Blogs from Lesser Poland, Poland, Europe - page 6

After a pretty warm, but relatively OK nights sleep, we woke up to our alarm at 7:30 to shower and grab a quick brekkie in Mosquito's kitchen/dining room before heading down to the collection point for our day tour to Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camps and the Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/32). Our group consisted of 8, 3 couples plus Dan and I, and our driver David (who we named 'Danger Dave' due to his questionable overtakes) shuttled us between the venues throughout the day. The Auschwitz tour was a somber affair which was a stark reminder of the horrific acts of the Nazi's of the Third Reich between 1941-1945, relatively recent in the grand scale of things. It also satisfied a bit of a morbid curiosity to find out more about the events. The travel ... read more

On Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and left Wrocław about 8 am. We drove to Auschwitz. On the way, we stopped in Gliwice, where Habitat for Humanity in Poland started. Gliwice is an old city, founded in the 1200s by a Polish duke. The city over the years has been under both Czech and German rule, but has been mostly Polish. The current population is about 200,000. Gliwice is where WWII started. Karolina pointed out the tower that marks the spot where it happened. At that time, the German border was at Gliwice. Hitler looking for excuse to invade Poland; so he created a situation. On Sept1, 1939, some Germans dressed up as Poles, then snuck up and shot the German guards who were guarding a radio station. This gave Hitler the excuse he ... read more

Le plus sympa pour la fin ??? se promener dans une ville animée est toujours une bonne expérience... Nous prenons cette fois le bus au camping puis ce sera le tram... Chouette, c'est vraiment dans toute la Pologne qu'on ne paye rien si on a 70 ans ou plus ! Comme quoi vieillir, ça a parfois du bon... Comme on nous a dit qu'il y avait énormément de groupes d'étudiants qui visitaient la ville et qu'il y avait des files d'attente partout... nous commençons par la Cathédrale, tout à côté du château de Wawel. On est samedi, donc bien moins de files car les étudiants sont de retour chez eux... Un tour bien organisé de la Cathédrale, si on en veut plus il faut payer... mais nous n'en voyons vraiment pas la nécessité car tout ce ... read more

The opportunity for a lie-in, but no such luck for me. I was up with the lark and went downstairs with Don for the walk to synagogue to attend the Shabbat morning service. I am proud to say that I was the only female to make it (apart from Monica our Polish pilot). The snow had cleared but it was still cold and crisp and was quite a pleasant walk. Monica pointed out the monument to King Casimir in Szeroka square where the king gave a proclamation to the Jews advising them that they could live (legitimately) in the town of Krakow. Rav Tzvi had been asked to help again make the minyan at the Remah shul for Shabbat, and when asked how many would be required to ensure a schacharit minyan of 10 men he ... read more

On the bus to go to our first stop. We drove through the chocolate box village of Zbylitowska Gora to see the place that Israeli children have named The Children’s Forest. I am not sure that we were prepared for what we were going to see as the village was so pretty in the snow. We walked through an empty wasteland past a memorial to the Poles who were massacred by the Nazis. In June 1942 about 10,000 people were killed including some 6,000 Jews with 800 children. Then we saw an area enclosed by a blue barrier, decorated with balloons and blue and white Israeli flags and children’s toys. This was the mass grave of the 800 children. This was heartbreaking and it was here that Don broke down. The question we have been asking ... read more