Wide spreading falls.	Many waterfalls from above.	More falls.	I liked the color of the water.
More falls.	More falls.	My favorite fall. I like all the trees here.	Nice view from above.

After this initial hour of hiking we had to take a boat to cross to the other part of the park. On the other side of the park we took a break to have some lunch. There were many options on the other side- lots of BBQs, ice creams, burgers, etc. Tobia and I shared a whole chicken and some fries, it was really good.

Big waterfall.

From there, we continued on to the remainder of the lakes and falls, including the final “big waterfall”. Ultimately there were 16 lakes in the park, and I believe hundreds of falls.

Following the park, we continued further West towards the Adriatic Coast of Croatia. Along the way we passed some war torn towns, with quick rebuilding going on. One such place was Zaluznica. In the town of Podum, later, I saw a sign on the road indicating not to get off because there were still live mines there.

First view of the Adriatic, Vratnik Pass.

Town of Senj, right on the Adriatic.

Somewhat later, we drove through part of Velebit Mountain, the largest in Croatia. At Vratnik Pass we stopped the bus for a break, and were able to overlook the Adriatic from high above. Shortly after that we took another break at the town of Senj, right at sea level, for some ice tea and coffee. It was really hot and humid there, but was still a really nice stop.

Ferry boat taking us and our bus to Rab Island.

After driving through miles of Croatian coastline, we eventually reached a port where a ferry took our bus, as well as many other cars and people to Rab Island. Once on Rab Island, we drove for a short while and checked into our hotel. But before I could bring myself to go upstairs, I got caught up watching the Brazil vs Netherlands World Cup match with Walker, dozens of locals, and some of the hotel staff. I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, but it was a lot of fun and the game was good.

We had a group dinner at 7:30pm at a wonderful restaurant in the heart of the island, on the 2nd floor of a small building, or maybe it was a house. There were tons of different, very good seafood dishes, and our conversation was very lively; we ended up staying there well past most of the folks in our group.

Following the long dinner, we went downstairs and sat at an outdoor bar with Barbara, Travis and Walker. In the middle of this loud, lively (and so full of cigarette smoke) atmosphere, we enjoyed the intense Uruguay vs Ghana World Cup match. We turned in pretty late, knowing that tomorrow had absolutely no schedule.

Lunch in Croatia.

Right upon entering Croatia, we pulled into a family owned restaurant to have a group lunch together. There was a big table laid out for us inside (food was self-serve), and even though there was an option to eat outdoors, it was too hot to entertain that idea.

Our Group

After lunch, we took a group photo outside the restaurant yard, and continued on Westward in Croatia. We drove past Zagreb, the capital, but could only see lots of buildings and homes from a distance; we didn’t actually stop there.

In the town of Karlovac, we saw tanks and lots of bullet holes in buildings- in general just signs of the recent war that broke out in this area.

Grand Slunj, Croatia.

Along the way, we also passed Grand Slunj, a place with lots of flowing rivers and waterfalls.

Finally, we reached Plitvice, around 6pm or so, after a long day on the road. We wound down in our hotel room for a bit. I ended up walking down to the lake in the area, with Marie, to get a bit of exercise in for the day, and also ended up dipping my legs in the lake.

Dinner at Plitvice Hotel.

Shortly afterwards was a group dinner at the hotel restaurant. Conversation with Jill and Jane was very nice over dinner. Primarily, we chatted about travel, outdoor adventures, and seeing different things.

I recall going to shower, shave and wash my dirty shoes shortly after dinner. Then I came back out to the lobby, where the air flow was really pleasant, and I chatted with some folks, surfed the web and wrote my journal notes for the day.

We saw the Castle grounds, Gate and spectacular views of the Danube and Pest. While still under some construction, we were able to enter St. Matthias Church. It was pretty nice, and as usual, my eyes searched for, and found stained glass windows. After the church, and because we couldn’t get to Statue Park (on account of no bus), our guide gave us the money for the tickets we would have instead used up, and also took us to Fisherman’s Bastion. It was there that we had even better views of the Danube and Pest, I thought.

