Going to Eastern Europe is an experience neither of us will ever forget. The trip started with an overnight train from Bern, Switzerland to Budapest, Hungary. Having an armed border patrol guard pound on your door at 2 a.m. asking to see your passport was an instant reminder that we were in former communist countries. Once we got off the train, though, it was instantly obvious how different the next few days would be.
In most Western European countries, only the passengers stand on the train platforms waiting to either get on the train or walking off the train. Arriving in Budapest, we were bombarded with people all standing at the train door asking us if we wanted a place to stay, a taxi, or to change money. There were so many people, and we had just woken up from a very bad night’s sleep, that the entire scene seemed surreal. Fortunately we were not in need of any of those services and were able to push our way through the mob towards the exit of the train station. Stepping out into the street was another overwhelming experience in and of itself. The sky was gray, the streets were filled with melting, dirty snow, and the people moved very slowly without much expression on their faces. It was like Chicago in winter, with less color.
One of the first “touristy” things that we did in Budapest was to go to the Terror Museum. This museum is located in the same building that the Arrow Cross Party (the Hungarian Nazi Party) occupied in the early 40’s as their headquarters and, strangely enough, the Hungarian Communist Party occupied as their headquarters from the end of WWII until the early 90’s. Probably one of the most moving museums in the world, the Terror Museum informs you of all the horrible atrocities committed in Hungary by both the Nazi’s and Communists. After leaving the museum and walking through the streets of Budapest, we were able to see some of the scars left by those horrible events. Bullet holes in the bricks and partially refurbished walls are reminders of the 1956 Revolution and the deadly Soviet response. One of the most interesting things that we noticed in this city is that the people of Budapest don’t want to forget all the horrible things that happened. They want people to see and know what it was like in the hopes that such events never happen again. After the fall of Communism, the residents of Budapest decided to keep all of the mammoth statues erected by the communists and placed them all in park. Some of these were 20 foot statues dedicated to Soviet-Hungarian “friendship,” and others were 35 foot statues of Lenin or “the worker”. After a couple of days and the sun coming out, we really began to see Budapest as a very beautiful city struggling to come out of the shadow of its past to look forward to the future.
Another overnight train and 2 border patrols later, we arrived in Krakow, Poland. The biggest reason for us to choose to go to Krakow was to see the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. We soon found out that this city has so much more, though. In fact, it ranks as one of our favorite places in Europe so far. Not being a capitol city, Krakow escaped heavy destruction in WWII. It has the largest medieval town squares in all of Europe, and it was one of the friendliest places we have been to. (I would also like to mention that it was, by far, the cheapest city we have been to!) One of the really cool things we saw in Krakow was the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This mine has been in operation for over 700 years has been one of the reasons of prosperity for Krakow. The mine is entirely made of salt and extends over 150 meters (450 feet) underground (remember that this was all done by hand!) The mine is broken into different chambers and each chamber is named for a saint or king or famous visitor. Miners would often carve images or statues from the salt to indicate who the chamber is dedicated to. About 100 meters below ground is a chapel, carved completely from the salt in the mine. Rather than frescos and icons, though, this chapel has salt carvings of Mary, Jesus, Pope John Paul II, a perfect rendition of The Last Supper, and quite a few other “paintings.” A few of the statues have lights behind them and because they are carved from pure salt, the light makes them glow. After leaving the mine by going up a very scary and rickety miner’s elevator, we proceeded to explore Krakow’s finer establishments and ended our trip with a pub crawl.
The last city in Eastern Europe on this trip was Prague. Another city to escape heavy bombing in WWII, Prague completely lives up to its romantic reputation. The city is beautiful. Standing in the center of the Old Town Square, you can see the entire evolution of architecture in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque style churches, homes, and government buildings. The clock tower in the square still has a 500 year old Astrological clock that chimes every hour with an elaborate display of Christian and Pagan symbols that move and dance. And then there is the Charles Bridge. This pedestrian bridge is lined with statues, depicting Jesus, different saints, and one statue is of a martyr who was thrown off the bridge to his death (there is a myth that if you pet the engraving of the dog on this statue while making a wish, that wish will come true). On our last day in Prague we took a trip to the small town of Kutna Hora. In this town is a small church filled with the remains of 40,000 people, most of which died from the plague. Since there was no room in the cemetery to bury all these people, a blind monk spent years “stacking” the bones and creating different displays of all these human bones. There are pyramids 15-20 feet high of bones. There is a chandelier hanging in the center of the church that has at least one of each bone from the human body, and there are even chalices and other “decorations” all over this church constructed out of human bone.
