Auschwitz

So! We are all back from Poland! I though the bus trip was going to last forever!

Saturday did turn out to be fairly awesome, too! Right after I last posted, everyone went into the bar and we had Polish breakfast. It was interesting. Sweet warm milk, a couple kinds of plain cereals, instant coffee, and black tea. Then we all went outside to wait for the bus to come to take us to Auschwitz.

We got there and it was so calm and unobtrusive, just a parking lot and a couple buildings. I was shocked by that. The bus pulled in, maneuvering around all the American tourists, let us off, and my little group of people headed off to find the bathroom and money exchange. We needed Zlotys. That done, we got back on the bus to go to a different area of the site. Auschwitz II according to out tour guide. She was a pretty strict woman. Bleach blond hair, huge accent, and quick to snap. On the bus, she didn't say much and we drove away from the center.
When we actually got there, we could see it for real. The view stretched for perhaps a kilometer in every direction with spindly skeletons of brick stoves and replica buildings structures sticking out of the field in a patchwork pattern. Stove, field, building. Stove, field, building. Train tracks ran through the center, creating a great elevated road between two ditches covered in little purple flowers and dandelions.

We were escorted up into the main watchtower in groups of thirty to take pictures, then lead down to see more of the buildings. There will be pictures. Make of it what you will.

The monument is at the very end of the train tracks in 12 different languages. Bulbous rock formations and black stone tablets. There is another tower there too. We didn't stay there long, many people were glad.

Arriving back at the first site, we got a tour through the museum. It was similar to the one in New York, only 100 times more real. It's harder to imagine that these things actually took place when you are on another continent, or even walking around the fields there. But the rooms full, literally full of items and pictures really get to you. The swimming pool like holes in the floors filled with human hair, children's shoes, even one just for brushes. You get a feel for just how enormous it all was, how many lives this one little place saw the end of.
Sorry, I have to go now. Rest of the trip later. Bye

Vera