Hotel Galicja Oswiecim

... bit about it and what went on there, before visiting it; but I instantly found out that I only knew a small fraction of what actually happened there. It was ************centration camp- it was a death camp. And there were two main ones- Auschwitz is the central camp that is most commonly known. But just 2 miles away there is Birkenau- the 140 acre concentration camp built when Auschwitz wasn’t capable of killing as many Jews as the Nazis wanted. Many Jewish people ...

... history. Knew it would be a sobering visit as it is not a place to go lighthearted and gay. But as so much has already been written about Auschwitz and WWII, I’ll just keep my blog more on the actual visit itself rather than history and information on the camps.
The set up is so completely “get them through, give them the info, and get them back on the bus” that at times it was hard to get a feel for the enormity of the crimes committed here ...

... you with a tight chest and a lump in your throat that will remain with you for years... The sheer size of the place, the barracks, the huts, the crematoriums, the railway line, the barbarianism, brutality and coldness... I couldn't even begin to describe it in a way to do it justice...

... east and as It was getting late we decided to camp and visit the complex the next day. The car park allows campervans to stay the night and has good 24hr facilities and for a ridiculously cheap price of £4 we had secure parking, facilities, electricity and entry to the grounds. We were apprehensive at first as the area does have a somber feel, driving past the heavy industrial rail tracks you can't help thinking for many this was a final destination and truly the end of the line. But with ...

... ache. Tomorrow Auschwitz. 8/10/07 Day 70 We head into town to catch the train to Oswiecim to visit the Auschwitz museum and memorial. We get to the train station later than planned due to traffic and find we missed the train and there wasn't another for 2 hours, declining a independent tour man who offered us the earth for the same price we headed to the local information centre and book ourselves on the afternoon tour by couch with guide and wonder how to spend the next few hours ...

... przyszla moja kolej na kupno biletu, zapytalam po angielsku: "potrzebujesz pomocy?". Odpowiedzial z hiszpanskim akcentem, ze tak i podal mi szczegoly. Baba w okienku byla nadzwyczaj nieprzyjemna. Ja musialam kupic bilety dla mnie i Sary na rozne pociagi, wiec troche to trwalo. Do tego kobieta pomylila sie, a czas lecial. Zaplacilam i zamowilam bilet dla obcokrajowca za mna. Pobieglam, zeby zdazyc na pociag do Balic na lotnisko. Plecak mialam ciezki jak cholera - eh te prezentyP ...

... he belts out a tune across the square that suddenly stops in remembrance of the trumpeter that got an arrow in the neck trying to warn the city of the impending Tatar invasion in 1241. Rynek Glowny is definitely the biggest town square we've seen in Europe. It was huge. We also walked across town to Wawel Castle, but decided not to go in as we'd been a bit "castled-out" on this trip so far. Back to the hostel in the late afternoon to finally crash. Status of Rick's hair: Sorted son.

... in Polish. Then the timer chip for my shoe. I bought a power gel and headed down to the start, which is on the next street down just to ensure I could see where it was. I walked back towards the hostel but had noticed in my book that my favourite vegetarian restaurant had a second outlet in the next street along from mine. I had the Russian dumplings, cheese and potatoes. I stopped off for a few provisions from the shop and then back to read the paper. A nice ...

... famous Wieliczka Salt mines, about an hour out of the city. Having passed on the mines at Turda in Romania (who fancies going underground at a place called 'excrement'?) we were keen to lick the walls of this subterranean Unesco wonder. It all started very auspiciously when our guide, at the bottom of the 380-odd steps, whipped off her white miner's helmet, letting her blonde hair fall over her shoulders. Taking a deep breath she welcomed us with " Hello, my ...

... Det var i 1939 at man begynte i SS-hovedkvarteret i Breslau drøftinger om å bygge en fangeleir. Den offisielle begrunnelsen var at fengslet i Schlesien var overfylt, og at det var nødvendig å foreta en massearrestasjon av polakker.

Auschwitz II - Birkenau
Kvart på 8 om morran reiste vi til Oswiecim for å besøke  Auschwitz I og II. Det første stoppet ble Auschwitz II som har navnet Birkenau. Vi møtte dette gigantiske ...