Last week I was in Krakow, Poland for COMSOC 2012. The meeting itself was intense (perhaps too many talks) and useful – I need time to digest it. The day before I walked around the central city as a tourist. My expectations were initially low, then built up by a little reading of Wikipedia. I found the Wawel Cathedral to be a good introduction to Polish history, which seems to have been rather difficult, full of invasion and struggles for nationhood. The Schindler factory museum of wartime Krakow was overwhelming, and emotionally draining, but very worthwhile. I didn’t manage to go / couldn’t face going to Auschwitz / Oswiecim, one of the main tourist attractions nearby. However I now have a better appreciation for the day to day brutality of Nazi occupation and more sympathy for the concept of Israel.

Krakow seems to have a large tourist infrastructure and overall it seemed to be doing well economically. English is widely spoken, which was just as well because my efforts to learn Polish were fairly ineffective. It is much harder than I had guessed. I recommend a visit to the city if you are intending tourism in Central/Eastern Europe.