Eastern Europe (2006)

Prolog

There is a tradition in our families that when one of the children reaches the age of 21 they choose a place to visit along with their father. This year it was Emly’s turn and she had chosen to visit Eastern Europe with emphasize on Jewish Heritage, in this part of the world.

On December 26th, 2005 I made the necessary arrangements to visit the following destinations: Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary. Our actual trip included two more countries: Slovakia and Germany.

Emly had spent the year in Israel, attending Hebrew University, and along with her we counted the days….

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Thursday, June 15th, 2006

The day had finally arrived. Tova took me to LAX and a couple of hours later I was on a plane taking me to Poland, via London. The flights passed rather quickly as I spent the time reading, solving Sudoku puzzles and sleeping.

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Friday, June 16th, 2006

I arrived at Warsaw’s International Airport and after going through Passport Control, I finally was in the arms of Emly. The moment was very emotional as we stood there in the middle of the crowd with teary eyes and endless kisses and hugs. Emly’s luggages were missing and we were promised that they will arrive at our hotel in the evening.

We rented a nice car and headed to the city trying to find the Felix Hotel. The attendant at the Rent-A-Car place gave us pretty good directions and after about 45 minutes of driving we checked into the hotel. The room was rather small but as we found out during our trip this was a standard room in Eastern Europe.

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After a quick shower we put some fresh cloths on and were strolling on the main street looking for an ATM machine (or as we got used to call it in Europe: Bankomat). We bought a three day pass for any public transportation (busses, trams and underground) and headed toward the Old Town (Stare Miasto) of Warsaw, using a city bus #125.

After climbing the stairs from the street and onto the Old Town a tall monument was right in front of us. It is Zygmunt's Column (Kolumna Zygmunta), which is one of Warsaw's most famous and one of the oldest secular monuments in northern Europe. It was erected in 1644. The column and statue commemorate, King Zygmunt III Waza, who in 1596, moved Poland's capital from Krakow to Warsaw.

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We decided to start our evening with an early dinner as we were both very hungry. The hotel’s receptionist had suggested trying Jazz Bistro and we found the place and enjoyed a very delicious meal.

Warsaw Old Town was established in the 17th century. It impressed us with its charming, cobbled streets and unique old architecture. The heart of the area is the Old Town Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta) with its unique traditional Polish restaurants, cafes and shops. The square was filled with cafe tables, various traders and street artists. One of them was a clown, who was extremely funny walking around and making faces to the many visitors. We also spotted street musicians, who filled the air with lovely sounds.The surrounding streets feature old architecture such as the City Walls, The Barbican and St. John's Cathedral. We walked around the wall and spotted some actors, practicing with swords, preparing for their next show. The whole area is mostly closed to traffic and provides a spectacular scenery and unforgettable atmosphere.

We decided to end the beautiful evening, sitting and drinking cappuccino in a very unique café, where instead of regular chairs, the patrons are seated on swings around their tables and between sips they swing away.

We left the area at around 10:30 PM and headed back to the hotel.

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Saturday, June 17th, 2006

We woke up rather early (6:30 AM) and sat down for a typical Polish breakfast, which included eggs, sausages, meat, cheese, fruit, a selection of cereal, delicious bread, yogurt, juices, coffee and tea.

Emly’s luggage had arrived and Emly was a very happy person!

We headed to the street and used tram #29 heading to Stare Miasto. This time we landed about a mile away from the Old Town Center and started walking the streets, using a city map and visiting many of the attractions along the way.

We passed along the way a circular structure, which turned to be a beautiful church. We continued and arrived to Saxon Park where we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. As we were about to leave, a ceremony of Chaning Of The Guards took place and was very impressive. I couldn't help but think of the terror the sight of soldiers marching in formation would have brought to the city's Jews some 64 years ago

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Our next stop was at St. John Cathedral. one of the oldest churches of that city and is one of the Polish national mausolea. Originally built in the 14th Century as a Brick Gothic church, it served as a coronation and burial site for numerous Dukes of Masovia. Rebuilt several times, most notably in the 19th century, it was preserved until World War II as an example of English Gothic Revival. Levelled by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, it was rebuilt after the war. It is notable that the reconstruction of the exterior was based on assumptions on how could the 14th century church look like and not on how it actually looked before the war. In the crypts below the main aisle there are graves of several notable people.

