Our learning trip to Poland is soon coming to an end. We reached my favorite city, Krakow, on Saturday night, and have been on the run ever since. Aside from visiting Auschwitz Birkenau, the trip has been a blast. Our weather cooperated, so our experiences have been comfortable, educational & authentic. Again, just a few pictures from each stop,
Gnome winners. Wayne was the big winner with 69 spottings. Prizes of chocolate & vodka. All was shared on the bus. Joan, Dawn, Melinda, Judy, Christine & Wayne.Entrance gate to Auschwitz. The inscription reads: Arbeit Macht Frei. (Work will make you free.)Auschwitz with barbed wire keeping the prisoners caged. Once inside, this visit became more of a museum with many displays: Hair from female victims, shoes taken from victims, hats taken from victims, suitcases taken from victims, etc. The stories touch the heart.Detail of roll-call square. Roll call, which often lasted several hours, was one of the torments of camp life. Image the discomfort in the heat of summer or cold of winter.Guard house at Auschwitz.Main sites: Ghettos, transit camps & prisons from where the Jews & prisoners of other nationalities were deported to Auschwitz which became the largest Nazi concentration camp. Nazi’s deported 1.3 million to Auschwitz: Jews, Poles, Roma (Gypsies), Soviet POW’s, Other Ethnic Groups. Over 1.1 million were exterminated, 90% Jewish.Crematorium furnace. Over 4500 corpses a day could be burned in the five crematoriums in Auschwitz & Birkenau.
Enough of this horror. Now photos from Krakow.
Lonely Chairs Memorial which commemorates the deportation of Jews during WW2. Over 90% of Polish Jews lost their lives during the reign of Hitler.Town Hall Tower in Krakow; not a church! My favorite city in Poland was, in fact, not destroyed in the war as the Germans thought they would win the war & make Krakow their provincial capital.Old Town Market Square in Krakow, with the ubiquitous horse & carriage rides.Chicago jazz & blues in Krakow.Most important church in Poland, Wawel Cathedral. More than 150 churches in Krakow.According to our guide, Darius, this is the most beautiful street in Krakow; however, most women don’t enjoy it because there are no shops. Architecture is what makes it beautiful.Coffee & potty stop during walking tour of the Krakow square. We were dubbed the Sex in the City girls: Miranda, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte.
Going to send this post on its way, & write of my last days in Poland at the airport tomorrow. I’m doing this on the bus, & we are just about back to the hotel from another fun excursion.
Traveling with Judy 
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