1 City, 2 Bus Rides, 54 Broken Hearts

I am going to start this post and just let everyone know that part of this post is not going to be the most cheery writing ever composed, but that is the way this trip was.

The group from AIFS and I woke Friday morning nice and early to catch our bus at 8 a.m. We all gathered in the lobby of the dorm and then walked up the street to the longest bus ride ever, haha. We spend some time on the road, stopping every few hours or so and then made it into Krakow, Poland around 4:30 in the afternoon. Of course, this was right in the middle of rush hour so our descent into the heart of Krakow took about an hour and a half instead of 10 minutes. We finally made it to the hotel around 6 and got to unpack before being led to Old Town where we would be let go for the night.

We walked around Old Town Square a bit and then all grabbed some money and dispersed to explore. We ended up finding a nice place to eat and then wandered again through Old Town. We found a bar, had a few drinks and then called it a night.

The next morning, we all woke to a nice guided tour of Krakow. Krakow is a beautiful city. It is full of student life and seems pretty young. The Polish Government has done an awesome job keeping up the city over the years. It did not seem run down in the least bit. We saw plenty of Catholic Churches and did a lot of shopping. I put down my camera for this trip because I knew I would not be taking many pictures. We were going in and out of so many places that cannot be photographed that it was not even worth lugging the camera around. I handed the 5D off to a trusted friend who shot it for the day.

We wandered around and then was led to the old Jewish quarter of town. It was very interesting to walk through that part of the city and see all the history.

We then went to the Castle in the city. It was big and awesome like all the castles in Europe, haha. We were then set free from our tour and we all split up and a few of us found some food and headed back to the hotel for a bit. No one wanted to go out for too long so that the bus ride would be more comfortable the next day. We enjoyed the easy night. I ate some ice cream, haha. We called it an early night and headed off to bed.

Waking up the next morning was an experience. We all woke and bombarded the front desk with our keys at the same time and left the hotel. The bus ride was lively and fun for the first hour, but then it hit us.

Our bus pulled into the parking lot of Auschwitz. We all got off and we walked into the facility. I do not quite know how to describe my emotions when I walked through the grounds, and when I do figure it out, I will let you know. To see a place that did do many things beyond mention does one thing, it drains you. I do not know what to say.

We then got on the bus and went 15 minutes down the street to Auschwitz II.

After these two visits, I had no desire to do anything but sit and think. I and the rest of the my 53 companions were all in the same thought for much of the bus ride.

We made it back to Prague around 7.

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