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The interior of the Cathedral was very impressive with paintings and other decoration.
We walked for a few minutes and arrived at Plac Zamkowy (Castle Square), which is the square in front of the Royal Castle, which was the official residence of the Polish Monarchs. The palace is now a national museum, which we entered and tagged along a group with an English speaking tour guide. The interior consists of many different rooms, all painstakingly restored with as much original exhibits as possible after the destruction during World War II, by the German bombers. All rooms are covered “wall to wall” with impressive painting. The guide stopped at many of them describing and explaining the story behind the creations.

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We headed toward the Old Town Market Square and entered the History Museum where we walked through countless rooms telling the story of Warsaw.

We decided to eat lunch at the park. We entered a local supermarket and bought bread, various cheese, chips, tomatoes and beer and sat on the grass in the park preparing our sandwiches, which we ate with such an appetite.

We then took bus #122 to our next stop: Lazienky Park and its famous Palace on the Water.

This is the biggest park in Warsaw, setting aside 80 hectares of land in the middle of the city. The park acquired its name (which means park of bathing) from a bath pavilion which was established at the 17th century.

We entered the park, admiring its style and walked around the many pathes to reach the palace. We watched peacoks as they roam the park next to the lake playing the mating game.

We sat down in the garden and sipped a delicious cappucino and then took bus #180 back to Old Town to climb the 210 stairs of St. Ann Tower, located above the church, which was built on a high slope in 1454. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times. We saw a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

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We used a tram to reach our next desitnation: An Internet Café’, located in the underground train station. After checking our email’s we headed back the Old Town for a delicious typical Polish dinner, which consisted of rye soup, stuffed cabbage, goose liver with onions and of course the main attraction: kreplachs (Warsaw dumpling) with Shmaltz (chicken fat with fried onions).

After the delicious dinner we headed back to our hotel and went to sleep at around 11:00 PM.

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Sunday, June 18th, 2006

We woke up at 7:00 AM and after breakfast we boarded tram #24, which took us to the center of Warsaw (Centrum). We found the Marriot Hotel, pretended as guests of the hotel and asked the tour director there for infomration about the Jewish Heritage of the city. Equipped with a detailed map of the city and directions we started our tour visiting the Jewish Ghetto Wall.

Finding it was an adventure by itself as there are no signs in the immediate sorrouning, which indicate where it is. We finally found it after asking bunch of (non speaking English) people until one of them knew what we are looking for and showed us the way. (Thank God we undestand “signs language”)

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On the wall there is a map showing the area of the Ghetto. The courtyard in front of the wall is located at ul. Zlota 62. The map shows the Ghetto divided into two parts. The top section, on the northern border, is where the Umschlagplatz and Mila 18 were located. The bottom section is where the Nozyk Synagogue (the only one that survived, still stands today. (We will visit all of the above later on today)

Some history: “In 1940, the Germans announced a decree ordering the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw. The decree required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move into a designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. The ghetto was enclosed by a wall that was over 10 feet high, topped with barbed wire, and closely guarded to prevent movement between the ghetto and the rest of Warsaw. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. In the three years of its existence, starvation, disease and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps dropped the population of the ghetto by 90%: from an estimated 450,000 to 37,000.

On July 22, 1942 the Warsaw Ghetto was surrounded by Ukrainian and Latvian soldiers in Nazi SS uniforms, as the liquidation of the Ghetto began in response to an order given by Heinrich Himmler that "the resettlement of the entire Jewish population of the General Government be carried out and completed by December 31st." The General Government was the central portion of the former country of Poland that was occupied by the Germans between 1939 and 1944.

The Warsaw Ghetto was the scene of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (January 1943), one of the first mass uprisings against Nazi occupation in Europe. The Jewish Ghettos, which the Nazis established in all the major Jewish population centers of Poland, were part of the systematic plan to get rid of all the Jews in Europe, and were intended as a transitional measure. The next stage of the plan was the liquidation of the Ghettos and transportation to the East."

I had goose bumps while standing there and remembring all the stories and the various movies about the ghetto, the sorrounding wall and the heroic of the starving people. Standing before it and looking up, I tried to get a sense of what it felt like to be walled in like an animal. What left from once a long wall, which imprisoned the Jews who lived inside the wall seperating them from other parts of the city, is a short section of a wall with inscriptions in Polish, English and Hebrew.