Buda Castle Palace Grounds.	Looking out at Pest from Buda Castle area.	Parliament Building in Pest.	Pest.
Former Royal Palace.	Castle Theater.	Fisherman’s Bastion area.	St. Matthias Church stained glass.
Inside St. Matthias Church.	St. Matthias Church.	View of Pest from Fisherman’s Bastion.

Chain Bridge. Lions at entrance, said to roar supposedly if honest woman crosses the bridge.

That was it for the day’s activities, we had the rest of the time to ourselves. We ended up taking the bus back to Pest and eventually had lunch in the market again. We walked around, had some dessert, then some more dessert in my case, and eventually went back to the hotel to rest up. We had become quite tired over the course of the trip, and I think Tobia, in particular, needed the rest. I did some reading, watched TV and surfed online on my netbook in the room for a while.

After the rest, we stepped out to the Italian restaurant practically next door to our hotel. Many folks in the group had recommended it, and I think even our guide book mentioned it. We both loved the food.

Following dinner, we walked across the Elizabeth Bridge with gelatos. We climbed up the St. Gellert Hill on the Buda side and had great views of Pest and even the Danube from up above.

St. Gellert Statue on Buda side of Elizabeth Bridge.

Looking down at the Elizabeth Bridge running across the Danube from St. Gellert Hill.

Buda Castle complex.

Nice view of the Danube.

Eventually we returned to the hotel, sitting in the restaurant with Marie, drinking cokes/lemonades and “interneting” until eventually going to sleep.

Starting at 9am, we had a guided tour of Pest with a local guide, George. We saw the parliament building, lots of cafes, hero’s memorial city square, statue park, St. Stephen’s Basilica, a nice spa, and finally we ended up at the market. As there were so many things to see, we just passed by all these sights, with suggestions of what to see later. Pest was simply full of life and so many things to see and do.

See and be seen cafe.	Statue park on Pest side of Budapest.	Statue park.	Spa building.
St. Stephen’s Basilica.	St. Stephen’s Basilica.	Parliament building.	Market Square.

After lunch at the market, we went atop the Basilica with Marie. We walked around the top and took lots of pictures. From there we continued on to get some ice cream, then to a cafe, entered the Opera House, and ultimately ended up spending a lot of time at the House of Terror Museum. The last was a pretty tough place to visit, detailing nazi and communist dual occupation of Hungary. We saw and read about tremendous atrocities, on par with what was happening in the concentration camps.

Inside St. Stephen’s Basilica.	View of Buda atop St. Stephen’s Basilica.	Castle on Buda side.	Castle Palace on Buda side.
View of Pest atop St. Stephen’s Basilica.	Opera House.	House of Terror Museum.	House of Terror Museum basement, where attrocities were committed.
Buda Castle from Danube River.	Sailing the Danube. Elizabeth Bridge behind us.

Following this busy sight-seeing day we had dinner across the street from our hotel at a place called Bonnie and Clyde. They had really good thin crust pizza.

For the final act of the day, and probably the most exciting, we sailed the Danube on a big river boat as the sun was setting. There were lots of bugs around us, which was not pleasant, but aside from that, the experience was perfect. We saw lit up churches, castles and many businesses.

Back of Parliament Building, Pest side.	Freedom Bridge.	Elizabeth Bridge.
Buda Castle.	Parliament Building.

Following the mini-cruise, we walked back to the hotel with the group and turned in for the night.

We drove through hills and valleys, all green, on a twisty road for about an hour. We covered about 55 kms (34 miles). The drive reminded me of Highway 1 in NorCal right where the road starts at the North end in Leggett and curves towards Westport at the coast.

Entering Miskolc.

Lots of high rise buildings in Miskolc.

