Each camp was used to learn how to exterminate the Jews and Poles more efficiently and quickly.  In the beginning, the Jews were shot in the head and shoved into huge pits, covered with lye and then bulldozed over.  It was soon discovered that this was a slow and expensive process.  The Jews from Warsaw were brought to Treblinka on trains…only about an hour from Warsaw.  When they arrived, they were told to remove their clothes and they were herded to a gas chamber.  In the beginning, the Nazis used carbon dioxide to kill the victims, but this took as long as 20 minutes.  Later, Zyklon B gas was developed which killed the victims in a matter of minutes.  After the victims were dead, the bodies were removed and cremated or dumped into mass graves.  The Nazis destroyed Treblika fairly early after an uprising and destroyed all evidence of a death camp.  They replanted the forest.

Today, there are large concrete blocks symbolizing the rail tracks and they stop where the people disembarked.  There are 216 granite blocks with the names of the locations from which the murdered Jews came…among 17 thousand smaller granite blocks to symbolize tombstones.  Where the gas chamber once stood is a giant monument symbolizing the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem with a giant slit up the middle.  The only stone with a person’s name on it is that of Janusz Korczak, the man who brought the children from the Warsaw orphanage to the camp and died with them.  

More than 800 thousand men, women and children were murdered at this site.  Jews, Poles, political prisoners and  Roma Gypsies were the main victims of Treblinka.  

Today we started by going to the Jewish Synagogue.  The oldest is now a museum and the next oldest is an active synagogue being renovated.  We stood in the women’s gallery and looked into the area closest to the Torah where the men worship.  Behind the Synagogue is the ancient cemetery.  The Nazis destroyed the cemetery by naming the Jews dismantle the headstones to be used for building materials or to pave roads.  There are even bullet holes in some of the headstones because the Nazis used them for target practice.  Today, the broken headstones that were recovered make up the mosaic of the cemetery walls.  Many ancient Rabbis are buried here.

Next, we moved to the Ghetto.  The Ghetto square has many empty chairs in metal as a memorial to,the Jews who were taken from the Ghetto to the death camps.  Right on the corner is the famous Pharmacy depicted in the Movie, Schindler’s List.  From the Ghetto, we went to Schindler’s factory  that is now a museum.  After an excellent tour of the factory, we went to the main Market Square of Kraków.  Had lunch of a typical Polish sour soup with sausages and potatoes served in a large bread bowl.  It was excellent.  We then had a tour of the Cathedral which is very beautiful.  The square is attached to a second square with lots of activity: shops, restaurants, artists, kiosks selling souvenirs, children playing.  There is a bronze statue of a man standing on a bronze suitcase with a horn in his hands.  I was admiring the statue she the thing moved!  I about fainted.  It was a real person!  The children loved him.  After they got over the fright!  Then we moved on thru a lovely park area to the castle.  At that point I had to leave with a couple on our tour who were as hot and tired as I was.  We walked along the beautiful River back to the hotel.  I took a cool shower and slept for about three hours.  It was really hot today, but expected to be cooler tomorrow.  

This evening, we went to a typical Jewish restaurant.  It had at one time been a bath house for the women called a Mikva.  The food was wonderful…a,pickled purple cabbage as a salad, then roast goose and a potato and onion kugel.  I had never had goose, but it was very tender and good.  We had Apple crisp for dessert like the dessert at almost every meal we have had.  The reason is….Poland is Europe’s largest Apple producer and used to sell 70% to the Russians.  When the Russians quit buying, the Poles had to find another market…which they did, but they still eat a lot of apples locally.  We had a klezmer band that played during dinner and they were good.  As we left for the hotel it was pouring rain…hope it cools the temperature way down!  I’m in bed now and keep hearing booming thunder.  Good night all.

