Caves, Mines, Lairs and Liars

We’ve recently taken a lot of underground pictures. Not sure why. The weather and architecture have been great. But these are what wind up in the camera.

Unlike our April Fool’s posting, these are all true. Really. From here on out all blogs will be true. No more stolen vans or turning off gravity. All images will come directly from the camera (with just a brief pause in PhotoShop).

If there are any postings that aren’t true, they will be labeled. Or obviously untrue. Like singing statues. Or ancient civilizations with advanced knowledge of mathematics.

Whew... I feel better.

The first image is of stalagmites in a cave in the Eastern Czech Republic. We got there by typing the name into the GPS unit and following the directions. It’s a real test of faith in technology because the road signs don’t mention the caves till you’re right there. We couldn’t even pronounce the name of it if we had been asked. There aren’t enough vowels.

We just went driving along between fields, down unpaved roads and through the centers of small villages till we got there. Inside, we walked through rooms and passage ways accompanied by a guide speaking non-stop Czech. Every now and then she’d turn on some music or turn off the lights.

She took us to dock where a long electric boat carried us the rest of the way. Our first navigable underground river. Really. She said we couldn’t take pictures cause of safety reasons.

The next two images are in an abandoned salt mine in Krakow, Poland. Almost everything in the place was carved out of salt. Even the chandelier crystals, statues and floor tiling. Ben licked the walls and confirmed they were salty. We were assured it was a bacteria free environment. Talk about a hoax!

The last image is of a dragon, a symbol of Krakow. We walked through it’s underground “lair” below the Wawhel castle. It was a believable lair.

Before Krakow, we visited Auschwitz. We were stunned by the mounds of human hair, suitcases, shoes and brushes. This is were the SS carried out the processes they developed in Dachau. In Auschwitz and down the street in Birkenau, they murdered 3 million people. We left much of it unseen. It was too much sadness, pain and confusion. Humanity at it’s worst. But not out of character.