Poland

We had intended to visit Grutas Park which has about 80 soviet era statues and monuments that have been moved there after Lithuania regained independence.  Unfortunately two things put paid to that, firstly the weather has really packed up and secondly the shady attendant the night before tried to get about 6 euro out of us for parking (seemed like a bit of a hustle so i wasn't having any of it and we left- entry to the park would be 12 euro on top as well). Given the weather we were happy that we had some driving to do to get to Warsaw, so we used up the last of our Lithuanian cash and got going.  Fairly uneventful drive, but we must note that the roads once again far exceeded our low expectations of Poland (it seems our first visit in the SW must have been to a very forgotten part of Poland).  A couple of noteworthy observations were a truck so loaded with unsecured broccoli we felt sure we'd be able to gather some supplies down the road (alas they must have been magically secured).  Secondly, we saw a van towing a trailer which was then tied to another van which it was also towing.  Leaving Lithuania we noticed groups of people harvesting potatoes and in one case a horse and cart being used which was quite nice.

After a brief stop in Pultusk (recommended as day trip from Warsaw in our guide) which we really did in 30 minutes and the other 20 was spent walking to a bank to get some Polish Zloty. I would have been pretty gutted if I'd planned to spend a day there but we didn't so it was fine. We stopped a couple of nights in a small but perfectly formed campsite in Warsaw called camping WOK.  We made two trips into the city, which unlike some has features spread out a bit, so we used day tickets on public transport and still walked ourselves into the ground.  We got messed up in Warsaw on a couple of fronts, our Warsaw guidebook was a bit out of date on some facts, meaning a museum we planned to visit was closed for renovation (and will be for like several years!!!).  The guidebook said it would be free on Sunday and the girl on the desk said there was a video in English at 4pm, we ended nearby at about 3.50pm so went back but she had neglected to mention that despite the museum being closed they still want 10 Zloty to watch the video so we passed.

Pultusk

We saw the weather forecast was bad for Monday so we had thought right let's hit a museum or two.  However I insisted our first stop be Lazienki Park as it is 1st on Tripadvisor and it was nice, unfortunately a few buildings were shrouded and covered in scaffolding for repairs.  Then we bused back to the Royal route area (south of the old town where the rich had their houses and were fairly faithfully rebuilt by the soviets).  We got to see firefighters tackling some sort of fire in the Hotel Bristol (all we saw was smoke and they sorted it quick) and a display of aerial photos taken by the Germans during the war (very interesting).  Unfortunately the weather was not playing ball so we decided it was time for the museum we had picked (Warsaw Uprising Museum - free on Monday according to their website).  We had to take the tram as this museum is out a bit and when we arrived we were pretty livid to find that they had put signs out saying as of 1 September their free day was now Sunday, so after our complaints re the website fell on deaf ears we left (unfortunately due to our budget we just couldn't fork out for it).  This was also a point where our building frustrations at tourist attractions in Lithuania and Poland peaked.  In Lithuania the only time staff ever seemed to pay attention to you was when it was time to take some money off you and in Warsaw we were finding the limited opening hours, unexpected closures and continued indifference from staff frustrating. So our 'museum day' actually ended being spent almost entirely outside in what was fairly tough conditions.  We took a break and treated ourselves to an early pick me up dinner of Chinese food, which was excellent value and we got 30% off.  We decided to try and use our travel pass and take a tram to perhaps see some of the town a little further out.  This was okay but we realised we only had zone 1 passes and didn't know where the zones were so headed back in the where the Cemetary is to try and see the Jewish Cemetary, it was supposed to be pretty eerie.  Nicky was sort of tour leader at this point as I hadn't really read the guidebook on this. Anyway we find an entrance (took a bit of walking there aren't that many and it has a big wall says closes 8pm it is 6pm gets dark at 7pm so cool).  We're walking through for a bit and I'm like where is this thing and Nicky's like isn't all of this it?? To which I was like 'this can't be it all the graves have crosses the Jewish ones won't have crosses'.  So we take another look at the map and decided it must be the other end and on the other side of a big internal wall and the book said it closes at 5pm but we thought oh well we've come this far.  This cemetery is massive so we follow this wall down to the corner where we are hoping to find some way through.  Fortunately for us since they are rebuilding the wall they had punched a hole in it to drive loads of bricks around and it popped out in the deepest darkest forgotten reaches of the Jewish cemetery where the trees have all grown up and lots of gravestones are damaged etc.  It was very moving and just like the pictures in the book.  It was also so different from the other side of the wall where those people have surviving family that tend to their grave.
So we thought alright now we can see this then pop out on the street at this end to get the tram.  After a bit of walking we found the parts of the Jewish cemetery which are more well kept and those in current use and the gate (oops closed looks like 5pm was right).  It went up to check the gate was indeed locked and managed to set off some sort of alarm, oops again, so we decided we had to retrace our footsteps to get out which meant an unexpected trek all the way back through the cemetery which by now was getting pretty dark under the trees and at least in the Jewish section we hope was deserted except for us.  We were glad we knew the main cemetery didn't close till 8pm as we ended up in there until about 7pm.

