June 25, Krakow Poland

I warned him. Thomas, our wonderful guide agreed to take us on the Auschwitz tour and then drop us off at our pension in Krakow. I told him there would be four of us and LOTS of luggage because we would be bringing Catherine's stuff as well. He said ok, but I think he was still surprised. No matter, it all fit.

Catherine, who had just been to Auschwitz the week before, had no desire to go again so soon. So she used one of the train tickets we had bought and caught the 7:00 a.m. train to Krakow. Thomas picked us up at 8. Also along was a guy named Mark from Dave's conference. We swung by Carolyn's and picked them up--again plus luggage. It was all quite efficient. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours. Thomas didn't go through Auschwitz with us. Can't blame him! There was no need. Once he got us through the line, we were assigned to a group of about 30 people with a guide. They were clever about how they handled the tours. We all had a little box radio and tuned into our guides frequency, we all heard everything and the guide didn't have to shout.  We didn't take many pictures. It's overwhelming emotionally to go there, so it's hard to know what will have meaning later. 

A couple of things that stood out to me. I knew that most people were sent straight to the gas chambers, but I didn't put together just how quickly that happened. The guide said that for most people, because most were sent directly to death, our visit to the compound would last longer than their stay at the camp. 

The picture I wish I'd taken was of another picture. In this picture an officer is at the head of the line making the "selection"--left the person goes to work, right the person goes to the gas chamber. An elderly gentleman is at the head of the line, and if you look at the shadow of the officer, it is clear that the soldier is pointing to the right. 

The buildings themselves were old army barracks, and so much nicer than I expected. 

There were many displays like this, of shoes or glasses or even hair. But this one of cooking pots got to me because so many were exactly the same as what is in my kitchen right now.

One of the creamatoriums.  

Some prisoners had a sort of "trial." They were shot at this wall. 

A bathroom. Prisoners were allowed to use it twice a day. One of the best jobs a prisoner could have was to work in the bathroom. It was horrible, but it was warm, and they could use the toilets themselves as often as they needed to which was important as most of the prisoners had dysentery.

The bunks don't look too horrible in this picture, but the bottom level was directly on the floor, and people were crammed in. It was important to be on the top bunk. Almost of the prisoners quickly became seriously ill with diarrhea or dysentery or other diseases. They were locked in these rooms--and with bathroom privileges only twice a day....you didn't want to be on the bottom. 

 The tracks leading to Birkenau--a much larger and more "efficient" camp.

For me, this boxcar was one of the most difficult displays. No one in my family ever went to Auschwitz, thank goodness, but after the war, my mother, uncle and grandparents were loaded into a car like this and driven (for three days with no food or facilities) to what they were told would be a refugee camp. At this point, the German people knew what had really been going on in concentration camps, and no one in my mom's boxcar knew for certain if they were really going to a refugee camp or not. Mom says she remembers looking through the slats of the boxcar and seeing the frozen bodies of soldiers on the ground. Even scarier, were the bridges. Most, if not all, bridges had been mined during the war, and there was no guarantee that the mines on their journey had all been diffused.

As we were looking at the ruins in Birkenau, a rabbi was nearby with his own group telling stories. I drifted over to his group and listened to this kind and sincere man. Our own guide was quite good and sincere himself. He's been giving tours for 8 years and says people often ask him how he can do such a thing? He says that most of the guides working there have some sort of personal connection to the camp. Working there keeps the memories alive that should not be forgotten. 

My favorite story of Auschwitz is this story of an escape. Four prisoners stole German uniforms (I don't know how), and simply drove out in the Kommandant's car. Ha! I would have loved to see the face of that Kommandant. One of the men just recently died at age ninety-something. 

Meanwhile, while we were on our tour, Catherine had been having adventures of her own. She got to Krakow in the morning and discovered that the Bed and Breakfast where we were staying is nowhere near anything. She walked about three miles and found it (Thank you google and T-mobile unlimited data plan), then went back to the old town and saw the archeology museum. She said the museum was fascinating, and again she was very directed as to where to go and in what order to see things. No skipping things or slacking off. 

Thomas, our tour guide now went an hour out of his way (plus another hour back), to take us to Krakow. I don't think the other passenger knew about this little detour--he didn't seem too pleased. The farther we went in the boonies the more uncomfortable Thomas seemed. When we found the place he wasn't at all sure it was the right place. But Catherine had come back to meet us, and the owner--who was darling and only spoke Polish, was there, so we were in the right place. We unload the luggage and thanked Thomas profusely as well as gave him a large tip. 

The pension, Rud Nadawa, was darling.

Comfy looking beds (except Catherine's was a pull out), and being in the middle of nowhere, presumably no loud drunken oafs yelling under the window.

Ecelectic Hallway

Pretty Tapestries

And a very promising looking breakfast area. 

Happily, although the pension wasn't close to anything, the bus stop wasn't too far off. We hopped on (again, no thanks to my non-existent navigation skills), and got pretty close to the old city center. 

Walking along one of many narrow alleys.

And.....ahhhhh. A beautiful town square. The building in the back is cloth hall. A medieval building where people really did trade and sell cloth, but now has lots of little booths with people selling all kinds of stuff. 

Neat Accent

Both girls wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Fine with us and talk about a charming facade on the building!

Our view from the Hard Rock. There were even some brides in the square. 

No idea who this musician is, but apparently he's hot stuff in Poland. 

Fun Street Performer. 

And another one.

No idea why this ram was here. 

This gives an idea of how large this ram was.  I liked him. He was cheerful. 

The carriage rides weren't too expensive, so we took one around the town. 

Bella and Carolyn in the carriage.

The sun sets in Krakow too.  I washed out a few things and started reading a fascinating book about an Aushwitz prisoner who was the infamour Dr. Mengele's assistant.