We didn’t have wifi at our hotel last night, so I am behind on the blog.  But I have decided to wait a bit to tell you about the Concentration Camps we have visited after more personal reflection and thoughts about them.  We have seen several, all very different and we will see Auswitz- Berkenau on Monday.  This has been an amazing tour and experience and it is something I think  deserves the time I need to tell you all that I can about these places.  But, Imwill tell you about today…we left Lublin early after a delicious breakfast and drove most of the day to Kraków.  We had a good lunch at a rest stop…I had kielbasa with grilled onions.  Just delicious.  The we went to visit the Salt Mines near Kraków that have been mined for 1000 years.  We rode down to the mines in elevators and went to four different levels.  All along the mine, we saw dioramas carved out of salt that gave a visual picture of the history of the salt mining.  Finally, after hundreds of stairs down to the bottom, we arrived at a huge chapel carved out of the salt.  Scenes from the Bible are carved into the walls, as well as statues, crucifixes, and a statue of JohnPaul II.  The crystals for the huge and magnificent chandeliers in the church are made of salt. It was really hot on the surface, but as far below as we were it was very cool..  This mine is no longer being mined for the salt, but itmismthe 2nd biggest tourist attraction in Poland, after Auschwitz.  After our tour, we came to our hotel, had dinner and are now ready for bed.  

Today, we met our tuides and our group of 23 folks from the UK and the US.  Everyone seems really nice.  Our tour manager is a lovely young woman named Adda.  She was born in Poland and her family still lives here.  She lives  in England and is an independent tour manager.  Our guide is a young man with impressive credentials as a Holocaust expert.  We also have a local, Polish guide with us who remembers the Holocaust as a young boy.  He and his family lived in the area designated as the Ghetto and had to move five times as the borders of the Ghetto expanded, as his family was not Jewish.  Today, we saw the Jewish Cemetery with  perhaps thousands of graves crowded in the small area.  There are two large ‘blank’ areas where there are mass graves where the thousands are buried who died each month of starvation or disease.  There is a statue dedicated to the man who ran the orphanage and altho his name wasn’t on ‘the List’ went with the children in his care when they were shipped to the gas chamber.  The children felt safe with him.  More about him later in the tour.  We saw where Mila 18 was (book by the same name by Leon Uris) and the mound that is the mass grave of the Resistance fighters of the Ghetto Uprising of 1943.  Not,far away is the memorial we saw yesterday.  Ironically, the monument is made of the stone the Nazis had that were going to be used for their Victory Memeorial when they won the war.  We spent several hours at the museum that follows a 1000 years of the Jewish History in Poland.  A beautiful new building whose entrance depicts the parting of the Red Sea…the ceilings depict the desert where the Jews wandered and the back dePicts Noah’s Ark.  The exhibits are excellent and rival the Holocaust Museum in Washington…altho only a small part of the museum is dedicated to the Holocaust.  After, that we visited the orthodox Synagogue.  It was the second largest in Warsaw.  Hitler ordered the destruction of the Great Synangogue to punish the Jews for the Ghetto Uprising, altho there were no Jews left in Warsaw.  They were all gone.  After the Uprising of 1944, the entire city was razed.  All day, we have been seeing groups of Israeli school children.  They come to Poland every summer on school trips.  We returned to the hotel after a long, but very interesting and informative day.  Went to dinner at the same great restaurant Andy and I had been to twice.  We had a set menu of Greek Salad, cold cuts and smoked herring done several ways.  Delicious!  Even had a taste of lard…the we had a choice of salmon or chicken with grilled vegetables.  For dessert, there was an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  An excellent dinner thoroughly enjoyed by the group.  Tomorrow, we leave after breakfast for Treblinka.

Why have I never heard about how wonderful Warsaw is?  This is a beautiful city.  So clean and full of beautiful parks and green spaces.  Flowers in bloom everywhere.  Beautiful buildings and statues of their heros.  And good food!  Today, we had a three hour tour of the city highlights. Saw the Kings palace from the 1700’s with beautiful parks and lakes all around.  This is the King I just read about in the book, Push Not the River by James Martin.  Told of the May 3rd Constitution that gave rights to the peasants in the late 1700’s and the attack by the Serbians, Austrians and the Russians.  Poland lost and was divided between the three countries and ceased to exist as Poland for 123 years until it was restored in 1918 after WWI.  Poland was the first European country to have a democratic constitution.  We saw the monuments to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the area that was once the Jewish Ghetto.  Poland before  WW II had the second largest Jewish population in Europe…about 30% of the Poles were Jews.  After WWII only 1% remained.  During the 123 years that Poland didn’t exist, the Polish people kept their language, foods, traditions, catholic faith and heritage.  Very proud people.  During WWII, the Nazis bombed Warsaw to rubble.  But, a famous artist had painted the buildings in the Old Town in such detail that they were able to restore them almost exactly as before.  They reused every piece of building material that could be salvaged to rebuild.  In the 1980’s, Warsaw Old Town was named a Unesco World Heritage Site.  Most World Heritage Sites are old, but Warsaw was named because of the outstanding renovation that was done.  We went to a park dedicated to Chopin.  There is a beautiful statue of him under a willow tree statue.  Concerts  are played in this park that is full of white and pink rose bushes.  There are benches in 15 places in town that play Chopins music when a button is pushed.  We saw Madame Curie’s house, the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize and the only woman to win two.  After the tour, we stayed and walked around the big square in Old Town.  Eating places dot the square with outdoor tables and lots of flowers.  There is a statue of a mermaid in the center surrounded by a shallow pond.  She is said to be the older sister of the Hans Christian Anderson’s mermaid in Copenhagen.  Her name and her husband’s name combined in Polish make the word Warsaw.  Artists have their paintings in the square as well.  Great day.  Back in the hotel after dinner at the same place and same meal we had for lunch yesterday…minus the perogies.  Meet with our group tomorrow morning for a full day of sightseeing more of Warsaw.  I highly recommend a trip here.  A beautiful, historic city.  The only drawback is not understanding a word of Polsih.  We tried to learn Thank You from our waitress this morning.  Polish people around us were laughing at our attempts to say the word.  Utter failure!

