Post-appreciation…

As I was exploring the world with Google Earth, I came across Krakow, Poland. It reminded me of parts of a school trip I went on when I was 14 (I think). The main purpose of the trip was to visit several world war two sites -- especially the concentration camps in Poland and Germany. Naturally, I have no problem remembering emotions, odors, survivors' stories, sounds, and images from places like Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Sachsenhausen, but I had almost forgotten about a small detour we took just east of Krakow.

The detour was not very appreciated, since we were on our way to Wroclaw, almost 200 miles North West on Polish roads. However, we got to Wieliczka and experienced "Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka" -- The Wieliczka Salt Mine. Having just perused some of the information about it, I cannot believe I had almost forgotten about it! As we entered the nearly 800 year old mine, we were taken hundreds of feet underground where we saw large halls and narrow passages, underground cathedrals and amazing works of art -- even a lake with wooden bridges. I especially remember St. Kinga's chapel -- over 300 feet below the surface -- where we took a group picture (Need to find a copy of that!)

The mine was definitely not the highlight of the trip, but it was an amazing part of it. It's just such a shame that it should have to take me over 10 years to realize it.