Salt Mines and Schindler's Factory

We met our driver, Sergay, and drove through the night to Krakow. 18 girls squished onto one bus. No one wanted to take the front seats next to the driver, so of course Laria and I got stuck there. We drove through the night and got woken up a few times at the border. Early in the morning I woke up to us parked in a random lot. I looked to my left and there was the bus driver, sound asleep right next to me. What a nice surprise. But it was ok because after we woke up we went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. They were AWESOME.

Let's just talk real fast about my obsession with salt. Remember how I am addicted to salt? Addicted as in I add salt to everything and pour salt into my hand to eat it plain. (I've been trying to hold back the past few years) Point is, I've always loved salt. Everything in this mine was made of SALT! And we were allowed to lick it! Heaven? Yes. This place was made for me. Not only that, but it was beautiful. The deepest we went was 130 meters underground. That is about 425 feet. And that is only the 3rd level down...there are 9! It would take 6 months to see all of the mine, so we only saw 1% in the few hours we spent there. It was the freshest air I've breathed all month, in fact, probably all year! People go there for asthma treatments, so the air is the best you can get! Pictures won't even be able to show how cool this place was.

Going down never ending stairs to get there (much better than going up!)

The group!

Salt...you better believed I licked that!

A statue carved from rock salt

More stairs, made of salt!

This is a chapel made completely of rock salt! (Do you get the picture that everything was salt yet....ok just checking!) It took 3 miners 67 years to build. Each one worked on it up until the point he died then the next began. The chapel is surrounded by carved pictures depicting the life of Jesus Christ. Church services are held there each Sunday and they also hold weddings here. So cool!

You can see the carving of the Last Supper on the left.

Even the chandeliers were salt. Get me one of those please!

The group again

The lakes inside the mines. They used to have boat tours until one flipped over and people died inside. They were stuck under the boat and died of suffocation because they couldn't dive under the salt water to get out.

Inside one of the ballrooms where they hold banquets.

So basically if you go to Poland you HAVE to see the salt mines for your self! I'm so glad I did.

We got to our hostel in Krakow after the salt mines. Laria and I were so hungry that we went to the nearest market and found a bag of cereal. With nothing else but spoons in my backpack we just poured the milk right into the bag and ate the whole thing! I have missed cereal!

With nothing else planned for the day we decided to go to Schindler's Factory. I've never seen "Schindler's List" so I was afraid I wouldn't really understand it much. It was a museum inside the actual factory where Oskar Schindler employed thousands of Jews to save their lives. The museum did have a section based on this to see Schindler's office and learn more about his story. The rest was filled with the history of the invasion of Poland through 1939-1945. I have learned a lot about the Holocaust, but never really much about the invasion itself. It took you deep into the life in the Jewish ghettos before concentration camps. The museum was like a life size scrapbook to walk through. We found out was only opened a year ago! It reminded me a lot of the Holocaust museum in DC. We spent almost 3 hours there and I could've stayed longer. I learned so much!

Schindler's desk

"For some, war leaves no choice; for others, it makes choosing a must. A small gesture can yield irreversible consequences. It can either save a life, or ruin it."