Final Poland Entry

Well, it must come to an end. The Poland trip is almost over. Tomorrow we return to the USA. It has been quite fun, but I am very excited to be home again. It is very uncomfortable to be in a place where you don't speak the language. Even though you are surrounded by people, you share nothing in common with them. You can't say "excuse me" if you bump into them, or "thanks" for holding the door. Although I learned how to say such things in Polish, I feel silly saying them to native speakers. I consider it similar to saying "gracias". Even though I mean it sincerely, I am afraid I will come off sounding like I am making fun of their language.

Today was fun. We visited the salt mines. Many have asked, "What are the Salt Mines, Will?" Well, I will tell you: It is a place where salt was mined! I was surprised since I didn't know that you had to mine salt. As it turns out, for years and years you didn't mine salt. Salt for cooking was originally created by heating salt water until the water evaporated leaving granules of salt. After it was discovered that such granules exist naturally, mining was the preferred method of finding salt. The salt mines we visited today were on the original UNESCO World Heritage list. The original ten sites on this list were selected because of their "natural" occurrence and their importance to world culture. These salt mines are over 1000m deep and have been around for hundreds of years. They are organised into chambers where the salt was removed through shafts and sent upwards. The removal system was run by horses and was quite creative. The tallest cavern within the mines is over 35m. A few years ago, a hot air balloon was inflated and launched within this chamber -- the flight is the highest within a closed area as reported by the Guinness World Book of Records.

The pictures are slightly blurry because it was very dark within the mines. I had to use a long exposure to get as much light as possible. Also, we ran into battery issues. In any event, here they are. I hope that you enjoy!

Day 7