As we stood there absorbing what this place means to us and to humanity, an elder man approached us. He identified himself (in German) that he is the “Keeper of the Wall” and that he lives across from the wall. He told us he was a Catholic. He invited us to his apartment (number 20). We entered into a room all dedicated to the Jewish Ghetto. He told us that he was a soldier in the Polish Underground and that he and his comarades fought the Nazis. We saw many pictures in an album and on the wall, a rusty barb wire, and two huge guest books with dedications from Israeli dignifiers such as Benyamin Nethanyahoo, Chaim Herzog, Moshe Katzav and other world figures such as Bill Clinton.

The old man gave us a short history lesson of the wall: “To create the Warsaw Ghetto, the Germans built 11 miles of brick walls around the Jewish quarter; this area was then closed to outsiders on November 15, 1940. The wall was torn down in 1943 when the Ghetto was liquidated. Today there is only one short section of the original wall remaining; this section was outside the Ghetto when the original Ghetto became a smaller area after most of the Jews had been deported. The remaining section of the wall is about 10 feet high.”

According to him, parts of the wall which connected two buildings, such as this section, were built higher than the rest of the wall, which was mostly lower than 10 feet.

As we walked outside, and back to the wall site, we saw a gorup of Israelis at the wall. We introduced ourselves and continued our trip.

We arrived at the Nozyk Synagogue and were told by the usher that there are many visitors inside and that since we haven’t made any reservations it will be impossible to let us in.

Forunately for us we saw the group, we had met earlier at the wall and convinced the usher that we are part of this group, and he let us in.

The Synagogue was founded in 1902 by Zalman Nozyk and his wife and was devastated during World War II; it was renovated after the war and, with financial help from the Polish government, later reconstructed between 1977 and 1983. The Nozyk Synagogue still holds services on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

Emly picked up one of the prayer books and prayed Minkha.

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We walked from the Synagogue for about 10 minutes and arrived at the notorious and infamous Pawiak Prison.

The Pawiak (named after Pawia Street) was built as a prison by the Russians between 1830 and 1835. During the war, despite being situated inside the ghetto, it was the political prison for the entire General Government. Both gentiles and Jews were imprisoned here, though people were often taken to the Gestapo headquarters (a long way south of the Pawiak - the building still exists) to be interrogated. More than 30,000 Poles died in the Pawiak. The area around the Pawiak was a particularly dangerous one for passing Jews, as the guards would arrest or shoot people at random. After the annihilation of the ghetto in 1943 the Germans used the ghetto ruins surrounding the Pawiak as a convenient execution ground. The Germans blew up the Pawiak in August 1944. The Pawiak is now a museum with a large room, which consists of many authentic pictures and reconstructed cells.

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We continued our day and arrived at the Nathan Rappaport’s Memorial dedicated to the Jewish Uprising. The date that the Nazis chose to destroy the Warsaw Ghetto was on Passover in 1943.

The leader of the Jewish resistance movement, Mordechai Anielewicz, was determined not to give up without a fight. Ukrainian and Latvian SS soldiers marched into the ghetto on April 19, 1943, entering at the northern border of the Ghetto on Zamenhofa street. It was not until May 16 that the SS was able to defeat the handful of resistors, who lasted longer than the whole Polish army when the Germans and the Russians jointly invaded Poland in September 1939.
For two years, the date was debated. Finally, in 1950, compromises and bargaining began. The 27th of Nissan was chosen, which falls beyond Passover but within the time span of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Orthodox Jews still did not like this date because it was a day of mourning within the traditionally happy month of Nissan. As a final effort to compromise, it was decided that if the 27th of Nissan would affect Shabbat (fall on Friday or Saturday), then it would be moved to the following Sunday.