When we pulled into Miskolc, practically the entire city was undergoing construction and digging of city roads. This was all over the place. We struggled to find my Grandmother’s old neighborhood, taking wrong turns and ending up in closed off 1-way streets.

At one point I suggested to the driver (I’m not actually sure how I conveyed this to him), that we might consider just walking there, because we didn’t have too much time; we ultimately needed to join our group for lunch later in the day in a different city altogether.

Park.

Mid-town Miskolc.

Eventually, our driver pulled off near a park in Miskolc, spoke to an elderly gentleman for almost 10 minutes, then we resumed our search. Finally, after more confusion, we ended up at Mikes Kelemen Utca, Miskolc- my Grandmother’s old street.

We got out of the car and Tobia took many pictures of the house. It was quite large, clearly fairly old nowadays, but impressive. Our taxi driver kept ringing the bell at the gate to no avail. He must have literally rang the doorbell a hundred times, and we were even ready to leave, knowing we wouldn’t be able to enter. But after maybe 10 minutes, the current owner, a lady likely in her 50s or even early 60s came to the gate.

Our taxi driver, current owner and I.

The driver chatted with her (she didn’t speak much English either) and eventually she turned to me and asked me “what is the family name?”. When I told her the name, you could see discomfort as well as recognition in her face. It’s not exactly clear how she and her older husband (who- if I can piece the broken communication together clearly- received the house, or maybe it was his parents that received the house) came to live in this house, but what was clear was that my Grandmother’s family was forced out of it and into the ghettos back in 1944. For this, I felt, she experienced a sense of guilt.

Mikes Kelemen Utca, the street where my Grandmother grew up.

My Grandmother’s childhood home.

Me in front of Grandmother’s home.

Side yard.

Fountain in back yard (June 28th, 2010).

Same fountain, 1944. My Grandmother’s family (she is the leftmost).

Still, it was nice of her to allow us to see the side and back yards, take some pictures, and appreciate that this was once my Grandmother’s family’s house.

We had just a little bit of time left after seeing the house, so the driver took us to mid-town Miskolc, where we walked around for 15 minutes, and even stopped by to eat at a bakery.

Ice skating rink just outside Mikes Kelemen Utca.	Mid-town Miskolc.	Mid-town Miskolc.
Mid-town Miskolc.	Mid-town Miskolc.

Group lunch at Jambor Vilmos Altalanos elementary school, Recsk, Kossuth.

From Miskolc, we headed back the same route we took, but continued past Eger to Recsk. There, the rest of our group was actually visiting a school and meeting the teachers and elementary school students. Unfortunately, we missed this part and came right for the start of lunch. We had a very long table and our entire group ate the cafeteria food, which was fantastic.

After lunch the kids had a recess break and we got to hang out with them. At a loss for language and words with them, I realized nothing brings people together like a hacky sack. I pulled it out and had a nice circle following right around me as we kicked around for a good while. The kids caught on really quickly and we had a great time. When recess ended, we said goodbye to them and took some pictures. That, too, was a really nice experience.

Hacky sack group.

Walker had lots of admirers.

The hacky sackers and I.

Following lunch, we continued on to Egerszalok to a family owned winery. The country-side was beautiful over there and the whole wine tasting experience was so relaxing, so European feeling, absolutely full of life. The wine maker was celebrating his 60th birthday and there was a tremendous amount of drinking. In Napa Valley when wine tasting, you get small pours. Well, in Egerszalok they filled it to the level most restaurants offer you for a full glass, and there were about 6 rounds of drinking. Tony, the violinist accompanying our drinking, played some very nice music for us the entire time. After a couple of heavy drinking hours later, we continued on to Budapest.

Family owned vineyard in Egerszalok.

Beautiful country around Egerszalok.

Wonderful, lively wine drinking afternoon with music in Egerszalok winery.

My common football bond with Walker.

