Fri. 9-23

Today we went to Auschwitz/Birkenau. We caught a two hour bus ride for $4.00. The concentration camp is a symbol of horror, a memorial to man's inhumanity to man.

We were on an English speakers tour - we all had headphones so it was easy to hear the guide.
We saw the original gas chamber and crematory, the holes where they dropped the cyclon B into the chambers, the executation wall, the camp commandoant
s house where he lived with his family right next to the crematory, block 11 whichwas the tourcher/death house, the hospital where no one wanted to go.

After a two hour tour we got on a bus and went to the Birkenau camp. This was much bigger than Auschwitz - the men lived in wooden barracks and the women in brick. We saw a "cattle" car that brought them into camp and the "selection" platform. It gave you an erie, sad feeling to be standing where so many people had been murdered.

I have done it again . . . I fell flat on my face tonight when we were walking home from the train station. I had a bottle of water in one hand and my camera in the other. It was dark and the streets are uneven. I was so lucky I didn't knock my teeth out or break my bones.

The only reason I'll be happy to leave Krakow is to get out of this hotel. We haven't be4en able to sleep because it is right on a VERY busy street. We hear the trollys, the police, motorcycles and people partying half the night.