Oh my…what a breakfast at the hotel in Warsaw!  Fresh fruit, melon, grapefruit, oranges, bananas,watermelon and fresh juices.  Breads of every description.  Cereals etc. Yogurts. Then…pickled herring, smoked fish, dill sauce, sour cream with herbs, pickles, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, cheeses, homemade jams and jellies…I’m sure I missed something…but what a spread!  The pickled herring was absolutely delicious.  I used to have it when a lady at my cousin’s church in Dallas used to make it.  Not something I think about having, but it sure is good!  More to follow.  We have our City Tour in about an hour.  

Caught a plane to Warsaw, Poland today.  Got here and caught a cab to the Radisson hotel where we will meet our tour group tomorrow evening.  We asked the front desk for a lunch recommendation and it was just a couple of blocks away on our same street.  There are flowers in bloom all along the street and the little restaurant had a profusion of flowers, shiny red shutters and a red door.  We sat outside under umbrellas…and it was chilly!  It feels so good not to be burning up…like in Italy.  For lunch, we shared a pork shank with horseradish and grainy mustard, cabbage and mushrooms, crispy small potatoes, potato latkes with freshly made sour cream and some pirogues.  Weren’t wild about the potato stuffed pirogues, but the rest was wonderful!  The pirogues remind me too much of gnocchi…and I really don’t like it.  After the delicious lunch, we went to a big mall that is being remodeled, and found a Thai massage place.  We made an appointment for 5 pm and went back to the hotel to rest a bit.  Had a wonderful massage for an hour and it was only 27.50€…in Polish money.  Quite a bargain.  Food is very inexpensive too.   After the massage, we went to another restaurant and got lamb with tomato sos….that is tomatoe sauce in case you are wondering, with fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, sour cream and a vegetable  latke.   Too much food…but good.   We are back in bed now after a good, hot shower.  Tomorrow morning we are going on a 3 hour tour of the Old,Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Haven’t learned a single word of Polish.  Can’t read any signs.  I’m sure we will manage!

Tonight we went to the restaurant downstairs and they started bringing in the table settings from outside and moving the tables and umbrellas close to the building.  The street was being cleared for the Procession of the Giant statue of the Madonna of Carmine.  This huge statue of Mary and Baby Jesus are enclosed in a huge ex-voto I guess  it would be called….a huge gold wooden frame that surrounds them.  It appears to be at least 20 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide.  The frame is carved with cherubs and has golden rays shooting out around the statues.  Beautiful flower arrangements on two sides in front and all across the back of the frame. They are both richly dressed in lace and have gold crowns on their heads.  First there was a Mass at 5:30 at the church where this statue resides.  Then the procession came down our street.  First came the police cars with lights flashing.  They would block a cross street from traffic cutting thru. Then came hundreds of priests and nuns all saying the Rosary together.  Every now and then the whole procession would stop and a band would play.  It was either a police or military band.  Then people would sing and they would move on.  One priest would ring a bell and the giant statue would  be lowered.  Another bell and it would be raised and moved some more.  The statue was carried by about 20 men – 10 on each side and it was obviously very heavy.  It was very old and very beautiful.  Probably over a thousand people followed behind the statue.  They turned the corner at the end of the street and were gone.  As was I.  But it was another serendipitous event in Italy.  And another feast day.  And today is Little Augustus Minshall’s third birthday!  He is a darling French Bulldog I started taking care of the day he came to live with Stacy and Christian.  I actually took care of him for almost a week before Stacy ever knew he was there.  Happy Birthday to my little friend!