The bus ride to Budapest was really happy, just about everyone was in a drunken happy state. I was chatting with Walker, Tobia and Marie, and at some point Walker talked about why he doesn’t like Chuck Norris (Walker, Texas Ranger), which was understandable. He kept talking about how people made references and fun of him for this. But then he turned really serious and said, “the only man I hate more than Chuck Norris is Tom Brady”. Needless to say, that got an enormous laugh out of me (those that know me might remember my intensity/attitude during Tom Brady Super Bowls) and we were instantly what Anne of Green Gables would call “bosom buddies”.

Pulling into Budapest. Dog or sheep eating watermelon having to obey street signs.

Elizabeth Bridge above the Danube in Budapest.

About 2 loud and happy hours later, we reached magnificent Budapest in the evening, what I thought was the most beautiful place on the entire trip. We checked into the hotel, had some dinner at the cafe next door, and turned in for the night.

The day started out in Poland with breakfast. We hit the bus at 8am headed to the Tatra Mountains, at the South of the country, close to Slovakia. On the drive we saw some snow capped mountains as well as 3 story homes that had three generations of family living together, each on a different story.

Not much later, we reached Slovakia. There were many Roma (Gypsies) people and villages along the way. In particular, in Rakusy, we saw a fairly large community of them. They have generally not integrated very much into the local societies where they reside, primarily in Central-Eastern Europe.

We pulled into Levoca to have a picnic lunch with the group. There was a nice town hall there where we ate. There was also a large church- St. James Church. There was a young Roma girl walking around us, asking for food. We gave her some. After eating, I started (naturally) hacky sacking, and ended up hacky sacking with the young girl for quite a while. We could not communicate at all, but the little tiny bag with beads enabled us to share a cool activity together. Before leaving, I gave her our leftover food which made her very happy.

Levoca town square.

St. James Church, Levoca.

Group picnic lunch in Levoca town square.

Hacky sacking with Roma girl.

Hungarian country side.

As we had only spent half a day in Slovakia, I jotted down the names of some of the towns we passed by in our scenic, country-side drive through Slovakia. Harichovce, Spisska Nova Ves, Hnilec, and Dlha Ves. After the last village, we crossed into Hungary, crossing the border into Aggtelek. We had a bus stop just inside Hungary, and got to walk around a park with a mountain and some caves inside it.

Resuming the drive further south into Hungary, I saw signs here and there for the city of Miskolc in Hungary. My maternal Grandmother, the one who was in Auschwitz, grew up there until forced to leave in 1944 (she was 15 at the time). I had come to terms with the fact that it was probably going to be too difficult to go see her town and childhood home, on account of a lack of resources, language, and time to get there. I had already missed the opportunity to go to my other Grandmother’s city of Czestochowa, in Southern Poland while there. It seemed too difficult and there was too little time to do so. It was also far away.

But as we closed in on our final town for the day, Eger, Hungary, I saw a sign showing only 50km (~30 miles) to Miskolc. Fairly nervously I went to chat with our guide, Peter, who is Hungarian, about the possibilities of getting out there the next morning.

Well, after checking into our Eger hotel, I called my Grandmother in Israel over skype, chatted with her and my Mom, got all the address of her old home, worked with Peter and the front desk to set up a taxi, and was pretty certain things would work out tomorrow.

As a group we strolled through the town in the evening, on route to our dinner destination. For dinner we had goulash as well as a variety of other dishes, along with paprika, of course. Some of us stuck around to watch the soccer game between Argentina and Mexico, but I didn’t want to stay up very late because I had an early start the next day heading to Miskolc.

Eger, Hungary.	Minaret in Eger.	Town square, Eger.
Statue of captain said to have defeated Turkish invasion.	Minorite Church, Eger.	Cathedral of Eger. One of the largest churches in Hungary.

Ultimately, our jet-setting day included breakfast in Poland, lunch in Slovakia and dinner in Hungary.

View from top of St. Mary’s Church. Town Hall Tower.

Wawel Castle in background.

Krakow from above.

