Poland

Our group trip to Poland consisted of visits to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, Krakow, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps.

The salt mine is the only mining site in the world functioning continuously since the Middle Ages.  It was incredible.  The best way to describe the mine is an underground city.  It even has three chapels carved entirely from salt.

Touring the mine.

The Chapel of the Blessed Kings. 200m underground and carved from salt.

 
Krakow's beautiful Market Square is where we spent most of our time.  The main attractions for us were the Hard Rock Cafe (where we sang Happy Birthday to an American tourist), Cloth Hall (an old Renaissance building), the church of St. Mary, Wawel Castle, a pharmacy museum, a couple of cafes, and a delicious cupcake store.  This city is one I would love to return to.

Market Square at night.

Inside Wawel Castle walls. So very beautiful!

Outside Wawel Castle walls.

The most precious store I've ever been in.

Viridiana, Jade, Yolima, and Karen. One of our many visits to an outside cafe.

The girls heading out to explore the city.

Our last stop in Poland was to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Touring the place where millions of people were murdered was a sobering experience to say the least. The Holocaust is a part of history that we read about in books and are taught in school.  Yet, it didn't seem as real until we walked the grounds and entered the buildings.  For that reason alone, everyone should tour this place at some point in their lives. 

Memorial located in the Birkenau Camp.

Remains of gas chamber and crematorium in Birkenau. Millions killed in this one, small place.

Inside Birkenau barracks. Horrible living conditions.

The entrance to Birkenau. Prisoners were unloaded from the cattle cars that came in on these tracks. They were either sent to work or to the gas chambers.

"Arbeit Macht Frei"  (Work Makes You Free)

Some of the glasses that belonged to victims.

Auschwitz.