The 5am alarm went off and I found myself snuggled between two doggy water bottles, but still felt cold. The temperature has dropped to 1 degree Celsius and although it’s meant to get warmer again it was a shock to the system.
We have also found out that our plan to chase the sun to Greece for the winter, may actually be chasing rain clouds. The vanlife forums all suggest Portugal, Spain or Morroco rather than Greece…and so now we are in a quandary which way do we go, South or South West? 🤔☔☀️
That aside, the focus of our day was Auschwitz. I was at the gate at 7am only to be told it opened at 7:30. Spotting a family who had done the same, I struck up conversation and they ended up coming back to the van for a cup of tea to keep warm. Bless them, they rolled with it, ignored the mess, their kids fussed the dogs and they were happy to try tea the British way (they were coffee drinking Americans). Also good to know we have 7 cups, so these impromptu things are never a problem 😊
I’m really glad we went to Auschwitz, it’s emotionally hard, but a must do. You really have to be there to experience it and even then it just seems surreal that part of it are now offices. People go to work there everyday.
If you do go, definitely go as early as possible and go self guided. Even at 7:30am there were tour guide groups and it got very busy on their routes, but there is a lot they miss out. It’s a lot nicer going at your own pace, reading everything you want to read and going into all the blocks. The Hungarian block had a really good exhibition in it, as did the polish. The more time I spend and more I learn about Poland the more I love it. There are many horrendous details but the part that made me stop in my tracks and fearful to step closer was the room of human hair. They had shaved the hair of the dead women and sold it to make fabric…there was mountains of it. I think that will stay with me for a long time. If you can’t get to Auschwitz, one of my favourite books is called Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen – it taught me more than I learnt at school and is a great read.
In the afternoon we drove back to Krakow to see the vet. Touch wood all are well at the moment, but Ernest needed his bloods redone post his vitamin supplements and I wanted to get a couple of Mabel’s lumps checked. I’ve been keeping an eye on them, but for peace of mind I’d just rather know she is safe. The brake disks also need changing on the van, so it looks like we will be in Krakow for a little while longer. Best dig out the thermals and wooley socks 😂
SofaWolves 