Cloth Hall (Sukiennice). Used to be international trading place.

Snacking in town square. Barbara, Travis, Marie and I.

The views atop the tower were beautiful. There were lots of stairs to get up there, at some points dark and a little cramped, but definitely worth the effort to get up there.

After coming back down with a few of the group mates, we went to see the indoor market. We followed this up with coffee and snacks at the town square.

Wieliczka Salt Mine Chapel.

The Last Supper carved into the mine.

As a whole group we took our bus outside of Krakow to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. The mines went about 135 meters deep, or at least that’s how deep we ended up descending. There were so many stairs, and it was, at times, fairly claustrophobic in the mine. It was nice and cool inside, but a bit weird and disorienting to be in there with virtually no light. Inside the mine was a chapel with impressive carvings: the Last Supper, Pope John Paul II, scenes of Jesus’ life, and much more. That was definitely the highlight.

At the end of the tour, we took a really fast, but cramped and dark elevator back up top and were glad to be back above ground. As we had a short period of time for lunch, we ended up buying some food from a stand right outside the mines. We ate a baguette with cheese, mushrooms, and if I’m not mistaken ketchup and maybe mayo. Even though it looked unappetizing and I was planning on skipping lunch, after one bite I was hooked. Tobia and I eventually ended up sharing this wonderful Zapiekanki. Later in the day we saw many more stands with this food, which apparently is common among students because it’s a lot of food and it’s cheap.

After the mines, we had the option to either go to Kazimierz- the old Jewish Quarter- or to Schindler’s Factory Museum. As we had been to the museum already we opted to go to Kazimierz. A little less than half the group joined us.

Oldest Synagogue in Poland. Kazimierz, just outside Krakow.	Memorial to the 65,000 Krakow Jews killed by the Nazis.	Preserved house from the old Jewish Ghetto in Kazimierz.
Temple Synagogue where Rabbi urged Jews to assimilate to local society.	Staircase famous for scene where woman hides from Nazis in ‘Schindler’s List’ movie.	Kazimierz.

Kazimierz was pretty much a Jewish community district from the 1300s (King Kazimierz invited Jews from all over Europe to come to Poland, recognizing that by doing this, opportunities for all to thrive would be greater) until roughly WWII. The district housed the oldest Synagogue in Poland, as well as other Synagogues. There were homes with Mezuzahs, indicating Jewish homes, and we also saw the old Jewish Ghetto remains as well as a memorial to the 65,000 fallen Krakow Jews in the Holocaust.

Some other pieces of information I learned on tour of this district:

* In 1968, thirty-thousand Jews were shipped off to Israel or anywhere else, as they were not wanted in Poland.

* Many Jews, before and during and Holocaust changed their names and religions just to get by. It is therefore not known how many actual Jews there are today in Poland.

* It is assumed that there are 200 Jews, 97 of which are orthodox.

I have to believe the my Polish Grandmother would have come to Kazimierz in her life. She was from Czestochowa, Poland, roughly 2 hours away (with today’s cars) from the district. I also got to thinking that my Belarussian Grandfather as well as my Hungarian Grandmother probably had family roots in Poland, because at some point it was believed that there were 3.5 million Jews in Poland, primarily in the Krakow/Kazimierz area.

Vistula River flowing through Krakow.

Jews from the Ghettos were rounded up and shot here.

After the district, we headed to the museum to catch up with the rest of the group. Along the way, we walked across the Vistula River. After getting together with the rest of the group, we headed back to the hotel together.

Great Italian dinner: Walker, Bob, Janet, Travis, Barbara, Tobia and I.

For dinner, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant off main square, recommended by our group mates and the Rick Steves guide book. 7 of us were there; we had a long, slow, really wonderful dinner. The Dixons, who were with us, shared one of the funniest stories I had ever heard, probably inappropriate to advertise here, but I will just say that their son (not Walker, though he’s cool too) is my hero. It involves a roadside emergency bathroom stop.