Note: After the horrors of the Holocaust, Jews wanted a day to memorialize this tragedy. But what day? For two years, April 19th was debated to be the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha-Sho'ah) but in the Jewish calendar, this date falls from time to time during Passover. Finally, in 1950, the 27th of Nissan was chosen, which falls beyond Passover but within the time span of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. It was decided that if the 27th of Nissan would affect Shabbat (fall on Friday or Saturday), then it would be moved to the following Sunday. On April 12th, 1951, Israeli Parliament proclaimed Yom Hashoah Ve-Mered Ha-Geta'ot (Holocaust and Ghetto Revolt Remembrance Day) to be the 27th of Nissan. The name later became known as Yom Hashoah Ve Hagevurah (Devastation and Heroism Day) and even later simplified to Yom Hashoah.

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Once again we met the Israeli group, who we originally have met at the wall. Emly went over to ask for directions for the Jewish Cemetery and they had offered her that we should join them, as they were going there themselves.

A short ride (about 2 miles) had taken us to one of the most impressive cemeteries in the world.
The groups’ tour guide, a Polish woman, was very informative and knew many details about the site:

The historic Warsaw Jewish Cemetery has been in continuous use since late in the 18th century and contains an estimated 250,000 individual graves as well as mass graves of thousands of residents of the Warsaw Ghetto. While most of the gravestones have survived, the cemetery burial records were destroyed by Nazi forces during the WW II occupation of Warsaw. Just by identifying the cemetery section and the type of headstone you can discover more about the family. Orthodox Jews had separate sections for men and women and only Hebrew lettering will be found on the stone. The more assimilated Jews were buried in family plot sections and had headstones with Polish lettering and Gregorian dates.
We walked around reading the contents on the stones and trying to capture the size and importance of this place. On our way out we saw the grave of Zamenhof, the famous doctor who was the founder of the universal language "Esperanto" and the Monument for Janusz Korszak who was highly regarded as an educator of children in Poland at the turn of the 20th Century and eventually wrote several books. Kortchack founded an educational method that puts the love for the child at the center of all things in Jewish education and in 1911 was appointed manager of the Jewish orphanage in Warsaw. When World War II began, all the children in the orphanage were deported to the extermination camps in Treblinka. The Nazi’s offered to spare Korszak’s life if he would only agree to part with the children, but in the fashion of true holocaust heroes, Korszak showed immeasurable courage and chose instead to accompany the orphans to the death camp in an effort to provide them with care and hope against certain death. He, along with his children, perished at Treblinka in 1942.

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Along with the Israeli group we headed to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, one which we rated as the best in Poland. The museum was packed with interactive displays, photographs, video footage and miscellaneous displays. This place left a deep mark on us.

The building is split into three levels and takes visitors through the complete story of the uprising. Life under Nazi rule is covered through a series of slides, and a section of the ground floor is dedicated to the children who served as both messengers and soldiers. The rattle of machine guns, sounds of dive bombers and heart beats are played over the speakers, adding to the gloomy atmosphere. Different halls focus on the many aspects of the Uprising; a replica of an insurgent’s radio station has been built, while other sections document the massacre in Wola, allied airdrops and the role of medical units. On the mezzanine level a cinema screen plays a ten minute film detailing the first month of the battle, after which the museums route takes visitors through a mock sewer. The final section features a section devoted to the Soviet creation of ‘Lublin Poland’, a hall of remembrance for the fallen and a display entitled ‘Death of the City’; a haunting evidence to the destruction of Warsaw in which silent films project before and after shots of city landmarks. The wall of the small park outside is marked with the names of 4,000 casualties. There is a huge space, which includes a replica of B24 Liberator plane, a cinema and a 32 meters tall viewing tower.

We spent over two hours in the museum and had a feeling that we covered only 20% of it.

We thanked the Israeli group and headed to a monument, which has been built on Stawki Street at the spot where the Umschlagplatz once stood, on the northern boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Umschlagplatz was where the Jews had to assemble to board the trains, which transported them to the death camp at Treblinka, beginning in July 1942. 7,000 Jews who assembled here daily were crowded into 60 freight cars (about 120 persons per car!) for the train trip to the Treblinka extermination center. The daily deportations continued until Sept. 12, 1942. Across the street we saw the building, where the SS soldiers monitored the station and shot any Jew, who was trying to escape.

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Equipped with the map we were able to find our next site on our agenda: The Monument of the Fallen and Murdered in the East. It is the monument for the Polish people sent to Siberia during the communist regime, from Sep. 1939. The crosses point towards Russia. The word Russia or Soviet Union is not mentioned but there is not one person in Poland who does not understand the meaning of "east". Altogether it is estimated that almost 3 million people were sent there, about half of them were never heard of again.

