Slovakia - Budapest Photos

Beautiful scenery in Slovakia.  This was our drive today:

Lunch in Slovakia began with Slivovitz

And ended with disgusting poppy strudel

Sooooooo happy to be in Budapest!! View from our hotel:

Ahhhh!  Nice city :-)

74 Year Anniversary

So, we get to Auschwitz to find out that on this day - 74 years ago - the first transport of Jews arrived at Auschwitz.  They were from Tarnow.

I did not feel like taking a single picture at Auschwitz and Birkenau.  It felt intrusive.  And, I have nothing to write.  There are no words.

Tomorrow - long bus trip to Budapest with lunch stop in Slovakia.  I have learned that while "on the road" the best thing to eat for lunch is vodka.  Vodka here is amazing!!

Plascow and Galicia Jewish Museum

Good morning !

Visit to Plaszow, the forced labor and death camp outside of Kracow notorious for sadistic treatment and random executions of victims - populated by the Jews of the liquidated Krakow Ghetto.  It's unclear how many thousands of Jews were killed here because records have been destroyed.

Haunting sculpture sits on the hill overlooking the site of the camp --- all remnants of which are gone:

Next stop...

The Galicia Jewish Museum which houses an excellent collection of photographs documenting the remnants of Jewish culture and life in Polish Galicia

Photo of Jewish gravestones being used for paving on the street

Lots of information about Tarnow - Grammy Rosie's home town

This afternoon - Auschwitz:

Krakow

Moving along... A five hour bus ride ride south through the Polish countryside brought us to Krakow - a large city which actually was not bombed by the Nazis.  It is a university town and 20% of the population are students.  Most of us have seen Schindler's List and so we are familiar with the round up of the Jews into the Kracow Ghetto and the eventual liquidation of that Ghetto to the death camp.

Here's Marc, fully wired for sound, and about to tour Kracow-

I know we looked at cemetery photos yesterday, but this story is amazing.  Outside of the Remuh Synagogue, which survived the war (after being occupied by Nazi troops) sits the Remuh Cemetery.

Before the Nazis invaded Kracow, the Jews took all these gravestones and laid them down then covered them with dirt.  The Nazis stored all kinds on things on top of these graves, never knowing what was below.  After the war, the markers were re-erected above the graves.  Broken stones formed this wall--

Next we went to Schindler's Factory, which is actually a large WWII museum of the history of Kracow during the war.  Schindler's List plays a small part in the museum, but the larger history puts the Schindler story in greater context.  Our guide was a passionate and articulate young man who truly presented a good picture of the plight of Kracow's Jews and the occupation by the Nazi barbarians.

The blogger with Schindler's pots.

Marc with the names of Schindler's workers

Thursday in Warsaw

Good Morning Warsaw!!

After a fantastic breakfast at the Hotel Bristol, we headed to the Norzyk Synagogue which is a renovation of a synagogue which actually survived the German destruction of Warsaw and everything Jewish.  It is an active orthodox synagogue which has about 600 members. Not much else Jewish was left behind.

What was left behind was Jewish graves.  We visited the Jewish cemetery which was eerily beautiful in a forested and shady area.  It was huge and Jews have been buried in double layers over the years.  Most gravestones were quite legible with inscriptions in Hebrew/Yiddish and Polish.  All the names were familiar.

Older gravestones - could be going back hundreds of years.

One section of cemetery was for young mothers - most of whom probably died in childbirth.  The broken candlesticks symbolized how the death of a young mother breaks the family.

Incredible:

Washing my hands at the pump upon leaving the cemetery.

This monument to the Jewish heros of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is in front of the brand new Museum of the History of the Polish Jews.  The monument commemorates how Jews died.  

The gorgeous glass new museum memorializes how the Jews of Poland LIVED.  When completed, its exhibitions will trace 900 years of Jewish Polish history, going back to the Middle Ages. It's a fantastic new educational and cultural center built on the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto.  

http://www.jewishmuseum.org.pl/en/about-museum

We wrapped up the day with private piano recital of Chopin music by a gifted violinist.  Then, great dinner.  Off to bed -- tomorrow, Krakow.

Great Start!

I know that this has been pretty boring so far -- reading about Marc sleeping and shopping for a suitcase strap.  However things are looking up!  Welcome dinner tonight was great fun.  There are about 40 people on the tour.  Everyone is engaged and so excited to be here.  Everyone has a family story about why they wanted to come.  Three people in the group were born in DP Camps - like Sally.
The guide is great and without question -- this is going to be an extremely educational trip.

The had a vodka buffet bar with dinner.  There were five vodkas I had never seen before.  One was an amber colored premium vodka made with honey  -  Starspolska.  I had one up straight and one on the rocks and NOW... I am ready to go to sleep.

Tomorrow - Nozyk Synagogue and a bunch of sights around Warsaw.  Chopin concert tomorrow night.  Speaking of Polish composers, Paderewski was one of the original owners of our hotel.  Mom - remember...Minuet in G... by Paderewski. 

hugs and kisses all around!

Sleep

Sleep is very important -- just ask Becky http://beckytountas.com/2014/04/16/zzzzz/

Marc slept on the plane from NY to Amsterdam, he slept again on the plane to Warsaw and is now taking a nap before dinner.  I slept two days ago - Monday night, I think.  If you look carefully, you can see his mouth mid-snore.