Part of the Warsaw Uprising Monument

 Barbican

 Old town square (the whole square was fenced for works)

 Firefighters at the Bristol Hotel

 Warsaw Royal Palace/Castle i forget

 Jewish Cemetery

 National Stadium (Polish Wembley we were told)

The forecast for the next day was even worse so the plan was to sleep in, use the campsite facilities as long as possible then try and get an oil change of the van before making a dent in the drive to Krakow.  We managed to get the oil done and also to get near Krakow.  In Krakow we drove to a secure 24 hour car park, which we had found on the internet. Krakow was a walking around the town day.  We saw the castle, the cathedral, town square with it's famous market hall called the cloth hall.  Then we trekked out to the site of Oskar Schindler's factory of 'Schindler's List' fame.  I was feeling under the weather with a cold so we tried to take it easy on the way back going along the waterfront before heading back into the market square and watching everything for a bit.  Last stop before heading back was the Barbican.

Barbican

 Cloth Hall

 Tower and end of Cloth Hall

 Castle

 Funky Church

The next day was freezing and on top of my cold I was a pretty surly sausage in the morning but we did make it out to the Polish Aviation Museum which is a very highly rated attraction and has had a major cash injection recently.  It was fairly vast and given better weather we could have spent longer but the cold was uncomfortable in the hangers and bitter outside.  It was a little odd in that they had used all this money on a new main entrance building (nice reception, toilets, cafe, offices, kids interactive displays and space for a couple of planes) while the outer hangers and many of the planes outside were being left to decay despite being of major historical significance.

 The plane the polish aerobatic squad use

 Lots of Migs and stuff

After this we headed towards Auschwitz our next destination.  As we are avoiding toll roads it was a bit of a difficult drive but we got there in the end and the next day was taken up Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz 2 Birkenau. Nicky:  Auschwitz actually has 3 main sites, the others are Auschwitz Birkenau and Monowice.  We started off with 5 hours at Auschwitz 1.  We deliberately went in before 10am, because between 10am-3pm you have to go with a guide, as the site gets very busy.  We wanted to be able to take things at our own pace.  The barrack buildings are intact and house a general exhibition and exhibitions representing the ethnic groups who were murdered by the Nazis.  It is a very emotional site, and a hard one to really put into words.  There are exhibits there (shoes, luggage, hair, photos of those unsuspectingly on their way to the gas chamber) that are heartbreaking.  A couple of things I didn't know was that, the Nazis used the ashes of those murdered as fertiliser, and the camp had storage warehouses where they stored/processed the possessions (all of them) confiscated from new arrivals.  It would then be sorted through and sent away to be sold.  It just defies belief.  You walk the corridors of the barracks and along the walls are mug shot after mug shot, of these poor people (as until some time in 1942 or 43 every new arrival was photographed and files opened).  You can see the terror in their eyes.  They are innocent people: painters, farmers, carpenters, some of whom are the same age as me. That afternoon we caught the shuttle bus to Auschwitz Birkenau, which is 3 kilometres away.  This was the site of many barracks, but also 4 purpose built crematoria with gas chambers.  These were blown up by the Nazis, but have been kept in their ruined state.  Also on display are 2 barracks unchanged from their original state, the train tracks and cattle wagon, which would have been similar to what transported the people to the camp.  A very somber site, and is testimony to the atrocities that happened here.

The next day was largely uneventful as we stocked up with food and LPG before leaving Poland for the Czech Republic.  As LPG is so widely available in Poland, we stopped at a petrol station to top up the tank.  Usually when filling with LPG, you are required to push a button.  As the instructions were in Polish, Dale guessed and pushed a red button.  However this was a bad move, and somehow froze the screen and didn't give us any gas.  An attendant came to help, by turning a knob.  She seemed to think this fixed it but it didn't. She came back saying it was full but i said no so she put it on again, this time it worked and filled up the tank to the amount we thought it would take (8 zlotys).  Then when Dale went to pay, they were insisting that we pay the 94 zloty (40L).  We knew for 2 reasons that we didn't take that gas, 1, the litre amount was larger than our tank (15L ish), and 2, we filled up one week ago.  After producing last weeks receipt for 12L of gas and Dale having a long, strung out conversation on the phone with the manager, who spoke good English, and two very defiant teapot stances from Dale and I, we were on our way again having paid our 8 zloty. The counter girls seemed to find it very hard to believe i would only be getting such a small amount of gas.  It seems that when i pushed the wrong button some how the previous transaction of 84 Zloty was reactivated and therefore showing on their computer again and they were saying it was mine.

That completed our time in Poland, we are making our way through the Czech Republic towards Vienna in Austria now, will write again soon. Dale and Nicky.