Hotel Salin Wieliczka

... moment, I visited anyway just to see a free toilet in Poland as usually they cost something.

Our group heads into the mine. Right away it is to be 375 (or thereabouts) steps down into the mine. One nice lady, Muriel, from Cape Town, South Africa, was already walking with a cane. She thought she could do it but the guide was pressing her to take the life down to meet the group because she said ...

... flooding). The tourist drawcard is not just a chance to be packed like sardines into a lift and plummeted 20m below ground in complete darkness, but a chance to walk 1% of the total area of the mines, going no deeper than the third floor.



Our tour guide was brilliant and supplied us with a load of information ...

... find a bus, only ceding to a train equally as cheap, which I should have done in the first place. The country side was beautiful, and the city was a small spot on the map, except for the massive pile of tourist going to the salt mines. The only thing that I really need to say about the salt mines is that UNESCO has designated them as one of 12 priceless hertiage spots in the world, which means that they are most amazing. The entire mines are 300 km, while are ...

... not have anything huge to offer people. It does however, have a quite a few blocks (Communist style buildings). So if you are interested in seeing those come here or Nowa Huta. The only buildings in Nowa Huta are those. I could see Nowa Huta from the airplane. From above it looks like dominoes stacked next to each other. Really interesting.

... it in school but seeing the site first hand where most of the genocide occurred really hits home. it was all very emotional, moving, and i learned so much. we saw the barracks where the prisoners lived, learned about everyday life, and went inside one of the gas chambers and crematoriums. it was just an amazing experience that i will never forget. it's easy to read about it and see pictures and then forget but being there will really keep it in your ...

... ready and these two men from the town were playing the accordian and other instruments all around. so fun. then we went outside and of course everyone from the block is there. and they have this tradition where people block the groom's car and he has to get out and give them vodka. so he had about 10 blockings and a lot of vodka was passed out. like each person had a fifth. so we got to the bride's house and they did all the blessings there from the parents. We ...

... unsatisfied. Our guide was knowledgeable but spoke really softly so you really had to follow him closely and he appeared to be in a rush. Because of this apparent urgency, we didn't get to spend as much time exploring around the museum as I would have liked. Also, having read up on Auschwitz recently, I knew a fair bit about the camp so I didn't learn much new stuff. In hindsight, I would have preferred to ...

... had to fight for my right to pay the meals, entrance fees and train tickets myself. He and his friends showed up with such a great Polish hospitality, I could learn a lot of from them. He even drove me the 90km to Ausschwitz with his car (he insisted. The polish trains would be too badly air conditioned these days, and this would`t suit my journey...). The visit of Auschwitz and Birkenau has been the most ...

... you have to take a shuttle bus for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Really comfortable and very cheap-only about 2 euro if you convert the zloty for a round-trip. Fab. I enjoyed that part immensely, especially since I had to go twice ;) When you arrive, it drops you off at the main gate before the museum, which is about a half mile (not like you walk enough around the actual camp, right). Inside the museum is where you arrange for your ...

... was amiss at the circle k, but couldn't be sure. And you say, "if I was alive in 1941 and I knew this was going on, I would join the army and volunteer because very few things are worth dying for but maybe this is one of them". That's the ideal at any rate, what many of us think when we ponder WW2 over other wars and it's certainly what I think. But does anyone else get that same sort of creepy feeling this IS happening elsewhere? I'm thinking north korea here, where there are ...