Krakow the 28th

My power keeps going on and off so I figure I'll start this on paper and see how long my tok, power, stays on and then transfer this to my computer (in hindsight the tok came and went all day so it's a good thing I wrote it out!).  The plan for the 28th were the concentraton camps.  I thought we were only going to Auschwitz but it turns out the prisoners of Auschwitz had to build another camp, Birkenau, closeby; the Nazi's were running out of room to torture, starve, and work to death Jewish people, other minority groups, and in general people they didn't like.  We took an hour long train ride from K to Oswiecim (accent mark over the s) and waited for the English tour to start.  I have to say I'm glad Jez and Rachel had the camps on their "place to to see" list before the trip (not that I didnt't want to go but that wasn't my motivation).   The camps and that time period are parts of our history (a sobering, black stain on history, but history) that I think everyone should see, study, and learn about.  "The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again."  That is a quote I got from somewhere in the camp and took a picture;  said by George Santayana.  I'm not going into details and not posting pictures (only 2) on my blog, but please feel free to comment me if you want more and I'll be happy to share!  We wanted to try to see the salt mines (stuff underground caved into salt rock and various things made of salt- that is a VERY ROUGH description but I just closed to description I had of it and don't want to look it up again) but were too late.  We walked to the train station and caught a bus back to K,  we walked the Christmas markets some more, got goodies to take back to our schools and stuff for the train/plane the next day, then went back to the hostel for a recommendation for dinner.  Turns out not far from our hostel there was a typical Polish place so we headed there for dinner.  We had pierogies and beer, followed by cupcakes,  of course; the store was right next to the hostel!  It kept calling our names and we didn't want to be rude!   We headed to the hostel after dinner to pack and get reaDY FOR A DAY OF TRAVELING THE NEXT DAY, THE 29TH, from K train station to the K airport to Frankfurt-Hahn to Sofia.  Literally it was a day of traveling; we left early am and arrived in Sofia a little after midnight the morning of the 30th.  It was a good trip and I'm glad I went!  I never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd take a trip like this!  I consider myself very fortunate!  The last of the Christmas pictures coming on Tuesday.  Love and hugs from my tok filled apartment!  (not quite sure what that means but it sounded good!).  Thoughts and prayers are with my family.