"Free Internet" as offered by the hostel is one computer for fifty people, so I will be brief. Auschwitz was not what I expected. It is so different than it once was that it's hard to imagine the horrors of what occurred here. Grass and wildflowers grow over the majority of the death camp area. Trees frame the edges. It's lovely. I took the tour, but it wasn't really helpful. I know maybe three more things than someone who just read all the placards, and I probably know many things less because we didn't have time to read the placards as we moved through. Plus, hearing someone who sounds bored describe what happened is not nearly as dramatic as having to read it and imagine it for yourself. All that said, some of the things the nazis did to trick people into the gas chambers were truly chilling. They told peole they were being relocated, even giving them tickets that said Krakow. They built a fake villiage nearby that they would see from the train, populated with jewish people. When they were going to lose the camp, they went into the elementary school, gave the children toys taken from children murdered at Birkenkau , and marched the happy kids to the gas chambers. Yeah. I think I took two pictures the whole day. It just felt wrong to be a tourist in the presence of such suffering. I was more of a pilgrim.
We hit a mexican restaurant tonight. The cottage cheese enchiladas were actually pretty decent. Okay. I should be polite (unlike everyone else in the hostel), and I can't seem to shake this tired feeling. I've gotten tired way too early for three nights now. :P
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5 comments:
Good to hear you survived:)
Did you see the chambers with hair, coffers, stuff, single cell where they had people stand for days, crematorium?
It seems you did well. For some reason it really shook me when I was there.
Anyway, enjoy Poland, It is the cheapest country on your route.
Marjan
Blain,
My wife Tanja dug out what we had in Krakow for lunch and still can't forget:-)
Pierogi - Polish style dumplings steamed on the grill and filled with your choice of lightly seasoned ground sirloin, potato with Farmer's Cheese or sauerkraut with mushrooms.
Nalesniki - Polish style crepes filled with your choice of fruit or lightly sweetened Farmer's Cheese with a touch of lemon.
Bon appetit!
Marjan
Yes. The hair has been there for sixty years, so most of it has gone gray now. This is actually the sixty year anniversary of the liberation of the camp.
I don't know if I'd call it doing well. I would expect an empathic person to be more rattled, more disturbed. One and a half million people killed, and I felt like I was just looking at mountains of shoes.
I've heard Hungary is really cheap too. We'll see.
Mmm. Perogis. Chris' mom still makes those for the holidays.
Perogis and Nalesnikis. Cool! Thanks Marjan. :)
They may have hurt Mc Donalds, but they worked out just fine for me. The hostel reception counter at Mama's Hostel is fabulous. They gave me directions for Auschwitz and restaurants to try.
I think I'm feeling better. But my 7AM train ride to Prague should fix that.
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