A WEEK WITH MANY DIFFERENT EMOTIONS

This past week we :

 -saw our 'neighbours', the English team loose and leave
 -went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the well known concentration camp from World War II
 -went to Schindler’s Factory Museum & saw the movie they made about him.
 -went to Wieliczka Salt Mines and got a little scared going down under ground 135 meters          
 -went to Berlin - Germany and saw how east and west used to be divided by a long Wall. 
  -went to a cafe and saw how the German team lost from Italy in the Euro 2012.  

Coach  of English soccer team
living next door to us!

Krakow old city center

We left Kiev (Ukraine) and went to Krakow (Poland) by train. Poland is also hosting the Euro 2012 Soccer games, but we did not go to see more soccer. We wanted to visit Auschwitz, a very well known concentration camp from the WWII. On arrival in Krakow we had 2 big surprises. First we found out that we booked an apartment on the 3rd floor without elevator (for our 4 big, heavy suitcases and 4 hand bags).!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After breaking our backs and moaning we saw we had a great apartment overlooking the market square. Then we had a 2nd surprise; we found out that we were sleeping next to the hotel where the English soccer team was sleeping. Soon after we arrived Steven already saw the coach and Ashley Cole and had them sign their signature on his shirt. Unfortunately they left after 2 days because they lost and had to go home. Our apartment was very central in the old center of Krakow. We were 5 meters away from the main square with all the shops and restaurants and lots of terraces around it.

Baracks with 'beds' in Auschwitz II Birkenau 

We were very busy in Poland, because there were many things to see and do, but the main reason we were here was to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Auschwitz I - the prisoners blocks

Since Russia we were/ are learning about WWI, WWII & the Cold War and have seen War museums in Russia and Ukraine and read many stories about the wars, but I found it difficult to imagine exactly how it was to live in a country in which there is a war. We went first to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Polish people, Gypsies and 1.300.000 Jewish people were killed by the Nazis. We went with a small tour bus and there was one lady in the bus who wanted to go out. We all thought the lady left because it was too much for her, she looked very worried and restless and was afraid of all the bad impressions she was going to see. The guide in Auschwitz was very good and explained very well what happened in the Concentration Camp during 1940 -1945. There were 2 parts of Auschwitz. The first part we saw all the houses were people lived while they had to work for the Nazis. You could see what was in the houses, how they slept very close to each other, how they went to the toilet with many people sharing just a few toilets and that the Jews who had to clean the toilets with a bucket was actually the luckiest, because they could always go to the toilet. We saw  the 'beds' in 3 layers. The tour guide asked what level would you like to sleep? All the Jews wanted to sleep on the top because if you sleep on the bottom or middle you will catch whatever the person on the top will drop!!!!. They where only allowed to go to the toilet 2 times a day for 2 minutes with so many at same time. If you did not listen you were punished and had to stand in a small cell for the whole night without bread or water. Or there was the 'suffocation cell' where 40 people had to breath from one small hole in the wall. No oxygen enough for everyone and often they would not be alive the next morning. 
Then we visited the 2 part of Auschwitz, a huge camp where all the prisoners were brought in with a cattle train and where they were selected (work or die) and most of the time were murdered in the gas-chambers and afterwards burned in the crematorium.

the only small breathing hole for
a room with 40 people 

Left over ruins of one of the
 gas chambers/crematorium

thousands of shoes of people who died in the camp

a family who may have stayed or died in Auschwitz.
I found the picture at the end of the train track!

the train track in which many Jews came to
the concentration camp to be murdered

I still cannot believe what happened. So many people where killed and in such a terrible way. The next day we went to Schindler’s factory which was in Krakow and there we could see more pictures which told us how the Jewish people where first put into a special area - Ghetto. Later, when Hitler said all Jews had to be killed in his Third Reich, they were sent to the concentration camps. It was a very creative museum which made it easier for Steven en me to understand what had happened. From our whole journey so far that was the best museum. For every room there were different floor tiles from the WW2. ...... Afterwards we also saw the movie ; Schindler’s List about a group of Jewish workers who were saved by Oskar Schindler who said to the Nazis that the people needed to work in his factory. It was a very sad movie.

The last day in Krakow we went to the Salt mine 135 metres underground. We went down many many many many many many..............STAIRS!!!!!!!!!!! were we saw salt statues. We learnt all about how people found the salt and how they dug the salt ...etc. There was also a church built underground with all the statues made by salt. We 'tasted' the walls and it was very salty. We luckily did not go up with the stairs but with a lift for 7 people that went very fast.

We went to Germany by train, learning German words. Mom & Dad can speak German, so it will be good to be able again to read and talk to everyone. We were sleeping in Hotel Bogota on the Kurfurstendam. It was not just a hotel noooo!!!. It was the hotel where my dad always sleeps when he was in Germany at the tourism fair. He goes already to the same hotel for 20 years and  there are still the same people working there. We got a great apartment in the hotel with old furniture and an old radio which still worked. We had German rolls and nice cheese and ham for breakfast. The waitress also spoke Spanish & German. Mom & Dad spoke German to her and Steven & I spoke Spanish. We went to a museum The Story of Berlin about the history of Berlin. First we visited the Nuclear bunkers where they slept if there was a Nuclear bomb attack during the Cold War.

On Thursday we saw the soccer game Italy against Germany. 1:2 for Italy. Germany is out. Everyone in Berlin was sad, but the Italians were celebrating with lots of noise in the streets.

Germany and Berlin is very well known for their big pies and cakes, but my mother could not find the old cafes any more with the terraces and the nice cakes. Now there are Star bucks and Mc Donalds and not many old cafes.

left over of the Berlin wall 

In the weekend our cousins came from Holland to Germany to see us. We went with them to the old crossing Checkpoint Charlie and the famous museum where you can see how people tried to escape and cross from East to West Berlin.  We think it was the worst museum we ever saw this year. You could not breath, it was too hot and to much to read. We left the museum and went to see the memorial at the old Berlin Wall and then we went with our cousins in the sightseeing bus to see the rest of Berlin.

(Next week Paris)       

                                                                                    

Danke schon und aufwiedersehen,

Loes