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A short time later we found the Monument of the Warsaw Uprising. This monument is dedicated to those who fought and lost their lives in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (not to be confused with the Jewish uprising of 1943). The Uprising began on August 1st and lasted for 63 days as the Polish Home Army strived to halt the systematic destruction of their capital by the retreating Nazis. Some 225,000 civilians lost their lives as well as 20,000 members of the Polish Home Army. The monument is in two parts; one part showing the insurgents defending a barricade and the second showing the soldiers escaping down a manhole to the sewers, a reference to the 2,000 fighters who disappeared down a single manhole on September 2nd 1944.

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Bus #180 had taken us to the now familiar Old Town, where a concert took place in the main plaza. In between concerts we visited the same restaurant we had visited last night and once again enjoyed the authentic Polish Cuisine food.

We returned to the main plaza just in time for the next concert and left an hour later heading to Felix Hotel, arriving around 10:0 PM

What a Day!!!!!

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Monday, June 19th, 2006

After breakfast, at around 8:00 AM, we checked out of the Felix Hotel and continued our journey. It took us about half an hour to figure out the way out of Warsaw and into the desired highway as Warsaw is not generous with road signs. We finally found ourselves on route 17, which took us via the countryside, in a very enjoyable trip to Krakow.

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We arrived at Krakow at around 5:00 PM, as hwy 17 is not really a highway as we are used to in the West but kind of a very long boulevard (200 miles!), with traffic lights and stop signs.

We found the Regent Hotel, in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, without any problems thanks to Emly’s understanding of the map, and checked ourselves in. The room was pretty large and comfortable.

After a shower we headed toward the Old Town of Krakow, which was established in the Stone Age (at least!) and became in the early 11th Century, the Capital of Poland.

We walked down the cobblestone streets and arrived at the HUGE Grand Square, where we saw many of the town’s famous sites.

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The square has been the hub of the city ever since its Old Town historical district got the present grid of streets in the 13th century. The huge 10-acre square, the largest of all Europe’s medieval cities, is a novelty in itself. At the same time, it is arguably one of the world’s most beautiful plazas. Now as in the Middle Ages the Grand Square is the focus of the city life. Krakow residents and visitors come here to meet each other, to do business, to shop in numerous stores, and to enjoy themselves in myriad restaurants, cafés and clubs

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In the center we saw the 13th-century Gothic Town Hall Tower, the magnificent 14th century Gothic Basilica of the Virgin Mary’s with its astonishing Great Altar and the tiny St. Adalbert Church whose parts date back to the 11th century. In front of a long bazaar stood two accordion musicians, who filled the evening air with beautiful harmonically sounds. We entered the bazaar, a very touristy place and then decided to look for a restaurant “where the locals eat”. We walked the city streets, for over an hour, trying our best in finding the perfect spot for dinner and finally found a local restaurant and ordered a very delicious Polish meal.

We returned to the hotel at around 10:30 PM, exhausted but extremely pleased with what we did today.

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Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

After breakfast we headed toward the infamous concentration camp: Auschwitz. We both had goose bumps and chills as we parked our car and walked toward the camp.

All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by the Nazis in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. The name of the city was changed to Auschwitz, which became the name of the camp as well. June 14, 1940, when the first transport of Polish political prisoner deportees arrived in Auschwitz, is regarded as the date when it began to function. Over the following years, the camp was expanded and consisted of three main parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. It also had over 40 sub-camps. At first, Poles were imprisoned and died in the camp. Afterwards, Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, and prisoners of other nationalities were also incarcerated there.

Beginning in 1942, the camp became the site of the greatest mass murder in the history of humanity, which was committed against the European Jews as part of Hitler's plan for the complete destruction of the Jews. The majority of the Jewish men, women and children deported to Auschwitz were sent to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers immediately after arrival. At the end of the war, in an effort to remove the traces of the crimes they had committed, the SS began dismantling and razing the gas chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, as well as burning documents. Prisoners capable of marching were evacuated into the depths of the Reich. Some 56,000 of them died along the way from cold and starvation. Those who remained behind in the camp were liberated by Red Army soldiers on January 27, 1945.

