Krakow

They serenaded me upon my arrival to the castle. How did they know when I would be arriving?
Up at the castle overlooking the river.
That would be Wawel castle, symbol and place of pride for Poles.
Humongous square in Krakow. It is quite the place to just hang out and watch street performers.
The square at night
Street performer getting down. What you don't see is me jumping right after and showing him up. I have skills.
Entrance to Birkenau, enough said.
Killing wall where many people lost their lives.

Work will set you free? What a joke and insult.

After nearly three weeks of traveling in Europe it is about to come to an end. And let me tell you what a way to end the trip. I must admit after traveling in Hungary, Poland seems three notches above. I loved Budapest but I found the people sketchy and unwelcoming. Of course I am not saying this is how it is but this was my experience. As soon as I got to Poland their were young people welcoming off the train asking if I needed any assistance. I got this help from one man in Budapest but for the most part it was not this way. I immediately felt reassured when landing down in Poland. People here are amazing. Friendly, open, communicative, kind and interested in making your trip one to remember. If you have the chance visit Krakow. I of course had heard great things about Krakow. It is compared to Boston in the US. Well as some of you know Boston is my favorite American city. After visiting Krakow I now know that this is my favorite city. It is just absolutely gorgeous. I thought Lubeck, Schwerin, Heidelberg and Prague were incredible. Sorry but they take a back seat to this city. Not once have I felt safe or unwelcomed. I have walked around the whole city, or most of it, and not once did I get lost. A feat unto itself. The point I am trying to make is the city is well designed and easy to get around in. I am so happy after the ordeal of traveling through Hungary that I landed in a place like Krakow.

Yesterday as I mentioned I got in around nine. I walked around town for awhile got a cup of coffee and people watched. That is fun in itself. Now I know where I get my good looks from :)
I then headed off to Auschwitz which is about an hour and fifteen minuted drive from here. I went on a group tour that took us by bus and provided a guided tour with an expert. The whole tour was fantastic they show you a movie on your way and the guide was extremely informative. The movie was rather interesting on the way because it was about a Soviet cameraman that was one of the first to arrive at Auschwitz. His task was document visually the horrors of the camp. What was interesting was he said numerous times that it was the most horrific scenes he had scene during the war. Really? Of the war, what about your whole life. I sat their thinking to myself how could the Soviets come upon this camp see the sickness of this operation and then incorporate this practices in their gulags, torture chamber, interrogations and excecution rooms. I have a lot of mistrust of the Soviets as you can see. This issue I talked to with our Polish guide after our tour was through. Anyway, I digress. We first entered Auschwitz under the famous 'Work will set you free sign' that greeted deportees into Auschwitz. I really am in no mood to get into all the details about the experience as of now. I will just say this I have never felt so sickened and angry before. After spending two weeks in Germany I only think it is right that they feel ashamed for their transgressions during World War II. In fact they should be sickened for another thousand years. The actions by the German government and its people is one that in my mind can never be forgiven. We must not forget that not only did six million Jews die during this tragedy but many, many millions of others died during this horrific period known as the Holocaust. After Auschwitz we were taken to Birkenau right down the street. This camp was overwhelming. Acres upon acres of barricks. This was where the real killing took place. Auschwitz was originally setup for political dissidents, and Polish prisoners of war. Birkenau was established with the sole purpose of systematically killing millions of harmless people. 1 out of every 6 Jews was killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I will speak more about this later and if you have questions feel free to ask but even 24 hours later I am sick and angry. Never ever will I forget the scenes I saw yesterday and the emotions I felt.

This morning I got up early and walked around town to do some shopping. I left most of my luggage behind in Frankfurt so I needed to get some simple things. Socks, pair of shoes, Polish soccer jersey, gift for Sadie (niece), patch and magnet. You know my usual, ha. You would not believe how hard it is to get some socks around this place. Oh wait there was an adidas store across the street that I passed numerous times that had them. Logical place right, one would think to look there. I am looking in women department stores and high scale stores. Anyway I bought a new book to read while having a cup of coffee and lunch in the main square. I had a great time just chilling out reading this new book and enjoying the beautiful weather. This book is fascintating by the way it is called "The Mascot". It is about this Jewish boy, five years old, that escapes a mass murder in his town near Russia by running away. He lives in the woods for weeks by himself. Eventually gets found almost killed again and is adopted by a Latvian/German SS unit. To survive he does whatever it takes and becomes a member of one of the roving killing units. That is where I am at thus far, looking forward to reading more. After lunch I went up to the castle and checked that out. Rather impressive, especially the church which was rebuilt in 1364. Yeah that is rebuilt, it is originally from around 1000. Crazy history here. Fantastically charming city. Once again if you have a chance visit Krakow. Gotta run, dinner at the square with some reading then off to the train to hitch my ride back to Frankfurt. Till next time, bon voyage!