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Like moths to a flame, Prague's countless tourists swarm around the Old City streets, flitting in and out of the endless & identically-kitsch tourist shops, alighting nowhere for long. For most cities, however enchanting, this would be enough to wear the charm thin - very quickly... =/ But Prague is an untouchably magical place - a deep-dreaming city of cobbled lanes, Gothic spires and refreshingly-diverse architecture. And one of the most magical places of all is Staromestske nam, (Old Town square), at dusk. The twin Gothic spires of Tyn Church hang - a pair of sharp-winged bats - over one side of the square, while the other is dominated by the Town Hall, (with its much-vaunted but ultimately anticlimactic - Is that it?! - astronomical clock).
Prague/Krakow: Dreams, Dragons & Nazi Death Camps
Michael Meadows2007-04-21 21:27:46
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death camps. It is possible to make your own way out there, (and a shuttle bus operates between the two camps), but we found a fairly affordable tour package and opted to do it the easier way. As we rolled quietly through the early morning Krakow streets and into the surrounding suburbs, most people on the bus just sat & stared into space, lost in their own thoughts, perhaps trying to prepare themselves. What little chatter there was died away altogether as we neared the first camp - Auschwitz. I was a little surprised to find a bustling residential district surrounding the camp, and even more surprised to hear it had been there during the war too. I'd always imagined Auschwitz to be located in a remote & unvisited wasteland, out of sight, out of mind. Another thing that surprised me was how harmless and peaceful the place felt. I'm not sure exactly what I'd expected; some kind of lingering memory - in the air itself - of all the pain & misery that had been caused here... Instead, Auschwitz is a fairly innocuous-looking grid of brown-brick dorm buildings, with tall trees shading the pebbled paths, (once you get through the barbed wire fences, that is). We passed through these fences in the same way that the inmates once had - under an arched black gateway, which groans under the grotesque weight of its sick slogan - Arbeit Macht Frei. 'Work will make you free'...
As we walked around the first few buildings & displays, I could barely take in all of the Polish guide's stories & figures, which she related in a detached voice that somehow made the reality of it all the more horrific & emotional. At first, there was a kind of sick fascination to hear all of the horrible facts that she was so calmly describing. It's sort of similar to the way we slow down when passing a grisly car accident, not just for safety's sake, but also because we want to see what's happened. This doesn't last long though. Very soon, there comes a
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See photographs from:
Czech Republic Gallery
,
Poland Gallery