We got back to our room really late and we were exhausted after such a long day, but it was also an incredible day.

Typical street in old downtown.

We started out the day at 9am with a walking tour of Krakow. Our tour guide, Philip, led us initially to the barbican (original city gate/wall), leading into Krakow’s old town. From there, it was on to St. Mary’s Church in the heart of town square. It looked quite impressive from the outside. We continued on to the town hall tower, saw the planty (3km flattened wall around old town), and eventually continued to the Jagiellonian University.

St. Mary’s Church in the old town square.

St. Mary’s Church in the old town square.

View of the other side of old town square.

Jagiellonian University. One of the notable folks associated with this University is Nicolaus Copernicus.

We had a chance to see the Archbishop mansion, where Pope John Paul II lived while in Poland.

Afterwards, we went on to Wawel Castle and Cathedral. It was quite a beautiful area with enormous architectural structures rising up from the Wawel grounds.

Pope John Paul II used to speak from this balcony.	Old building across the street from Wawel Castle.	Wawel Castle grounds.	Wawel Cathedral.
Wawel Cathedral.	Nice, old church near Wawel Castle area.	Another old church near Wawel Castle.	Town Hall Tower, old town square.

The inside of the Milk Bar.

Our morning tour ended at St. Mary’s Church right around lunchtime. I was determined to go to a Milk Bar for lunch. Milk Bars were invented by the communists in Poland around the mid-60s, as a place that offered cheap meals to people in the work force. They, at least historically, have been known to have no English on their menus, and the ladies who work there, don’t speak English either. I figured this would be a fun experience, not to mention, Marjorie had shared some amusing stories with me about her time in Poland back in the 70s, and what Milk Bars were like back then. One particular story from Marjorie that I found amusing was her going to a specific Milk Bar repeatedly and wanting a cheese and jam blintz. Using her (then) limited Polish, she’d ask for this blintz, only to consistently get rejected in Polish “no, you can’t have that”. It wasn’t just the rejection, but the stern, unfriendly, unsmiling and unwavering face that added to this “Soup Nazi”-like atomsphere. She’d either get a cheese one or a jam one, but never both. And she knew the lady understood what she wanted, but just wouldn’t give it to her. After some time, she apparently asked a native Polish speaker what to say, and seemingly, the thing to say was that she wanted a cheese blintz with jam *on the side*. When Marjorie said this, the lady, after weeks of frowning, smiled and gave her exactly what she’d been wanting for a long time. Having heard this story the previous evening, I was determined to go with Marjoie there for the full experience, not to mention, I figured she could bail us out as she could speak some Polish.

Milk Bar menu… no English anywhere.

Milk Bar food.

Well, the food at the Milk Bar was really good. And it was cheap. But in a sense, I thought the place had gone soft, because the ladies behind the counter actually spoke a little English, and there was no frowning or (as in Seinfeld’s episode of the Soup Nazi) an insistence on a strict manner of behavior while ordering.

Inside St. Mary’s Church.

Tobia at St. Mary’s Church.

Following the nice experience at the Milk Bar, Tobia and I continued on to St. Mary’s Church, and went inside. It rivaled St. Vitus Cathedral, not only in size, but stained glass windows. There was a nice, ornate wood-carved Gothic altarpiece that took its creator 12 years to put together. It is the largest Gothic sculpture in the world.

Later in the afternoon, we rented one of the touristy, motorized cars that goes to different places in the city with a guide. We visited Schindler’s Old Factory, which is now a WWII museum, capturing the Nazis taking over the country, and the effects on the Poles and Jews living there at the time. It was very moving, but also tremendously fascinating to learn so much. There were many artifacts there: journals, flags, pictures, books, tanks, helmets and lots of audio-visual media. There was even some computer simulation showing the Nazis advance through Poland and how the Krakovian army slowly diminished as they were pushed East. Schindler’s actual office was still preserved just as it was inside the museum, in it’s original location.

