Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 15

Auschwitz ... in a word ... Grim! Auschwitz, the Nazi's largest and most efficient extermination camp, is located about an hours drive from Krakow. I don't usually do this, but I am going to provide you with some terminology. Otherwise, I think the following blog is unnecessarily confusing. I would like to note, however, what a brutal world we live in, when I have to make a clarifying distinction between two types of camps that should not exist at all. "Concentration Camps" were camps established by the Nazis to hold (or "contain"), without trial, labor leaders, opposition party leaders, communists, religious leaders, some Jews (as compared to all Jews), homosexuals, gypsies, captured prisoners and other people in a position to challenge Nazi authority, or whom the Nazis did not like. Many people died in these camps, ... read more

I was in the killing fields in Cambodia a few months ago. I was surprised to learn that Pol Pot's regime killed 2-3 million people in Cambodia using brutal force. They didn't want to use bullets because they needed the bullets to shoot at their armed enemies. So, as truckloads of people were brought into the killing fields, they used clubs and knives to kill them. Whereas here in Auschwitz, the Nazis had enough bullets but decided to use deceit and indirection to kill the Jews, because they felt it was more efficient than bullets. When the Jews arrived in Auschwitz, a Nazi doctor would look at each as they walked by, and decide which ones he felt would be healthy enough to work for a few days, months, or weeks before killing them. All others ... read more

Our daughters often refer to their mother,Gretchen,as the wind up toy doll, as she races here and there, always busy and wanting to get things done.But this morning we met her Polish equal in the shared kitchen!Boy,did this woman move around the kitchen,crashing and bashing things as she prepared a Polish breakfast for her husband while he just sat over in the dining area waiting for it to be delivered.Wish I could get away with that!Luckily we had set our breakfast up before she arrived into the kitchen in a whirlwind and we sat back and just watched gobsmacked. Gretchen had put together a walking tour of Krakow which would leave us very informed or as much as we could be in a day of the history of Krakow especially since WW2. With the weather looking ... read more

I had planned to visit people in Ostrava, Czech Republic as well as St. Petersburg Russia, so I ended up buying a return ticket from Toronto to Krakow, and another return ticket from Krakow to St. Petersburg. The idea was to visit the Czech Republic first for 2 weeks, then St. Petersburg for 2 weeks, and from there, fly back to Krakow, and then take the other return trip to Toronto. My tickets were booked in such a way that I only had one day in Krakow to my great regret in the end. Of all the places I visited, Krakow turned out to be my favourite. April 2, 2012. The flight heading to Krakow with Polish Airlines was late one hour and the pilot made up for lost time towards the end by flying 610 ... read more

We left Levoča on an overcast day and headed to the pretty town of Kežmarok, a medieval walled town. Just as it started to rain, we left and headed towards the Tatra Mountains. We had a good view of them from Slovakia but they were shrouded in mist by the time we reached Poland. We stopped at the touristy town of Zakopane. It reminded me of Queenstown but without the view!! It probably had wonderful mountain views but we were not able to see them because of the cloud. After a good look around, Eileen purchased her sister a present then we were soon on our way. I felt relieved when we departed the crowded and touristy town and glad that we had decided not to stay there. We arrived at Apart Hostel in Krakόw at ... read more