A step back

Today was the day we had our auchwitz-Birkenau tour, and I was rather excited for it. That excitement dwindled as the morning progressed. First off, rather than a regular tour bus they brought a van. I don’t have a car seat for silas as I was expecting an actual bus to which babies do not require a seat of their own. 

Secondly, once on our way… It starts raining. And It keeps raining the ENTIRE TIME. 

Third, couldn’t take stroller or diaper bag. Therefore my back was killing me after hours of carrying silas as he couldn’t walk due to the muddy puddly mess that was the walkways at the camps. And I didn’t have any of silas’ snacks, drinks, nothing. 

Fourth, I couldn’t even finish the last hour at birkenau because my back hurt so bad, my child wasn’t letting me enjoy myself at all. And last but not least, the weather was completely impossible to do anything in. 

So, in summary… If you take your small children with you, you will want to shoot yourself in the face. 

But otherwise, it was a wonderful experience to visit. At one point we went into the only remaining gas chamber in auchwitz 1 and it was a truly surreal moment to imagine that I was standing in a room where hundreds of people were killed daily during the time auchwitz was first operational. After the chambers in auchwitz-Birkenau were built, the one in auchwitz wasn’t really used anymore if I did hear correctly. The ones in auchwitz-Birkenau were destroyed near the end of the war in an attempt to cover up the harsh reality of just how horrible this place really was. Absolutely sickening how horrible this place must have been for the people subjected to this horror. The first people in auchwitz were actually polish people from the surrounding areas and they were taken in an effort to cleanse the surrounding area (so they could not witness from the outside the atrocities taking place here) but they were also taken so their homes could be used for German guards. Living in the wrong place at the wrong time was the only reason they were subjected to the torture and starvation they endured. Lots of their pictures are on the walls in one of the barracks, as in the beginning they took a photograph of all the prisoners when they were taken into the camp. Most only lived a few short months if they were lucky. One I saw lived two whole years… I wish I could say that man was lucky, but that is far from the truth. 

Did you know that prisoners were given the job of carrying the bodies from the gas chambers to the crematoriums and then burning them?

Could you even imagine sorting through the bodies of men, women and children? Some still just babies? Possibly seeing someone you know, or even a family member? And ontop of that, after a couple months the workers were killed as to keep what they were doing from becoming public knowledge.

Aside from the obviously tragic history, it was amazing to be able to see the camps. It really makes you appreciate the life you have. And I learned a lot more than I expected! I can only imagine if we had participated in the birkenau part of the tour that Id know far more, but maybe that will be for a time when I am not with silas. Otherwise it’s just stressful. 

So in Kraków I have done pretty much nothing aside from walk to my hostel. I have come to the conclusion that this city, while very pedestrian friendly, is not however stroller/wheelchair friendly. Underpasses for walking are a splendid idea, but not when there are copious amounts of stairs on either side. Granted the main one by the station doesn’t have stairs, rather a large sloping walkway, the rest of the city is not that grand. Nor does it have the amount of space said grand underpass requires. 

I’m not sure Kraków will ever be a place to which I return as I haven’t had a pleasant time yet. But there’s still tomorrow… So fingers crossed. The castle is quite magnificent and the city is rather small so it makes getting around fairly quick (if you don’t have a stroller)

Next train I take is tomorrow already and it’s an overnight train. What are the chances things will go smoothly on that one. Not likely. That’s what. But oh well, that’s life. I am currently at stop 6 out of 11 so in theory I am over halfway done. God I know this is bad, but I can not wait to have this over. Definitely too big of a challenge. 

Oh and sorry for the delays in posting, I had this post and the last written up but was unable to publish them due to Internet connectivity issues.