Impulse Decision are the Best Decisions

Also sorry if today isn’t as funny it was a little emotionally draining. 

Thursday started with Chris jumping in front of a bus. Buying tickets for the 6:30 bus that was in a station 30 minutes away that we’d never been to was truly a wonderful decision. All that to say the bus driver angrily yelled at us in Polish–which we didn’t understand any of (I did understand him pointing at his wrist repeatedly and shaking his head.) On the bright side he let us on the bus to Zakopane. 

We stumbled off the bus 2 ½ hours later and had no idea how to get to the mountain we were hiking up. So we did what any intelligent person would do and went on got coffee to think on it. Google maps pulled through on this one and we set off. We were climbing

Giewant the most famous mountain in the area. Like any good Polish mountain it had a giant cross on top of it and JPII had climbed it several times. So obviously the road up to the trailhead was called JPII Street. (I get that the Polish love him, but give some love to Faustina and Maximilian.) We had been assured that the weather would be lovely but there was snow all over the mountain and so we had very low hopes of climbing the mountains. Our hopes appeared to be well founded when we got to the first access cut off to the top of the mountain and there were closed signs everywhere. 

We bravely continued around the edge of the mountain. Chris was jumping up the

mountain like a goat and I was crawling up behind him-thanks Dad for all the practice in dragging myself up mountains. I’m not positive the Poles have invented switch backs and they thought it was a fantastic idea to cobblestone the entire trail–you heard me on that account. The. Entire. Trail. On the backside of the mountain there were several Polish families who didn’t look like they’d even broken a sweat frolicking through a field and taking a well deserved smoke break. The trail lead through a valley that was full of wild crocuses and delicate white flowers. It was ringed on either side with craggy peaks, and it had a stream running through it. 

Halfway up the pass we stopped so Chris could sit and ponder the universe and I could dunk my head in the stream. We ran into a British couple who was equally determined to climb the mountain and being the good Americans we were we couldn’t let that happen. Unfortunately 10 minutes further on we ran into a Polish man coming back down the mountain. Having mastered the pleasantry’s in Polish we said Hello and he rapid fired Polish at us. When we didn’t immediately respond he shook his head and must of thought we were very odd. That was until I said “sorry” very clearly in English. 

“Ah, Americans! Good luck with the Election!” 

“Thanks, How’s the trail?”

“Ah very bad I had to turn around and I have cramp ons and poles-you don’t, five more minutes then you’ll have to turn around.” 

45 minutes later we had crawled up the snow field-the Brits in hot pursuit and crested out onto the ridge. I think we had continued by convincing ourselves that coming off the mountain on the either side would be easier–it wasn’t. At the end of the day we climbed Giewant–it involved chains the last 100 feet which was awesome, and lived to tell the tale. The Brits didn’t make it up which probably just proves that they are smarter than two people in their twenties. We also ran into another Polish couple where the man emphatically warned us how dumb we were and how careful we’d have to be and exactly the way to go down to avoid death. These are very uplifting to hear from a Polish Mountain Man. In case you were wondering we made it back down the mountain.

Chris kept his feet the entire time and I basically fell down it. There were plenty of juniper bushes to break my fall-but I have lots of bruises today. We found a snowman coming off the snow field and he brightened our spirits enough to trek the four miles back into town. We had to hike through a resort and its very disheartening to see all the not tired, fully makeupped people stepping off the gondola to get drinks after a day of seeing mountains but not falling down them. 

One of my bucket list in Poland dreams was to eat dinner to the sweet tones of an accordion. In Zakapone we found that. We also found the annoying American who kept asking why her food didn’t automatically come with a salad and why they couldn’t split the check when that was the easiest thing in the world to do. When the accordionist played a polka every Polish person in the restaurant immediately began to bob back and forth. Even better, Chris spoke convincingly enough Polish that we got our menu in Polish and ordered in Polish. However, when it came time to pay we did speak English. My only hope is that we showed the waitress that not all Americans are annoying. The only other problem is although we tried to order the 50% Vodka I think we accidentally ordered the 70%. I suppose it worked to numb the ache from climbing a mountain on cobblestones. 

Disclaimer there will probably be less jokes at least at the beginning of the day-why you ask because we went to Auschwitz. This is something that was on my bucket list and I can’t recommend it enough. As one of the signs said “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” Of all the places we’ve been in Poland this one had by far the most security. Auschwitz I is right inside town. This is where the “Work Will Set You Free” sign is and it was very unnerving to go under it. It is very unsettling to be going somewhere so horrible and there be birds and sunshine everywhere. 