A July 2, 1947 act of the Polish parliament established the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the grounds of the two extant parts of the camp, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
We purchased our tickets and since we had about 20 minutes until the next tour, we decided to walk around the camp. The sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Will Set You Free) is at the entrance of the camp and the electric barb wires, barracks and other monuments along the camp just stood there telling us the stories of some 1,500,000 people who entered the camp and never made it out.

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After a short introductory film we followed our tour guide and started exploring and understanding what this place was all about. We visited various barracks, each with evidence of the horror and torture. We visited the following: Women’d Camp (Blocks 1-10, which later was moved to Birkenau), Camp Hospital (Blocks 19, 20, 21 and 28), Work Camp for Russian POWs located in specially isolated and fenced-off blocks, Experiments Block (Block 10), where German doctors, such as Doctor Mengala, conducted criminal medical experiments on prisoners and committed other acts that violated medical ethics, Block No. 11, which is known as "The Death Block", where thousands of prisoners were tortured and then shot, by the Gestapo, in the courtyard’s “Death Wall”. At the end of the tour of Auschwitz I, we visited the unforgettable Gas Chamber and the Crematoria.

The evidence is still vivid in my mind. I can still see the electric barb wires, the thousands of shoes of all sizes and shapes, the section of human hair, belts, luggage, and other parts stripped from the victims and used to manufacture goods for the Nazi’s army. In another glass box we saw tiny shoes, those of babies sent to die in the Gas Chamber in the arm of their mothers.

We completed our tour of Auschwitz I and took the shuttle to Auschwitz II – Birkenau, which was a camp for new arrivals and those to be sent on to labor elsewhere; a Gypsy camp; a family camp; a camp for holding and sorting plundered goods and a women's camp.

The Birkenau camp is huge, covering 425 acres. When construction was completed, it had over 300 buildings with a capacity of 200,000 prisoners. This was by far the largest camp in the Nazi concentration camp system, and the overwhelming majority of the prisoners were Jews.

We toured the barracks, stopped at the train station, and heard the horrified description of our tour guide on how the selection had been made: Those to the left were sent to the labor camp and those to the right, specifically sick men, women, children and the elderly, who were sent to the right, marching forward, about half a mile, into the dressing rooms where they were ordered to strip and then crammed into the gas chamber, 1500 at a time, where they thought they are going to take a shower, but instead the Zyklon-B crystals was dropped by gas-masked SS soldiers into the sealed room from several holes in the ceiling. The process of death by the gas lasted only 25 minutes and the corpses were then “operated” by guards as valuable items such as gold teeth and hair were stripped away from the dead bodies. The final phase was transferring the corpses to the crematoria and burns the bodies.

We walked to the Gas Chambers and Crematoria sites, marching in the same path as the victims did some 60 years ago. The Gas Chambers and Crematoria’s were destroyed by the German Army just hours before the camp was liberated. A huge tablets monument, not far from there tells the story of this camp in different languages. As I was reading the inscription on the tablets I thought about those who say that the Holocaust never existed. We must find a way to bring them here, to witness the tragedy first hand.

We took the shuttle back to Auschwitz I and drove back to Krakow. On the way we both expressed our thoughts and feelings of what we had seen today.

We found our hotel, parked our car in the street (on the sidewalk – a legal way to park your car here!) and started to explore the Jewish Quarter of town known as Kazimierz, where sizable Jewish population of Krakow moved here at the end of the fifteenth century, which served as the main cultural center of the Polish Jewry for centuries.

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We visited the Old Synagogue (Beit Israel), which was established in 1644 and held a gallery of pictures telling the story of Krakow’s Jews.

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We found a “kosher style” restaurant named Ariel, which featured live music of Kleizmers. We were hungry and the food was good.

We discussed our options for tomorrow and decided to extend our visit in Krakow by half a day as we realized how much there is to see here.

Emly chose to visit the local Internet Café as I surrendered to bed with a very bed cold, which included high fever and non stopping cough.

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Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

After breakfast and checkout from the Regent Hotel we headed back to the Central Square where we thought we could join one of those City Tours. We arrived early and the only “City Tour” we could find was a “private” one, which cost a lot of money. We then decided to try to do it on our own.

