This picture shows the entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau II and part of the railway platform where countless Jews were sentenced to death by the S.S. During the tour I took, I learned that these train tracks were some of the only ones constructed by the Nazis solely for the final solution. Oddly enough, I found Auschwitz to be much less depressing than Dachau despite the fact that Auschwitz was the the centerpiece of Hitler's final solution. It was such a hot and beautiful day that it was hard to truly connect with the suffering of those who lived through the horror. 
Hundreds and hundreds of Auschwitz prisoners were executed standing against this wall.
I was sort of shocked to see a big group of Israeli soldiers in uniform touring Auschwitz. I can see how it is important to see things like that first hand but that is a pretty intense history lesson if you ask me. 
Before Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army in January of 1945 the Nazis destroyed the remaining gas chambers and crematoriums in an effort to hide their crimes from the allies. I could not help but feel a morbid fascination as I stood next to the ruins of gas chambers where more than one million people were murdered. I can't imagine what it would have been like to experience Auschwitz from the inside.
The pictures displayed above were taken in the Rynek Główny (Main Market Square), one of Krakow's main attraction. At 200 m by 200 m it ranks as Europe's largest medieval square. 
Another one of Krakow's main attractions is Wawel Castle, which stands on Wawel hill. According to recent excavations, Wawel Hill was been inhabited as early as 50,000 years ago during the Paleolithic Age. Following my visit to Wavel Castel I ventured out into Kazimierz, Krakow's historic Jewish quarter.
I ended up leaving Krakow what seemed to be one day too soon. Wianki, the annual Polish festival celebrating the summer solstice was going to take place the day I was set to leave for Warsaw. I hated to miss out on something so big and unique but as it turned out, Warsaw also observes this holiday in a big way. Polish bands, T.Love and Kayah in addition to the British band Level 42 headlined the event which was followed by an amazing fireworks show over the Wistula River. For a You Tube video of the fireworks, check out this url:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOuQLJ9yu78&watch_response
Otherwise, Warsaw was simply a beautiful place to spend time in. It was far cheaper than Krakow and it seemed, at least to me, to be more authentic if less trendy than its southern neighbor.
After 2 nights in Warsaw I headed back west across Poland to a smaller and less well known city called Wrocław. I had heard it was nice and one of the cool things about traveling like this is that you can just decide to go somewhere and then show up. Most of the time you are rewarded handsomely for taking a chance but the huge drawback of traveling by the seat of your pants is that it can be extremely frustrating when things don't go your way. Part of the reason I decided to stop in Wrocław in the first place was because it was halfway between Warsaw and Munich, and I just needed a way to break up the trip before turning up in Germany to meet my little brother. The first thing I wished I would have realized was that distance on a map does not directly correlate to travel time. As it turned out there are only a few border crossings from Poland to Germany and the shortest connection to Munich was more than 10 hours requiring 5 different trains. If I had just taken the train strait from Warsaw to Berlin instead of to Wrocław I could have cut 4 hours off my trip. The second and more fatal error was the result of a misunderstanding. I told my Mom that Jonathan should arrive in Germany on the 25th of June, and naturally one would think to book a flight leaving on the 25th but what was lost in translation was that flights to Germany are overnight, and a flight leaving on the 25th would actually arrive in Germany at 7:45 in the morning a day later. Now I knew he would be arriving early in the morning already so I had planned to arrive at the Munich airport around 2:00 a.m. and then just sleep there. That way I could enjoy a half day in Wrocław and save money on lodging. Well imagine my surprise when I realized at about 12:30 in the morning on the 24th that my brother wouldn't actually arrive until the 26th meaning I would need to find a place to stay for one night in Munich. I managed to book a hostel but you can't check into a hostel at 2:00 in the morning which meant that I had to catch a train literally less than 6 hours later to arrive in Munich early enough to get a room. I was so frustrated and angry that I just wanted to scream. Even though I left Poland on a bad note, it was quite the experience. I had some amazing times there and learned some valuable lessons, even if I did have to learn them the hard way...
Otherwise, Warsaw was simply a beautiful place to spend time in. It was far cheaper than Krakow and it seemed, at least to me, to be more authentic if less trendy than its southern neighbor. 
After 2 nights in Warsaw I headed back west across Poland to a smaller and less well known city called Wrocław. I had heard it was nice and one of the cool things about traveling like this is that you can just decide to go somewhere and then show up. Most of the time you are rewarded handsomely for taking a chance but the huge drawback of traveling by the seat of your pants is that it can be extremely frustrating when things don't go your way. Part of the reason I decided to stop in Wrocław in the first place was because it was halfway between Warsaw and Munich, and I just needed a way to break up the trip before turning up in Germany to meet my little brother. The first thing I wished I would have realized was that distance on a map does not directly correlate to travel time. As it turned out there are only a few border crossings from Poland to Germany and the shortest connection to Munich was more than 10 hours requiring 5 different trains. If I had just taken the train strait from Warsaw to Berlin instead of to Wrocław I could have cut 4 hours off my trip. The second and more fatal error was the result of a misunderstanding. I told my Mom that Jonathan should arrive in Germany on the 25th of June, and naturally one would think to book a flight leaving on the 25th but what was lost in translation was that flights to Germany are overnight, and a flight leaving on the 25th would actually arrive in Germany at 7:45 in the morning a day later. Now I knew he would be arriving early in the morning already so I had planned to arrive at the Munich airport around 2:00 a.m. and then just sleep there. That way I could enjoy a half day in Wrocław and save money on lodging. Well imagine my surprise when I realized at about 12:30 in the morning on the 24th that my brother wouldn't actually arrive until the 26th meaning I would need to find a place to stay for one night in Munich. I managed to book a hostel but you can't check into a hostel at 2:00 in the morning which meant that I had to catch a train literally less than 6 hours later to arrive in Munich early enough to get a room. I was so frustrated and angry that I just wanted to scream. Even though I left Poland on a bad note, it was quite the experience. I had some amazing times there and learned some valuable lessons, even if I did have to learn them the hard way... 
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