Month: March 2018

Krakow – 26 March 2018

Today we toured Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was difficult, and sad and powerful. To actually see what I have read about and to appreciate the size of the camps and the monstrous number of people who were murdered here…. I’m glad we visited even if just to bear witness.

We had another great dinner. We ate on the main square which had a lot fewer people than on Sunday when we were here.

Warsaw to Krakow

This morning we took the high speed train from Warsaw to Krakow. We arrived around noon. Then we went for a walk through Krakow old town. Today is Palm Sunday so there were a million people out walking. Many were carrying arrangements of grain and flowers.

For dinner we went to Nota Resto. We started with salad then curry squash soup.

For the main course I had pierogis with a duck meat and chestnut filling. Duke had beef. They were both fabulous.

Berlin – 23 March 2018

Duke and I each have ancestors that came from Germany and Holland. For me it’s the Bantas from Holland and the Menolds from Germany. For Duke it is the Norenbergs from Germany and the Vermazens from Holland. I like to think that some of our ancestors might have seen the same things we are seeing.

Today in Berlin we went to the German History Museum. Part of the building was designed by the architect Loeh Minh Pei. The exhibits provided a really well done overview of German history.

We spent about four hours at the museum then walked down to the Brandenburg Gate.

And from there to the Reichstag. We would have gone in but it turns out you need to book in advance. Maybe next time. There was a protest going on about Turkey murdering Kurds when we walked past.

Tomorrow we take the train to Warsaw. This last part of our trip is a whirlwind sample of several countries.