We climbed the hill where Wawel Royal Castle stands tall. People lived on the Wawel Hill at least as early as fifty thousand years ago, in the Paleolithic Age. In the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, some 3000 years ago, the settlement was apparently bustling with trade, with assorted crafts and with farming. It was at the turn of the 20th Century when the rulers of Poland took up their residence here.

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We toured the castle grounds and enjoyed the beautiful view from its terraces.

We then continued our tour back to Kazimierz. We discovered the Old Synagogue Remuh and entered in. There are seven synagogues in Kazimierz; only one, this 16th-century Synagogue, is used for religious services. Looted by the Nazis, the small synagogue was restored after the war and is undergoing another renovation. Next to the Remuh is the old Jewish Cemetery, a jumble of tombstones and fragments dating back to the 16th century. As I read the Hebrew wording on the tomb, I realized that I do not understand most of the words, as they were written some 350 years ago using words we do not use today in the Hebrew language.

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We crossed the bridge to the other side of town and headed to the former Jewish Ghetto and from there to Schindler Factory.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Oskar Schindler, a German Catholic industrialist, moved to Krakow and assumed responsibility for the operation of two formerly Jewish-owned manufacturers of enamel kitchenware. That factory became a haven for about nine hundred Jewish workers, providing them relief from the brutality of the Plaszow labor camp nearby, with the notorious camp commandant Amon Leopold. In October 1944 Schindler was granted permission to relocate his defunct enamel works to Czechoslovakia -- this time as an armaments factory -- and to take with him his Jewish workers. He succeeded in transferring approximately eight hundred Jewish men from the Gross-Rosen camp and three hundred Jewish women from Auschwitz, ensuring their humane treatment and ultimately, saving their lives. In 1962, Jerusalem’s Yad Va-Shem awarded Schindler the title "Righteous among the Nations" in recognition of his humanitarian contribution, and in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council posthumously presented to him the Museum's Medal of Remembrance.
We decided that as soon as we get back home we will watch together the movie “Schindler List” one more time as we were sure it will be more meaningful to us now. We headed back to the hotel to our awaiting car and started our way to the Czech Republic.

We managed to miss a turn (Highway 48) and ended up in Slovakia. We figured that we had lost two hours and headed back. This time we did find the highway and as we entered the Czech Republic, I was stopped for speeding (10 miles over the limit). The highway patrol officer demanded the fine to be paid right there in cash and since I did not have any Czech currency he gave me directions to the near Bankomat, while holding on to my driver License. We found the Bankomat and returned fifteen minutes later to pay the fine (around $20). The officer then gave me back my license and a receipt for my fine. (I am still wondering if the money went inside his own pocket…)

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Night had arrived and we were very hungry. We spotted an Inn along the highway and decided to stop for dinner. The restaurant was located inside a castle all decorated as a medieval castle with knights, swords, round tables and wooden furniture. Dinner was DELICIOUS and very inexpensive. I was too tired to continue our trip and we decided to spend the night there. The inn receptionist called the Marie agency in Prague and made reservations for us. We were then given an elegant room with Internet connection. After checking into our room, we walked up the street from the hotel to the village’s center and then returned to our room. Emly called and talked to her friend Adam, who lives in Prague and to our delight, he promised to be our “guide” in Prague as soon as we arrive. With the good news, I was asleep as fast as my head found the pillow on the comfortable bed.

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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

The room at the inn included breakfast. We entered the dining room and our table was already set with all kind of breads, juices, butter and even a vase with flowers. A waitress approached our table and presented a menu. Everything on the menu was included with our breakfast. We made our options (almost every item on the menu!) and enjoyed the most delicious breakfast of our trip.

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We continued our journey heading to Prague. Emly turned on her laptop and we enjoyed Israeli music coming out of her collection. About an hour into the trip we were stopped again by the Czech’s Highway Patrol. This time I wasn’t speeding, BUT I did not have the correct documents to travel in the Czech Republic. I tried to explain to the officer that if I knew about it, I would have bought the freaking documents as soon as we entered the country (which was absolutely true) but he insisted I have to pay a fine of $200. After some negotiations the fine was set for $80. I did not have that much in Czech currency so he told me I could pay it at any post office in Prague. To my surprise he returned all of my documents including the driver license to me. We stopped at the first service station we saw and purchased the permit for $10. (Note: I never did pay the fine!)

