Hotel Abel Krakow

... tried to make conversation, all he responded was "Don't speak much English" and then turned up his techno music. He had a legit mustache though. Auschwitz itself is hard to describe. It is interesting in a way, because I have heard so many stories/ seen so many movies about the holocaust, that it was strange to actually be there. But then the fascination is quickly overwhelmed by a sickening disgust and sadness that those atrocities actually happened, and that the ...

... central cloth hall.

Our stop in Krakow was quite relaxing, and we took some time to do a few more normal things like shopping and going to the movies (so cheap! and the popcorn wasn't flooded with butter either). It really helped us recover. Aside from this, we enjoyed visiting the state rooms and cathedral on Wawel Hill, and climbing the tall bell ...

... Rabbi, and a beautiful one that looked a lot like a church. We'll be going back to the Rama shule tonight for the Shabbat service. Meeting with Polish people A fantastic way for us to understand Polish-Jewish relations today was to meet up with young Polish people. Hayley, Talia, Bernard and I hung out in Krakow's main square with a Polish guy called David, who was very intelligent and willing to answer even the most awkward of Bernard's questions (his first question: Are ...

... some of the things that they had taken from people when they arrived (they had a room full of hair that they had cut off people - and it was a pretty big room). It rained there too and it was cold. When we got back we walked around Krakow a bit - we went to the castle grounds. It is okay there, the castle in Krakow is where the story the paper bag princess is from. I had a really great book of that story I will have to find it. There is an old market building ...

... Luckily Krakow is the tourist capital of Poland, so the menus were both in Polish and English, plus most of them gave you a description of what the menu item was. I sat down at one of the cafes that surrounded Rynek Glowny (town square)to have a bowl of zurek (sour rye soup with polish sausage) and a plate of pierogis (dumplings). Of course, it wouldn't be a Polish meal without a ...

... back to the hotel, we passed the Pharmacy Museum and realized we missed the closing by only 15 minutes. All I got was a blurry shot from the outside. Dinner and back to the hotel to pack. Our plane leaves at 6:30am tomorrow for Beirut! I don't know if I'll have time to update this from Beirut, but if not, I will certainly do it this weekend. Thanks for reading !!!

... has been completely renovated. They are also extremely helpful in giving you directions and also held a party for all of us last night....not feeling so good today...too many vodka shots. We have met many Germans, Brits and Canadians. All who are probably going to be feeling the same as me. We have not yet seen much of Krakow yet, but we did have some traditional Polish food ...

... Today, we went to Aushweitz. It was really important that we went, but I felt sick from the information by the end of the tour. People are so nice here and they have these amazing kabobs which are a cross between a gyro and a pita. Krakow is beautiful, I could really see myself coming back.

We crossed into Poland on an overnight train to arrive in Krakow, another medieval town and which has the largest square in Europe. Our main purpose of visiting Krakow was to see Auschwitz which lies 60 kilometres west of the city. Our visit included the original Auschwitz which was intended to hold Polish political prisoners and whose entrance is adorned with the chilling phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Gives Freedom) and the much larger Birkenau camp which ...

... it in a massive container to each table with its own pump...****in quality (see pics) we had some shots in here which were nice. He then took us to the club, he then ditched us and went somewhere else with some local girls...again strange. So we all got wasted, we fought the temptation of pulling Sandy but neil gave in and ended up with her anyway hahaha On the walk home Neil pushed bursco into a tree and he woke up the next mornin with a major ...