AUSCHWITZ

Everyone I think approaches today with mixed feelings.   We are on the road all morning in private vans crossing into Poland with a short break in the four hour journey to sort out money in the new currency and stretch a bit.

We are heading to Auschwitz after lunch to do a tour there, and Birkenau death camp.  Heading there with some trepidation,  it isn't somewhere you expect to enjoy yourself, more come to appreciate what went on there.  We stopped for lunch on the way which I think we all approached as giving us some stamina to handle the experience. Our driver phoned our order in and the food was ready as we arrived at the restaurant.  Everyone got what they had ordered, which was a delight as we had to write our orders down in Polish copying them from the menu as the bus was going along, a bit of a challenge.  Delicious buttery mushrooms and soup.

As it is a bank holiday here the Auschwitz Museum site was crowded. The security screening procedures are the same  as airports, but only small bags allowed through.  We joined one of five English speaking tours of thirty each starting simultaneously.  Our guide later used that as a comparison to conditions during the war in a much smaller space than we were currently enjoying.  Photographs are allowed in some areas, not all but it often seemed invasive to take them - as did being there sometimes. It is a very sombre experience.  Walking around Birkenau and seeing the size and scale of the site is amazing.  It was a good thing that we had a drive into Krakow as a bit of a buffer zone before starting g to be more ordinary tourists. It will take some time to deal with today.