Sunrise: 4:43am Sunset: 9:06pm
I managed to be in bed before 11.30 last night. Slept for a few hours, rolled over and went back to sleep until 5am, when I was instantly awake, so got up.
I put the main luggage out at 6:15am and went down to breakfast at 6:30. Coffee, OJ, and cheese and cold meats today, as I’d had far too much to eat yesterday. Back to my room to pick up the carry-on and handbag and then down to the bus, where we departed at 7:30.
We were out of Zakapone and on a highway by 8am. During his time, Greg was giving us a history lesson, firstly on WWI and then WWII. This was leading up to our visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau. There are 4 young people on the tour. Alex and Stephen are brothers and in their mid to late teens and 2 younger girls from the other family group, who are probably in their very early teens. Harriett is one and I have yet to meet the other girl.
We are actually back tracking today, so we passed through this part of Poland yesterday.
The countryside is gently rolling hills with many villages off in the distance. Its much cooler this morning. It was very sunny first up but currently (8:20am) very cloudy and no sun to be seen. According to the bus temperature gauge, it’s 13c outside. According to one of my weather apps, we are passing through Raba Wyzna. This is where we are turning off the highway that goes back to Krakow. There is a huge amount of road infrastructure going on in Poland. New highways being built, connecting throughout the country. There is certainly a lot happening, just on the few roads we have travelled in the past day.
8:45 and the cloud is starting to clear. I can see villages down in the valley and also small fields of crops of some sort and a blot on the hillside, which is a quarry.
9:20am and we are passing through the small town of Wadowice, which is the birthplace of the late Pope John Paul I.
9.45am and we have just passed the biggest theme park in Poland. EnergyLandia.
We arrived at Birkenau around 10ish and I had a loo stop first up. Just as I was leaving in came Sabina, the wife of my TD from 2014, with their 3 year old daughter Matylda. After exiting the loo, there was Tim, with their son Maks. It was lovely to see him and his family. The last time, Maks was only 2 and he’s now 7 and has just started primary school. That is the age that they start school here in Poland. After chatting to them for a short while, I then continued on over to visit Birkenau, with a couple of the other women.
We were back at the bus at 11. Tim & family were still there, as they had brought our boxed lunch with them. Greg took my photo with them and then they departed for their home, which is about an hour's drive away.
Auschwitz was our next stop. A very confronting reminder of man’s inhumanity to man, we were they for almost 2 hours.
When we arrived back at the bus, there was a pastry waiting for each of us, plus on our seats was a roll, bottle of water and a chocolate, courtesy of Insight.
I didn’t notice what time we departed. It must have been somewhere around 1 or 1:30.
Greg put a movie on, which is about Pope John Paul’s early life in Krakow during WWII and the Ghetto. Very appropriate after today’s visits.
Some of the countryside.
Greg stopped the movie around 3:20and will play the rest of it later in the trip.
We have been on a highway for most of the time since leaving Auschwitz and have been passing many trucks. Reminded me of the first time I came to Poland in 2002. They had borders then and the trucks would be lined up on the side of the road waiting to pass through. I remember giving up counting the trucks at one border, after I reached 300.
We have just had a short break at a service station and are on the road again. I think Greg said that we should be there sometime between 4 and 5pm.
It’s 4:25 and the traffic is slowing down on the outskirts.
We arrived at the hotel shortly before 5 and we were all to meet at 6:10 for an orientation walk into the main square with a local guide. He will be leading the optional tour tomorrow morning, which I am not doing.
The group eventaully got away from the hotel around 6:30 and it was a leisurely walk of around 15-20 minutes into the Old Towm main Square. After pointing out some interesting facts, we were then free to do our own thing. Carolyn, Nicole, Dominique & myself, decided to find a restaurant and have a drink. Carolyn & I also had a salmon starter
Breakfast at 6:30 tomorrow morning for those doing the option and bags out at 7:15, for an 8:15 departure. Neither Nicole or myself are doing the optional but will put our bags out with the rest of the group. The group will finally depart from the hotel around midday, heading for Poznan and another overnight stay.
Steps walked. 6,626
Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wrocław.
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