Schindler’s Factory museum. Map showing timeline of Germans advancing and conquering Poland.

Artifacts from WWII Poland.

Memorial displaying survivors’ gratitude for Schindler.

Schindler’s Factory museum.

After leaving the museum, we picked up a Polish mother and her two American kids (all from SD) to go back to main town square with us, splitting the cost of the car. It was nice to chat with her, as she was able to point out some things to us as we cruised at about 15MPH down city streets. Along the way, we saw some old Jewish Ghettos in Powstancow.

For dinner, we had less authentic Polish food, pizza, off of main square. We then walked around, had some coffee and dessert and just enjoyed the market and culture of the main town square area. I gave some coins to a tall skeleton “death”-man-dressed street performer in the main square. I then got to take a picture with him, and he usually does something funny; for me, he smacked me in the butt with his big reaper and laughed as I walked away. It was an amusing experience. We then turned in for the evening.

We left Pustevny early in the morning headed to Poland. Eastern Czech Republic was fairly close to Southern Poland, a little over an hour away by bus. After a brief stop at a gas station in Poland, we continued on to Pszczyna. Town square was pretty nice, we also had a chance to get some zloty (roughly 3 to a dollar). There was a quiet park behind the town Lutheran Church (uncommon; Poles are an overwhelmingly large majority Catholic) and castle, and we walked that for about 30 minutes. Together with Marjorie and Jane we walked to the bison farm that is well known right near the town, but ultimately didn’t have enough time to go in.

Pszczyna Castle, walking in the park

Pszczyna Town Square

After our brief excursion we met up with the rest of the group for lunch together. Lunch was nice and simple, and it was a good thing too, because having walked all the way back to the bus, Dave forgot his backpack at the restaurant and I ran like a mad man to get it back for him. Out of breath back on the bus, a little later, I was trying to calm down in preparation for our next stop: the Polish town of Oswiecim, otherwise known as Auschwitz.

Arriving at Auschwitz

Entering Auschwitz. ‘Work shall set you free’ sign above

We arrived at Auschwitz in the mid-afternoon. Matching the somber mood, the skies were gray and it was raining reasonably hard. It almost felt only right- that I should visit this concentration camp that my Hungarian Grandmother was forced into, in 1944- under these conditions. I couldn’t stop thinking that if it was that cold and rainy right at the beginning of Summer there, that Winter must have been hell. And even worse with little food and hard labor. As an aside, interestingly, while at Auschwitz, I got mistaken for being Polish a few times (this would later happen to me in Krakow, too). At the entrance to Auschwitz was a sign in German: “Work shall set you free”. It hung there as a sad reminder to all that happened there back in WWII.

Auschwitz was a very depressing place. Even some 65 years later, the place was very heavy and sad. First we went to Camp I. Most of the prisoners there were Poles, political prisoners, Jehovah’s witnesses, Romas and Catholics. We saw cellars were people were thrown in and starved to death in very vicious, horrible conditions. We also saw the Death Wall at Auschwitz, between blocks 10 and 11, yet another difficult site- a place where people were lined up and shot. We also walked into a crematorium which was very eerie.

Walking in Auschwitz. Rain, gloom.

Auschwitz Death Wall

Auschwitz barbed wire

Auschwitz crematorium

Birkenau from outside

Walking inside some of the old buildings, we saw piles and piles of hair, brushes, shoes, and pots and pans that the Jewish and other inmates were forced to leave behind. It was almost too much to see. I spent much time trying to figure out if my Grandmother had been to Camp I, but eventually, in moving on to Camp II, I realized she was brought in by train from Hungary to Camp II (Birkenau). The train tracks led all the way into the camp, where back in the day at the ramp, Nazi SS forces sent people into one of two lines. One line meant straight to the crematorium, the other sent a person into tough labor. Apparently calming, classical music was played by some of the Jewish inmates to keep things relaxed and by extension, more under control with less panic. So disturbing.

