Oswiecim to Zalipie to Tarnow
Today we woke up to roosters crowing. I was wondering why they didn't
crow before 8AM, since it was daylight by around 3:30 or 4AM. It was
extremely hot in the room, but we didn't dare open the windows last
night because of the mosquitoes. (they were huge). We got up and had a
wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, egg salad, tomatoes,
etc., then we took some pics around the hotel and traveled on. They are
adding on to the hotel, and the new rooms are supposed to have AC. Too
bad they weren't finished already! The heat wave continues in Poland.
I told Lonnie that I wanted to check out the flea market, but as we
drove through it, I realized they were selling only new goods. What fun
is that! Next we went to Auschwitz I so that I could buy some DVD's.
Nearly everyone is selling DVDs this year. Even though some of them are
PAL format, Lonnie thinks they will work on the computer. I certainly
hope so! We drove past Auschwitz a couple of times, then drove on to
Auschwitz II- Birkenau. They are both huge camps. We didn't get out at
Birkenau because we have already been there. I just wanted to see it
again. If it had not been so hot, I probably would have taken the tour
of both camps again. Maybe in the winter. . .I have always thought
something didn't look right about the tracks inside Birkenau. I know
they are the ones used in all of the movies, but they didn't look like
the ones I had seen pictures of and read about when I did reports on the
camps in Junior High. As we were driving to Birkenau, I saw a sign that
said something about a "Juden" memorial. I told Lonnie that I wanted to
drive down that road and see what it was. It turned out to be the
original tracks that were used until May, 1944. Those were the ones
that I had known about. They didn't start taking the Jews directly
into the camp by train until after that. On those tracks, they had a
couple of the boxcars that had been used to transport Jews to the
camps. It was very moving.
After that, we drove across Poland (still traveling East) to see some
painted houses that I had heard about. Now, while they were very nice,
and I love painted houses, I probably would not have driven across
Arkansas to see them, much less across Poland. If we had not done the
trip across Poland, I would have missed something else that I had never
seen before, though. One of the highlights of the long day's drive was
the fact that we saw three storks in their nests feeding their young.
It was amazing! I have never seen such large nests! Unbelievable!
The last highlights of the day came after we finally found a hotel! We
drove and drove around the town of Tarnow looking for a place to stay.
We gave up on the first one when we could not find any parking. The
Lord had something better in mind for us. The GPS lady was trying to
lead us who knows where, so we missed the second hotel several times
before I finally just took over the map and told Lonnie how to get
there!! That GPS lady has a terrible time in towns this year!! She did
much better in towns three years ago. It is a very nice hotel, and we
were given our choice of a room without air conditioning for one price,
or a room with air conditioning for a little more. Guess which one we took!
After checking in, I told Lonnie that I wanted to walk around a little
and look at a cathedral that was next to us. As we were walking past,
we heard singing coming from inside the cathedral, then lots of
clapping. We were trying to decide if it was a boys' choir or not, so
when they started singing again, I snuck in the side door to check it
out. It turned out to be a girls' choir and the singing was
incredible! Add to that the large cathedral organ, and the fantastic
acoustics, and it sounded terrific! We stayed for one song, then left.
The next highlight of the day came when we crashed a Polish wedding
reception - well, not exactly, but I would have liked to (especially
when they started doing the 'Chicken Dance'). The reception was in the
next room at the Hotel's restaurant, so we were able to see the bride
and groom part of the time - and could listen to the music all of the
time. It was great! (side note: for dinner I had a Greek Salad and
Polish White Borscht - Lonnie had a flaming sword trio of meats - he
shared a little tiny bit with me - Yum!)
Not sure where we will end up tomorrow. I'm in search of some wooden
churches that are only found in a certain area. We'll see.
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