasure about Berlin. The city and the sights, the multi-cultural neighbourhoods, the people I met at the hostel…. I had dinner with the mother of a friend of mine one night. She has been living in Berlin for a couple of years and had some exam at work, which meant she only had time to meet me for dinner. Her English is better than my German, but it was halting conversation with frequent references to the dictionary. We managed to still have an enjoyable evening and share a few laughs.

There are plenty of museums, but I only managed to visit a couple. One dealt with the history of Berlin after the allied forces captured Berlin. The other museum dealt with the history of the Nazi party, how they came to power and the sufferings they heaped on the Jews and other folks they deemed not worthy of living in their Aryan society.

East side gallery is amazing. The 1km odd stretch of the old Berlin wall still standing along the river Spree (?), in a stark neighbourhood devoid of much beauty, was opened up to artists and it is well worth the visit.

East side gallery, Brandenburg gate, some parks, the Holocaust memorial, … there is so much that is memorable in Berlin. My favourite day was that spent with a few folks from the hostel when we visited the Holocaust memorial, and then to a park in the afternoon to listen to Karaoke. There was a flea market in the park as well, but the people came to see the Karaoke. Every Sunday afternoon, an Irishman rolls his machine out to the amphitheatre at the park. A lovely Sunday afternoon before the clouds vented their pent-up fury on the city!