The room with the several thousand pounds of hair was very hard. I hadn’t realized that the hair was used to make socks and matresses and now you know that fact too if you didn’t before. In the basement of one of the blocks we went in were the torture rooms which came

in three types. One were the dark rooms where absolutely no light was let in. Two were the standing rooms where there was only enough room for 4 men to stand upright. If one died during the night from suffocation they still couldn’t come out till morning. Finally were the starvation rooms. We saw the room where Maximilian Kolbe died and that was a very powerful experience. It was a very small concrete room with a small window. That’s where he spent the last two weeks of his life. There was a death wall where prisoners could be shot in secrecy and several areas where women and children were experimented on and then autopsied. 

If that has been a lot for you than definitely skip these next two paragraphs because the final very striking thing that I’m going to talk about is the gas chamber. The bigger gas chambers were in Birkenau but when the Soviets were advancing they destroyed these. Fortunately or unfortunately they were unable to get to the Auschwitz Gas chamber and so today I got to walk through it. I got to file into the rooms where they would have showered. I saw the ovens that the Sunderkomand burned the bodies in and in an earlier room I saw some pictures of these victims. I think at the time it was very overwhelming experience but it is something I will be processing and pondering for a while. What did we lose in those million deaths? What got lost that we did that? I think something further to ponder is the process by which this happened which I’ll explain in the next paragraph. 

The prisoners were brought on trains packed to the brim. A small train car could hold 50 Jews and they weren’t aloud to get out during the trip. They were told that they were being taken to a new homeland and so they brought all of their stuff. Upon arrival sometimes a week after being loaded onto a train they were asked to leave their stuff on the platform but number it so they could come back to it later. (All these lies were told to keep them from panicking) Then the woman and children were separated from the men and this is the last they saw of each other. As the tour guide said-there was no time to say goodbye, there was no time to prepare. From there it was the selection. The elderly, small children under the age of 14, and pregnant woman were automatically sent to the left (the chamber) and everyone else was given a quick glance before they were told which way to go. Those sent to the chamber were told they were going to take a shower. There was a changing room where they could leave there stuff neatly folded and numbered with their shoes tied together and then filed into the “shower room.” The shower heads weren’t even connected and as soon as the last prisoner was filed in the door was slammed and sealed. (This is when they often realized something was wrong).  Cyclon B was dropped in and everyone was dead within 30 minutes. (In the first experimental use of Cyclon B it took 2-3 days for some of the people to die.) Then the Sunderkomand–prisoners themselves shaved the hair, collected gold fillings, and burned the bodies. The inside ovens could burn about 400 people a day and they often had to burn outside. 

Birkenau is much more open and the main focus was the monument to the Holocaust warning people against the atrocities committed and reminding us not to repeat history. It was comforting hear to see a Jewish Rabbi lead a large group in prayer. I guess it goes to show that hope lives on. 

I didn’t write on a lot of what I learned in Auschwitz but I think its time to switch gears. After lunch today Chris and I’s Pierogi count is at 86. This is an unhealthy number. But yes we are in the promised land of Pierogi so we might as well take advantage. When we got back Chris had a meeting for advising because he still hasn’t finished college…kids these days so I decided to wander over to the Fransiscan church for another visit. I successfully arrived just in time for mass and while I still didn’t understand most of what was going on it was a really beautiful service. There was a Polish family just in front of me and they let the two little girls run and play in the church on the condition that they didn’t make noise. (I saw them get permission from a monk) Halfway through the consecration they broke a door and a metal piece fell down. The looks on there faces were pretty priceless. They were also relegated to a corner. After mass the monks filed out and sang solemn vespers in Polish. (If anyone is reading this from the Sacred Heart Choir they sang some of the same tunes you are using on Sunday) This was incredibly beautiful for me but it was very distracting to watch the monks. A few of them just did not look like they wanted to be there. There was one with his head lolling to the side slouched against the wall of his stall. Ah well we’ve all been falling asleep in prayer at one point or another. 

I met Chris on the Vistula after this to watch the sunset which I successfully missed. The river has apparently been right behind where we are staying. There were hundreds of people

walking and we played the game of “Are they a happy couple or not?” At one point Chris thought two girls were just friends but I think you don’t rub your friend on their lower back and then pull them close to you. Perhaps I’m wrong and if you have an opinion let me know. There were swans along the river and when I went to take a picture the male Swan came at me so fast that I’m surprised I didn’t fall into the river. (The Vistula is cleanish but I don’t think I want to go swimming in it anyhow.) On impulse we went to a restaurant on a boat and ordered food that wasn’t pierogi. We kept warm with you guessed it more plum vodka and confused the waiter when we didn’t know what we wanted after five minutes of staring at the menu. The food was however excellent, well as excellent as something can be without being a pierogi, and the music in the restaurant was good although it was on a 10 song loop of American Pop. Despacito is a fun song. It’s not the right song to be listening to while staring at a castle reflected in a river while eating dinner on a boat in Poland. I could not recommend this more but if you ever decide to do this…bring a coat.