Dr. Silverman

Dr. Silverman will be sharing some of her experiences from our trip with her local Synagogue.
(tell us more Rachel).

Your pictures are attached to the blog.

mg

Krakow, Poland and Auschwitz

Today we have a guest blogger...my faithful travel companion Rachel Esther Silverman. She is here to talk about our experiences in Krakow, Poland including our visit to Auschwitz.

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We arrived in Krakow Saturday night and after my Jewdar failed me we were forced to have a cab take us to our new hotel in the old Jewish distract. (On Friday night my Jewdar was in full effect and landed us on the steps of the one Synagogue in Warsaw just in time for the Shabbat service.) Hotel Kazimier is located in the heart of the Jewish part of Krakow, right off of Estery Street. After arriving we wandered around and found ourselves a nice restaurant where we gorged on stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, brisket, kanishes, apple blintzes and our new favorite drink - Tatonka, a mix of apple juice and Buffalo Vodka. Then to Bar Propaganda for a few beers. The Jewish area is great, very old cobblestone streets, a park with menorahs as the gate, and the new, hip, trendy place to be. We have decided it is a world wide phenomena that hipsters, artists and young alternative folks find the ghettos everywhere, move into the cheap housing, and create cool neighborhoods.
Yesterday after breakfast we went to explore the Sunday market - very disappointing, unless you are on the lookout for fur coats, which we are not.
Then we went to a pub for some coffee and met a lovely girl Iga who we chatted with for about an hour. When we told her our plans to go to Auschwitz for the day she told us how sad it was there, when we told her we were Jewish she started to cry.
Hoping to take the train to Auschwitz we walked to the station, only to find there was not a train for three hours and it would get us there way too late to see the camps. A cab offered to take us and so yes, we rode in a Mercedes to Auschwitz. Is this irony? Is it wrong? Or is it reparations?? I don't know.
What is there to say about the camps... I think seeing them in winter makes the experience a bit harsher, having an idea of how cold it is here adds to the atrocity of the events. The first few bunkers I walked through were history lessons and so I was able to remain a bit detached and observe. When we finally walked into the room where the artifacts were stored, the hair, the suitcases, the glasses, the shoes, the baby clothes, the ability to observe was lost and I began to feel ill. For the reminder of my time at Auschwitz 1 my chest was tight and my eyes were wet. The gas chamber and crematorium were understandably the hardest part to see. Walking away from there I took Mary's arm in need of some warmth and comfort.
Driving to Auschwitz 2, Birkenau, the polish music coming from the cab's radio was an appreciated distraction. There, you see the vastness of it all. Rows and rows of bunkers. Again, the cold adds to the horror of it. We walked around the camp, the monument over where the gas chamber had been bombed, and along the train tracks. It is a cold and eerie place. Being insides the sleeping quarters and looking at the latrines is something I cannot describe. There are pictures for all to see, but I imagine we have all seen pictures before, they cannot show you how it feels.

Back in Krakow we decided on a warm, comforting meal of borscht and perogies, and more Tatonka. We went to bed early last night, it was a long day. Today we will walk around the city more, and get on the train back to Berlin tonight to meet up with our friends there.

Krakow is city worth exploring. The people are warm and friendly, the architecture beautiful, the Jewish area is still standing - unlike in Warsaw - and a vibrant place to stay, eat, and explore.

Warsaw, Poland.

Rachel and I arrived in Warsaw on December 25th. There was very little happening in the city as Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays throughout Europe. Arriving in Warsaw was quite a different experience than our initial arrival in Berlin a week and a half earlier. Warsaw was clear still working to modernize and was a mix of eastern and western influences (as opposed to Berlin which has experienced its modern rebirth).

Warsaw was cold, the streets were empty, and on our first night we ate at a restaurant attached to a casino (which litter the streets of Warsaw).

On the bright side, we were staying in the Palonia Palace hotel, and the digs were palatial. We visited the "Uprising Museum" and it was one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen. Our Friday night ended by randomly stumbling upon the one synagogue in Warsaw (well, not so random...Rachel has excellent "jewdar") and were invited to stay to light the Hanukkah candles, Shabbat services and dinner.

After the dinner a few of the young people at the service asked us to join them for a Hanukkah party (which turned into drinks at a bar). We met Regev from Israel and Tamara from Warsaw and Tamara's friend Aggie also from Warsaw (all of whom are now our friends on Facebook...read the "Facebook" post for more on this).

As you look at the pictures from Warsaw (on the blog) you will see images from two full days and many pictures from the experiences detailed in this blog (train to Warsaw, Palonia Palace, Uprising Museum, and evening out).

FACEBOOK.

I recently spend some time trying to explain the virtues of facebook to a friend who is about 20 years older than me. He was having difficulty understanding why I would want to email or "comment" on a wall (he did understand the basics of the set up) when I could just call them, or better yet, not collect friend (or recollect friends) that I might not talk to on a regular basis.

I went through a variety of rationales for the value of facebook. I tried to explain varying forms of social networking and multiple ways of communicating. I am certain I did not sell him on any of these points.

For the past 2 and a half weeks I have been traveling in Europe (as you all know). During this time I have met more than a dozen new people all of who I would like to stay in touch with in one way or another (some I would like to see again and others I would enjoy communicating with). Regardless, of what type of contact I would like to maintain, I have Facebook as a resource. I did not have to trade business cards or write down information, I simply told people my name and that they could find me (or I could find them) on Facebook. I now have friends in Germany, Poland, Israel, and throughout the United States.

This is the value of Facebook.

Germany v. U.S.A. v. Poland

Over the past two weeks we have had a chance to experience two vastly different parts of Europe. We have drawn some preliminary conclusions about each experience, in relation to our lives in the United States.

Pros for Germany:
--highly efficient public transportation
--conscious of conserving energy (i.e: escalators that turn off when not used and light turned off in hotel hallways)
--museums and monuments remembers the past (even the ugly parts)
--Free health care
--Free education (higher education)
--Our Germans (Uli, Lisa, and Nadine)

Pros for Poland:
--unisex bathrooms
--casinos in city centers
--Zubrowka and Apple Juice
--Pierogis
--Multi-lingual youth
--Palaces
--Fur Coats

Pros for U.S.A:
--capitalism
--2 ply paper products
--Warm weather (big bonus)

SORRY.

Now that we are in Poland, Rachel and I have had some time to reflect upon our experiences in Germany. The one that continues to stand out for us happened in the small town of Wittenberg, which we visited on the fifth day of our stay in Germany.

While our tour guide discussed the architecture of one particular building in the historic section of town, including one of the more offensive structures/markers we saw on our trip, we found a placard that our tour guide was unfamiliar with.

It was clear this small sign was placed by an individual (and not an official entity), but no information was provided.

Of course, not much was needed. As our entire group stood around this sign we all laughed and figured this summed up most of our experience in Germany. As you can imagine, this became the mantra for the remainder of our trip.

Berlin--A Second Perspective

(LeeLo and SamRo sighting in Berlin ... someone notify Perez)
















My girl Mallory has also been keeping a blog. To check out her experience in Berlin visit:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=1509365

FYI: I have never met another person like Mallory...she is forever our LeeLo!