Bob was quite the character. He loves James Bond and has had his face photoshopped into James Bond pictures. He referred to our taxi ride as a mission and he had lots of "gadgets". We consented to allow another couple to join us at Bob's request - he lowered our price if we would allow it. My mom agreed to do so as long as they were not smokers (smoking is prevalent here). They were from Australia and they turned out to be enjoyable company and were NOT smokers, thank goodness.
On our way to Auschwitz he showed us a movie about the history and everything. Supposedly they only show a 15 minute version at Auschwitz but we got a video that took the entire hour long car ride. Unfortunately, I probably should have just watched the video at Auschwitz becaues I (Lauren) fell asleep for most of it. Kristy watched it all. We did learn however that "Auschwitz" itself is 3 camps. KL Auschwitz is the first camp we visited and the "orginial" Auschwitz which was a retrofit of old Army Barracks. Auschwitz-Birkenau is the second camp we visited which was built a few km from KL Auschwitz and it was built because KL was so busy. There is also a third camp that was not far from Birkenau and was a work camp but it was completely destroyed when the Nazis left.
We arrived at KL Auschwitz, Bob told us everywhere to go and we set off. We were surprised at how stable the buildings actually were. We were expecting dilapidated buildings and conditions, not solid brick buildings. The place had a very eerie feeling to it, but we had been really well prepared to see the exhibits. The Washington DC Holocaust Museum showed many of the same things. Being at the camp in person though was a very different experience.
"Work makes you free"
After we went to KL, we headed to Birkenau. Birkenau was massive. It started out as brick buildings like KL. The area of these brick buildings filled an area that was about the same size as KL as well. However as the camp expanded and there were more trainloads of people coming in each day, the Nazis had to expand the camp. The expanded part was about three to four times the size of the original brick building area. This part of the camp was all wooden buildings - the buildings we had been expecting to see initially. The sheer size of this camp was chilling. The train tracks run right through the camp so that people can be selected immediately and then be sent for a "shower" at the gas chambers (there are 4 at Birkenau, only one at KL) or be seen as fit to work and sent to the barracks or straight to work. The Memorial in the middle of Birkenau estimates that 1.5 million people were killed there. But because the Nazis attempted to burn most their evidence, we'll never know exactly how many. They did find 15 million pairs of shoes - so we think it could be much more than that.
The Memorial
The "newer" part of Birkenau. Most of it was burned during the lieberation
The middle of the camp - the railroad tracks go right through.
The "older" brick building side of Birkenau
Lines of Towers
After the Auschwitz camps, we made our way towards the Salt Mine. On our way, Bob recommended a stop at a traditional Polish restaurant. It was quite charming and reminded us of Island Park and the lodges there. It was very good food even though we were initially scared of it! Kristy had beetroot soup with meat dumplings and I had a tomato and noodle soup. They were both good. We then had beef goulash (like stroganoff) over fried potato pancakes. We haven't relished the Polish cuisine but it was pretty good.
The Salt Mine could be described as mostly hokey. In this mine, there are statues and carvings made entirely of salt. It no longer functions as a Salt Mine. There were a few really cool parts, but it was mostly lame. For instance, towards the end we were led to a musical chamber with Chopin playing in the background with dramatic lighting highlighting a guy who discovered the chamber or explosives or something like that. We were pretty confused about the purpose of this. We think they added this hokey stuff to make the tour longer and more "worth our money." Either way, the cathedral and some of the sculptures were pretty cool. The catehdral was built because miners felt that they needed God's Protection in the mine - they spent 2 hours each day praying. This catehdral were underground about 130 meters or about 390 feet.
We had to walk down 360 steps at the beginning of our tour - this is our view from about 2/3 of the way down. Can you see the bottom? It's the black spot.
Crystalized salt on the ceilings
King Kazimierz
The Cathedral
Recreation of "The Last Supper"
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