what you doin here jones?

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didnt get to do one of these tomorrow, as it was a very long day. we left the hostel in the morning at about 10.30am, and me and gareth didnt get back here until 9.30pm, and if we knew of other trains, it would have been later. if i went back 2 days i would have got an earlier train yesterday as well. because in all honesty, the 7 hours we were there was nowhere near enough to take well, anything in at all.

yesterday we went to auschwitz. ok, i was going to write a big blog about that, but thinking about it, its entirely ridiculous. there's something very very wrong about a place like that being such a huge tourist attraction. i mean, obviously, im a hypocrite, as im an archetypical tourist and i was there, but its a strange one. so we got the train from krakow to oswiecim, arrived there at 12.30ish and had no idea what to do. luckily, its such a big tourist thing, so we latched onto a group of americans to find a bus to the camp itself. got there, bought a guide and a map, and i suppose the rest writes itself.

absolutely terrifying. entirely, 100% insanely horrifyingly scarily terrifying. the first, smaller camp, has been made into a museum, but not in a tacky way at all. in fact, i cant imagine it being done any other way, if there was ever anything about the holocaust that you didnt know then your question would have been answered there. just walking through the main gate was a bit scary really, its impossible to properly fathom any of it. in some of the buildings there were exhibitions, each of the main countries that suffered (poland, hungary, czech republic, austria etc) had their own exhibitons, and then there were exhibitions for daily camp life, how it all came about, how extermination was done, and various other things. it's entirely terrifying that things like this have happened and are still happening, especially on such a giant scale. further on in the camp grounds was crematorium I, which was another terrifying thing. it's pretty much as it was, an ominous looking building hid by a big mound. inside, is 2 rooms. one is a long, cold, dank empty room, where the infamous showers were taken, and the second room has 4 ovens in them. you've all seen pictures of these ovens, and seeing them in person is entirely insane. madness. further exhibitons were seen, and we reached an exhibition on how people in the camps had their things plundered by nazi guards. so yes, we saw the infamous piles of shoes, hair, brushes and suitcases. i still cant get over the hair. it's sick, entirely sick, and its a proper jaw dropping thing. scary. during the time we also watched a short film about auschwitz that was filmed by the russians upon getting to the camps. horrifying. so, we had done as much there as we thought we could, danny and minor decided on heading back to krakow early, and me and gareth walked on to birkenau.

some light relief in the heavy day! we walked for ages, following directions we were given, until we got to a hotel, and were pretty confused. the receptionist gave us directions, she seemed a little angry ('speak slower!'), and we carried on. turns out, we just walked in a giant circle, and ended up back at the first camp. fools! so, we decided a taxi was the best option. found ourselves a quality taxi driver, called marian, what a guy. he kept saying 'it is my job' whenever we thanked him, heh. he gave us a little bit of info on the drive there, and then dropped us off.

now, if you've seen schindlers list, then you know the infamous picture of birkenau, or auschwitz II. the train tracks, leading up to the watchtower. well, yes. its impossible to fathom, and in all honesty, i dont think i can get anywhere near summing up this part of the experience in a travel blog. all i shall say, is that auschwitz II is far larger than you imagine, and has hardly been touched since the germans fled. it is entirely impossible to properly fathom what happened there, especially when you are there. as you are walking around gawping at things, its impossible to stand back and think to yourself that just over 60years ago horrifying horrifying things were happening where you are standing.

so in summary, auschwitz is every bit as horrifying as you would expect. but you really have to go, because awareness and appreciation are 2 of the most important things a person can have.

so that was our day. came back to krakow, had some food, i came home early to get some sleep and the others stayed out for a bit. woke up early today, broke the shower in the hostel (gah!), and now we have one last day in krakow before a night train to prague tonight. as i've been to prague before, i know what to expect, but that doesnt mean im not excited. i'll be able to eat a trdlo again! wow!

the more i do this, the less i want to go to italy or spain. i would rather go to serbia and austria, or bosnia and slovakia, or anywhere.

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Comments

[John adam]

Good lad
Well done john william good to hear you voice lots of Dad xxxxx

[mum]

hope you're cleaning your teeth! haha
Very interesting reading, sends a shiver down my spine! Lovely idea to be a lake for Beth's birthday, speak soon, take care xXxXxXxXxX

[kieran]

im hooked
im hooked.u are good.