Tag: eastern europe
-
Ukraine: Expectations
Well, it’s time to write about Ukraine. I’ve been putting off writing about it because, as I entered Ukraine some five months ago, what I saw, heard, felt and experienced was kind of shocking. But the entire reason for this trip was to see Ukraine. Thus, after finding Stare Brusno I’d decided that my time…
-
Stare Brusno, Poland: A Search for a Cemetery in Southeast Poland
WTF is Stare Brusno? It’s an abandoned village in southeastern Poland. Why am I looking for it? Because apparently some of my ancestors are buried there. And I’m not alone in this search for this cemetery, it’s one of many old cemeteries that survived the war and preserves a part of Poland’s history (then part…
-
Rzeszów, Poland: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spirytus Sancti
Next up on my search to find a cemetery in southeast Poland was Rzeszów (pronounced zhe-shov… that’s Polish for ya). A small city, charming you might say, but I kinda felt like Bill Bryson in Neither Here nor There, you remember, the part where he’s sitting in a pub, drinking, all by his lonesome in…
-
Auschwitz and a Salt Mine, Poland: Tourist Attractions
Kraków is itself a great tourist attraction. Not far from Kraków, however, are two other tourist attractions: the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps from World War 2 an the Wieliczka Salt Mine. I think I paid 100 PLN for the A-B trip (about $30) and the same for the Salt Mines. Both were interesting, although I had…
-
Kraków, Poland: A Shit Head and A Dragon
Some folks mentioned to me that visitors to Poland usually have one of two reactions: they love either Warsaw or Kraków. Although I wasn’t taken by the city when I was there, Kraków, in retrospect, is a great city. I spent a week and a half there debating life, drinking coffee and vodka in the…