Retired Nomads Part 4: Train from Warsaw & Schindler's Factory

Tuesday July 22

After breakfast Kris met us to take us to the train station. Thankfully, he didn’t ask about the statue yesterday and he had us at the station way too early. (plenty of time for him to fill our heads with more knowledge. We had first class train tickets to Krakow, and they were helpful with bringing and storing our luggage on the train.

It was on an express train that took two and a half hours to Krakow. Beautiful scenery, mostly farmland. They served a simple but nice lunch, and the time passed quickly. There were a couple of people in our car that hadn’t paid their fare and there was discussion on how that would be handled.

not the train station - but The Palace of Culture & Science

inside the train car

chicken salad sandwiches and they served a dessert

one of 2 stops

horses on the hillside

Upon our arrival at Krakow Glowny station, we were greeted by our driver Wojtek (pronounced Voy-tek) He was a gem for this portion of our trip. He chatted easily and occasionally pointed out significant things on the drive to Hotel Kossak. He made sure we were checked in to the hotel and explained that our guide would meet us in the morning. The rest of the day was ours to do as we pleased. We got settled in for our 4 nights here.

the room was nice and had a drawn horse mural on the wall

I laughed out loud at this cute mini fridge

We had a 4:00 reservation to visit the Schindler’s Factory. It was sold out when I tried to make reservations online well in advance and the only way to book tickets was a guided tour with Viator. They sell out months in advance. We got one of the two time slots available. We grabbed an Uber and were early, so we went across the street to have a snack.

We met and had a great small group tour of the museum. We had watched Schindler’s List prior to our trip and think it helped with understanding the museum. None of the original equipment exists and even though the museum is in the enamel factory building, the main exhibition is called Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945 and Schindler’s story only appears late in the museum, though heavily featured in the guide's presentation.

The museum is about the experience of Kraków citizens, especially its Jewish population, immediately before, during, and after the German invasion of Poland, and they presented a realistic view of Schindler in that while he eventually saved a lot of Jews, when he started out it was to use cheap labor. We thought it was a very well-done museum and very insightful.

restaurant

apple pie

Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory

the first room was dedicated to their happy lives before the Holocaust

train station

the group and our guide

the floor

famous staircase featured in the movie

looking back at the staircase below this one

murals painted on the walls

depicting daily life in the ghetto

outside Schindler's office

Schindler's office

collection of the actual pots made in the factory - it was a floor to ceiling cube filled with them)

dolls that were made

wall of the photos of the ones saved - approx 1,200

Schindler is buried in Jerusalem on Mount Zion - probably the only Nazi honored that way

leaving the museum

We went back to the hotel and then went in search of dinner. On the way to the Old Town we saw an Italian place and since we were “pierogied out” pizza sounded great!

The pizza was very good and the surprise at the end was that they brought a shot glass of a chocolate orange liqueur that was to die for.

We continued walking to the Old Town in search of gelato. We walked through Planty Park and came across one of the main squares. We grabbed some ice cream and walked around a bit before walking back to the hotel.