Think the heat is frying my brain…I missed a whole day of adventure to tell you about.  Must have been Monday…in Florence.  The girls had a tour and I had promised friend Diane I would take a bracelet she bought in Florence years ago to be repaired near Santa Croce Church.  I walked over there and the store is called The Gold Market.  It was PACKED!  It was like they were having a half price sale on gold…except there wasn’t a sale….just people looking at gold jewelry.  There must have been 50 people in there!  After I got my business taken care of, I decided to walk another half mile to go to the Florence Quilt Store I had read about on-line.  By the time I got there I was a dripping mess.  Drank all my water, was hot and tired and really looking forward to the treat of the store…which evidently closed the beginning of the year!  100% empty.  I would have cried if I’d had enough liquid in me for tears!  Two doors from the closed quilt store was a cute yarn shop and I stopped in there.  She must have purchased the last of the fabric from the quilt store closing, because she had a few boxes and I got a couple of small pieces…so it wasn’t a totally waster trek.  Had the lady call a cab for me back to the Ponte Vecchio.  We were meeting at a restaurant for lunch.  This was a very nice place Evan had taken me several years ago on my birthday, and I was again there for his birthday.  Il Santo Bevitore is the name of the place.  The food is,delicious, but the service was so bad as to be non-existent!  I got there 30 minutes before the girls, obviously burning up hot.  I was seated, but the waiter took 20 minutes to ask if I wanted something to drink.  When the girls arrived, we all needed help with the menu…I didn’t know what several of the dishes were and none of us could read the writing for the specials of the day.  He was very bored telling us what was on the menu.  We got our food and that was it.  Cheri got a salad and he brought balsamic vinegar and salt.  I finally got up and got us olive oil, pepper and Parmesan cheese from a sideboard.  He never came back to our table.  Had to get another waited to tell him we needed our check.  Don’t think he likes Americans.  He paid attention to the Italians in the restaurant.  Hope they blessed him with a tip…cause we didn’t.  Tipping is very different in Italy…it isn’t expected and certainly no 20% is ever given.  Usually just a bit of change is what is left for a tip..and we have certainly been generous when we have had good service…like with Marco at Trattoria ANGIOLINO down the street.  If I ever go back to Il Santo Bevitore and see this same waiter, I will walk out.  We went back to Marco’s place for dinner again.  

Ok all caught up with my missing day.  Time to bring in the last load of clothes from the line and put out another.  

Stuff is drying in about 15 minutes.  Meeting friend Kimberly for,hamburgers tonight.  She went to the beach yesterday and fainted on the train coming home.  This heat is brutal.  Hope,it is cooler where you are!

i forgot to tell you a funny scene in Arezzo.  We were all sitting in a sidewalk cafe having cappuccino one morning and a lady was walking toward us with a French Bulldog.  I made eye contact with him and said, ‘ Buon Giorno!’ That dog lit up like a Christmas tree and nearly pulled his leash out of the lady’s hand to run to me and jump up to be petted!  It wa so funny.  Like I was his long lost best friend in the world.  His name was Tyson and he was a love bug!  Hated to see him go.

We finished up in Florence, caught a cab to the train station as it was too hot to walk, especially with all the luggage full of treasures.  The train was going to be two Hours late due to a fire on the track, so we rebooked on another and didn’t have to wait too long.  It was pretty hot on the train…it is just too hot for the A/c to work anywhere.  Hitting 100 every day…with high humidity.  Got home…took showers to cool off and went for dinner.

Since tomorrow will be Janet and Cheri’s last day we plan to do whatever they want.  Think Janet and I will go to the Bone Church and Mediterranean place for lunch, and think Cheri wants to stay home where it is cool.  We will go to dinner and bed early for their 8 am cab pickup on Thursday.  Andy and I will wash sheets, towels, clothes, etc and get ready for our trip to Poland on Monday.  

Unless something exciting happens, I,probably won’t write again until we get settled in the hotel in Warsaw Monday night.  See you then, friends!