Well then...

Back in 2010 I predicted that I'd put up some more posts here. Looks like I didn't manage until today! Hopefully I'll have a little more inspiration in future and won't leave it so long next time!

Inactivity

I suppose this blog has been inactive for quite a while now. I started it as somewhere to put up a few photos, but I haven't spent much time here since August when the summer holidays ended.

I am currently giving some thought to what to put here, so hopefully I will have a few more posts soon.

Wawel, Krakow, Poland

The most impressive building in Krakow is the Wawel Castle complex. Krakow was the historic capital of Poland and was one of the few Polish cities to escape the Second World War largely physically unscathed. The Photograph above shows Wawel Cathedral, the burial place of many of the ancient kings of Poland. This is in the courtyard of the Castle.





This next photograph shows some of the Castle itself. As well as being the seat of the ancient kings of Poland, the Wawel has a less distinguished history as the headquarters of the German General Government of Poland during the Second World War. It is from this beautiful building that many of the horrors of both the holocaust and the degradation of the Polish nation were directed.

Auschwitz

During my time in Poland I also travelled to Auschwitz. The former concentration and death camp is now a museum. There were three camps, Auschwitz 1, Aushcwitz 2 (Birkenau) and Auschwitz 3. The town beside the camps has gone back to its original Polish name. I travelled by bus to the camp. The Polish countryside, even in August is very green. The route from Krakow is not a long one, but the roads are narrow and the journey is quite slow.












The photograph above shows the gate to Birkenau (Auschwitz 2). This camp was the one where most of the actual killing happened. It is estimated that more than a million souls were murdered in this place during its time of operation. The gate covers a railway line which was used to transport in victims. Most of Birkenau camp itself was destroyed by the fleeing Nazis as the Russian Army approached at the end of the war. Most of the buildings were wood, so most of what remains are their brick chimneys and the few brick built buildings on the site.












The third photograph is the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" gate, which marks the entrance to Auschwitz 1. Whether the slogan was chosen in a deliberate parody of the Bible "The Truth Shall Set You Free", I do not know. Auschwitz 1 was originally a camp for Polish prisoners. There is a small gas chamber here, but Birkenau is the place where mass murder was fully industrialized.

As can be seen from the photographs the camps are major tourist destinations, for good or ill. The exhibits and the tours were sombre and in parts shocking, rather than exploitative.

Krakow

I have done some travelling in the last month. One of the places that I visited was the city of Krakow in Poland, here are some of the photographs. The first photograph above shows a view of the city from the walls of the Wawel Castle.





The second photograph shows the Barbican with one of the gates into the old city in the background. Much of the route of the old city walls is taken up today by a well maintained green park called the Planty.







The third photograph shows the Cloth Hall in the middle of the old city. This is one of the most distinctive buildings in the town and is surrounded by one of the largest town squares in Europe.

Anonymous Statue in Budapest

This is one of my favourite statues in Budapest. One of the earliest accounts of Hungarian history was compiled by a monk whose name is not known. This does not deter the statue makers, they made this statue of Anonymous as a result. I love the hood covering the face adding to the mystery.

The weather breaks!

At 2pm today my thermometer was registering a temperature on the balcony as being 41C. At about 4pm the wind started to blow and a summer storm hit, with lightning and heavy rainfall. It is now just after 10pm and the balcony temperature is now only 19.5C. The temperature inside yesterday did not go below 28C all night, making it pretty uncomfortable. The wet street scene above from this afternoon was a very pleasant sight.