Our stop over on the way to Warsaw, we visited a regional capital city, Poznan. A Soviet military museum was there which contained Soviet tanks on display. The market square was a classic European market square with a huge open square surrounded by shops and restaurants. Hard to believe how much progress had been made since Poland was lifted from a communist state. This city was beautiful and quaint. The food was delicious and very affordable.
July 9-11: Warsaw, Poland:
To get acquainted with the city of Warsaw we dropped off our bags and hit the streets for a walking tour from our hotel to the beautiful old city (reconstructed exactly as the original city before WWII which was completed destroyed by the Germans). The buildings were colorful (yellow, pink, etc.), the streets were clean and cobble-stoned, and the walking areas were huge. More people were walking than in cars.
The next day we spent a good portion of our time at the Warsaw Rising Museum which was a great interactive museum highlighting the flight of the Poles during German occupation. The underground movement's uprising is still memorialized today. (See YouTube video.)
We then had an opportunity to go on a walking tour of the old Warsaw ghetto, walking the area where the Jewish people were walled in. Some parts of the wall were still visible. Many bullet holes were also visible throughout the city on the stone columns in front of buildings, bring the reality of war to each one of us.
Krakow, Poland: July 12-13
Krakow is a beautiful city with a wonderful market square and the awesome Wavel castle with its famous fire breathing dragon.
July 12: Auschwitz and Birkenau museum and concentration camps. There is nothing one can do to prepare for this emotional journey. It was transformational.
July 13: We toured the Jewish quarter of Krakow with students from Jagiellonian University's Holocaust Center. The students joined us for lunch so we talked with them informally. Later that afternoon we visited Schindler's Factory Museum which is now a museum devoted to the history of Poland’s history. This was an amazing museum.