I know the history. I have seen Schindler’s List. When I was a girl, I visited Dachau. None of that prepared me for visiting Auschwitz. Being there felt like all of the historical tragedies of the past few hundred years were smothering me. There isn’t much left of the camp, but what remains sucked the oxygen from the air and from my lungs. I searched for open space, an escape, a moment to catch my breath, but it was impossible. Everywhere I looked, I was bound by brick, barbed wire, or electrified fences. Escape would not have been possible.
Krakow doesn’t show up as a common destination for Americans, but I wanted to go. My mother’s side of the family is Polish and live in the large Polish community in South Chicago. I grew up learning about that heritage through the foods that my mother and grandmother cooked, holiday traditions, and family visits to Chicago in the summertime. Neeley and I wanted to fit a trip into Poland after Prague, so off we went to Krakow.
Neeley and I are in Perth this week, experiencing Australian friendliness for the first time. We haven’t seen a movie in a theater since our time in Berlin back in November, so it was a great experience catching Tarantino’s ‘Hateful Eight’ at an outdoor rooftop theater. It was like a drivein movie theater, except with beanbag chairs everywhere, and beer! You can check it out if you are here in Perth over the summertime.
We woke up early in Dresden so that we could catch our short, two-hour long train ride to Prague. Prague was going to be a new experience for both of us, and we were looking forward to it. Years ago we discussed visiting, but we never managed to make the trip. Since then Prague has gained a reputation as a major tourist destination, so we were wondering what type of impact that would have on our experience.
Yesterday we were nominated for a peer-reviewed blogger award, the Liebster Award. We would very much like to thank Ankita of Transforming Escapes for recognizing our rookie efforts at travel blogging. We have been spending the past month in Bali writing, editing photos, and working on our blog’s functionality. We are proud of this achievement and the nomination from a fellow travel blogger. We would also like to nominate two blogs we have enjoyed.
Yesterday we were nominated for a peer-reviewed blogger award, the Liebster Award. We would very much like to thank Ankita of