July 14, 2009

The "toilets" at Birkenau

Flowers left on the railroad coming into Birkenau

This is how the Germans would transport the Polish people into the camp

Sleeping quarters at Birkenau

Barracks at Birkenau

Entrance to one of the barracks at Auschwitz I

I know the smiles aren't appropriate...

Us at Birkenau

My illegal picture of the ovens at Auschwitz I

Entrance to the crematorium at Auschwitz I

The execution wall at Auschwitz I

A row of barracks at Auschwitz I

Zach listening closely to our guide.. ha

Our nice lunch at Grandmother Raspberry's in Krakow... thank you Tim and Pam!

at lunch!

Dolly the cloned sheep, on display at a museum in Edinburgh

The electric tram in Krakow

Zach getting a workout at the museum in Edinburgh

Yesterday afternoon, Zach and I had some Polish cuisine at Grandmother Raspberry's, recommended by Jessica, a girl from Houston, TX who works here at the hostel. Tim and Pam, we've spent about 6 dollars of the money you gave us for a nice meal (the USD is pretty valuable here in Poland). We had "Golabek, sos mysliwsky, potatoes." Translation: meat wrapped in cabbage, haunter's sauce, potatoes. It was DELICIOUS.

After lunch, we toured the concentration and extermination camps just outside of Krakow--Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Just comprehending the extent of such disgusting cruelty is absolutely impossible: 1.1 million Jews, along with 3-400 thousand other men, women, and children were tortured, beaten, starved, many exterminated at Auschwitz alone. We saw rooms full of women's hair, combs, brushes, suitcases, shoes, household pots and pans, toothbrushes, baskets, children's clothing and shoes, along with pictures of the men, women, and children who were subjected to medical experiments by German doctors, "mug shots" of the Polish men who had joined together to plan a resistance movement. We walked through the barracks and sleeping quarters of the victims. Neither Zach nor I was prepared for what we saw.

We went out to eat with our Ausie friend, Tom, and our Sweesish friends, Thomas, Gustaf, and Jonathan, last night at an Irish pub... yummy cheeseburgers and potato wedges!