Saturday, April 5th
We left Budapest on Saturday and headed north out of town, heading toward Krakow, Poland.
We traveled through Slovakia, through the Carpathian mountains where there were some ski resorts. It looked familiar!
We came down onto the plains and into Poland. We drove into Krakow, which is situated on the Vistula River. Found a little hotel that overlooks the old town and the river, which is very picturesque. We settled in and then walked into the center of town. Krakow is a very beautiful city because it was never bombed in the war or ever destroyed by fires. There is a large castle and fortress which is pretty impressive and then we learned that there was an old Jewish center.We walked to it and discovered the oldest synagogue in Poland, build in the l300s, other very old buildings. Apparently there was a very large Jewish population here before the war and before much of the old town was made into a ghetto it was quite the center of life for thousands of Jews. Just across the river where some of the old ghetto wall is still to be seen you can view the factory of Oskar Schindler. After walking for several hours we stopped at a tiny restaurant that pecialized in pierogis and we dined there. It was delicious! Unfortunately at this time the computer in the hotel doesn't have port for my camera cord so I cant show the pictures of Dad enjoying the liver and herb pierogis or the cherry ones we had for dessert. Hopefully I cn find an internet cafe where we can find something a little more up to date and upload the photo for you to see. Yumm.....it was a tasty dinner!
Sunday, April 6th
Auschwitz
We took a country road and headed southwest of Krakow and drove to the town of Auschwitz.
We joined up with a guided tour and listed, walked and absorbed it all for 4 hours.
What can I say? Gigantic. Huge. Hideous. Horrible. I had no idea this place was so big.
The original camp was at time a Polish Boot camp, then was expanded. And I mean really expanded. The town of Birkeneau is right next door and was also added to the enormous camp.
It is hard to fathom what went on here and that it was even allowed. I was surprised that so many people came from so many places to do this tour. It is very somber and tragic spot on earth. I wish at this time I could add the pictures we took but we will try to add them later.
Tonight we will go into downtown Krakow again and look around. The old churches are so beautiful with their onion-domed steeples.
The weather has been cool and spring is late coming here. Things are just barely starting to turn green. We will spend tomorrow looking around some more then we will follow the Vistula north and go into Warsaw for a few days.
We left Budapest on Saturday and headed north out of town, heading toward Krakow, Poland.
We traveled through Slovakia, through the Carpathian mountains where there were some ski resorts. It looked familiar!
We came down onto the plains and into Poland. We drove into Krakow, which is situated on the Vistula River. Found a little hotel that overlooks the old town and the river, which is very picturesque. We settled in and then walked into the center of town. Krakow is a very beautiful city because it was never bombed in the war or ever destroyed by fires. There is a large castle and fortress which is pretty impressive and then we learned that there was an old Jewish center.We walked to it and discovered the oldest synagogue in Poland, build in the l300s, other very old buildings. Apparently there was a very large Jewish population here before the war and before much of the old town was made into a ghetto it was quite the center of life for thousands of Jews. Just across the river where some of the old ghetto wall is still to be seen you can view the factory of Oskar Schindler. After walking for several hours we stopped at a tiny restaurant that pecialized in pierogis and we dined there. It was delicious! Unfortunately at this time the computer in the hotel doesn't have port for my camera cord so I cant show the pictures of Dad enjoying the liver and herb pierogis or the cherry ones we had for dessert. Hopefully I cn find an internet cafe where we can find something a little more up to date and upload the photo for you to see. Yumm.....it was a tasty dinner!
Sunday, April 6th
Auschwitz
We took a country road and headed southwest of Krakow and drove to the town of Auschwitz.
We joined up with a guided tour and listed, walked and absorbed it all for 4 hours.
What can I say? Gigantic. Huge. Hideous. Horrible. I had no idea this place was so big.
The original camp was at time a Polish Boot camp, then was expanded. And I mean really expanded. The town of Birkeneau is right next door and was also added to the enormous camp.
It is hard to fathom what went on here and that it was even allowed. I was surprised that so many people came from so many places to do this tour. It is very somber and tragic spot on earth. I wish at this time I could add the pictures we took but we will try to add them later.
Tonight we will go into downtown Krakow again and look around. The old churches are so beautiful with their onion-domed steeples.
The weather has been cool and spring is late coming here. Things are just barely starting to turn green. We will spend tomorrow looking around some more then we will follow the Vistula north and go into Warsaw for a few days.
3 comments:
I'm glad you added pictures!
Mom - is that a pirogi in your mouth in the concentration camp picture? It looks like you're eating something.
I hope you're having a fun time!!
yikes. those girls are pretty scary. I`m glad the fishlers decided to go to america...
slug - i assume you're referring to girl #2. there's nothing wrong with a lazy eye. it just makes things interesting.
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