Birkenau ‘bathrooms’	Birkenau living conditions	Birkenau, enormous camp. Train tracks leading in	Train tracks running into Birkenau camp
Sorting probably happened around here	Auschwitz – Birkenau	Freight car	Commemoration

As I would learn from my Grandmother a couple weeks later while visiting Israel, the history, pictures and preserved barracks were exactly accurate with what she described to me in her journal following her time in Birkenau. In Birkenau, the bathrooms were effectively a long block with cement benches spanning the length, and holes pretty close to one another for very quick bathroom breaks. It was very degrading. We also saw the bunk beds the inmates slept in, often times with multiple people to a bed. It was really difficult to see this.

I’m watching and listening to the service

Walking around Birkenau, we saw the destroyed remains of crematoriums. It was said that the only way to leave Birkenau was through the chimney of the crematorium; well, my grandmother likely lost almost her entire family in those crematoriums. At the end of Birkenau, we came across a service. There were a couple hundred Israelis there, commemorating stories of their families from the Holocaust. I stood and listened for a while, emotionally moved to an inability to walk away, as they recounted their families’ stories in Hebrew.

Emotionally spent, walking out

Tobia and I were a bit late to the bus, having stayed back to listen to this service. Everyone on the bus was more than gracious and understanding as they could tell I wanted to experience that.

As our bus drove away, I looked back at Auschwitz in all of its depressing aura, and it felt right to have visited this place. Tobia later put some of that feeling into words, saying that in a sense it was the ultimate revenge against the Nazis that I should be alive and be able to go in and out of Auschwitz as I please all these years later. On top of that, it felt right to do this out of respect for my Grandmother.

I ended up eating about 12 caramel candies on route to Krakow, our next stop. We had to battle rain and rush hour to get into our hotel in Krakow, in the old downtown. We got there late in the evening.

Shortly after checking in, we had (for me) a much needed group dinner together. The mood was heavy after an emotionally draining day, but the food was great and our conversation was wonderful. After dinner, I took a shower and crashed really hard for the night.

We woke up early (6am) and got breakfast in order to hit the road with the whole group by 8am. We headed east to the Beskydy Mountains in eastern Czech Republic. We had a rest stop around 10:30am, shortly after passing Brno, to stretch and grab some snacks.

Stramberk.

Stramberk Town Square.

Eventually we got into the small moutainside town of Stramberk around 1pm. We had a pizza lunch there with 5 of our group mates. The food was good and we had nice conversation getting to know each other.

There was a tower in Stramberk, and together with a few of the group mates, we climbed up to the top. The views of the valley were great from above.

Stramberk view from above.

Stramberk view from above.

Stramberk atop the tower.

Stramberk local delicacy: ginger bread ears.

In Stramberk, apparently, the local delicacy is a ginger bread ear cookie. Coming back down from the tower, I inhaled two at a dessert place, and they were really good.

Pustevny.

Our hotel for the night, Pustevny.

Following this stop, we continued on to Pustevny. We arrived around 3:30pm. Pustevny was a lovely town, up in the mountains, in the eastern part of the country. It is a ski resort destination in the winters. There was a nice mountain trail leading to a church with nice valley views along the way. I embarked on the trip with Marie and Bill and Gerry joined us for the walk. The church looked like it was built in Japanese style. Altogether, the walk took 2 hours.

Upon returning, folks informed us that the US and England had won their games and were advancing in the World Cup. That was good news to my ears.

Lovely dinner setting, Pustevny.

Post dinner folk dancing, Pustevny.

Later in the evening we headed out to a group dinner. We sat on wooden benches in front of large wooden tables, with a large fireplace in the middle of the room that kept us warm. It was exactly the sort of setting I picture when thinking of a dinner in a ski resort town. The food was great. Following our main course, the locals performed some folk dances along with music for us. At some point dessert came out, then I remember being pulled in to dance with one of the locals. After the dancing we wrapped up for the night and turned in.