We arrived at Prague three hours later and found Marie Agency. They booked us into a “bed ‘n’ breakfast” outside the city. It turned out to be in an excellent location, with the metro station nearby and in a quiet neighborhood. However, the room did not have an air condition and as most of the hotels in Europe, fewer than 5 stars do not have this luxury.

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We called Adam as soon as we checked in and he told Emly that he cannot see us today due to an exam he must take, but will be at our services starting tomorrow.

We took the metro into the center of town to Wenceslas Square. The square is the central axis of the Nové Mesto (New Town), the hub of Prague life and has been the site of memorable events in Czech history. In 1919, when Czechoslovakia gained independence from the Habsburg dynasty, the Republic was proclaimed to cheering crowds in the square. Fifty years later, protesting the lack of resistance to the Soviet invasion, a philosophy student, Jan Palach, set fire to himself in the square. Twenty years later, the unofficial shrine to Jan Palach and other compatriots who followed his example became the rallying point for the Velvet Revolution when a quarter of a million people assembled in the square and began the process of separation from the Soviet Union.

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Just before the entrance to the Old Town we saw hundreds of people, locals and tourists, sitting on the floor and watching a revolving screen, featuring a current soccer (futball) game from Germany. (Soccer World Cup, Mondial, was taking place in Germany at this time).

We walked toward the Old Town and stopped for an early dinner at one of the restaurants, sitting outside on the street. We then took the narrow streets and arrived at Charles Bridge, which is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Malá Strana. It was actually called the Stone Bridge during the first several centuries. Its construction was commissioned by Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, and hence its latest name. On the bridge we saw many statues and a marvelous view of the river.

At one point I heard screaming of joys as Emly met her friends from USY (Joseph, Rob, and Ya’el from Jerusalem), who were touring Eastern Europe themselves and were part of a large USY group. They were standing in front a unique statue “The Crucifix and Calvary” which displays Jesus Christ with Hebrew text around the statue. We heard the USY’s tour guide gives an explanation of the Hebrew letters: The golden Hebrew text on the crucifix was added in 1696. It was placed there as punishment for a Prague Jew, Eliass Backoffen, who has been convicted of debasing the Holy Cross. The text is derived from the words of the prophet Isaiah and reads, in English, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. These words, which are the origin of the Sanctus in the Mass, are an important confession of faith in the Jewish tradition as well; their placement in this context has been perceived by some as offensive. A bronze table with explanatory text in Czech, English and Hebrew was mounted under the statue by the city of Prague authorities in 2000. 

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We crossed the bridge, admiring all statues and watched the hundred of people walking by. We stopped to look at St. Nicholas Church. The stunning Church with the beautiful white façade, decorated with sculptures, simply gleams in the corner of the square, hit by the sun during the day and lit by strong white lights at night.

We took a break and sipped some beer at a local pub, sitting outside and watching the Old Town Square. We then proceeded to Kampa Park to have a beautiful glimpse of the river and bridge.
We then continued to The Lennon Wall, which is a tribute to the rock singer John Lennon. When Lennon was killed in 1980, this wall, not far from the Charles Bridge, became a place of out pouring for the people of Prague who painted it with graffiti. It became a sort of memorial wall, which despite police efforts to paint over and clean off on a regular basis, kept coming back. Although the communist era was taking its toll on the Czech population, John Lennon's lyrics offered hope and an idealistic vision of what could be. Today the Lennon Wall is still a symbol and a memorial. People come here each year at the anniversary of his death.



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We returned to Charles Bridge and watched a unique performer using every part of his body to create beautiful music with about 20 different instruments. A large crowd surrounded him and enjoyed his performance.

Emly called Molly, her friend in Orange County, to wish her Happy Birthday and we headed back to our hotel, arriving around 11:45 PM.

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Friday, June 23rd, 2006

We woke up rather early as we knew we have a lot to accomplish today. After breakfast we took the metro and arrived at Wenceslas Square at 9:00 AM. As the National Museum opens only at 10:00, we decided to visit the Astronomical Clock Tower dates back to the beginning of the 15th century.

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The lower part of the clock tower shows 12 medallions with the signs of the zodiac. At exactly 10:00 we witnessed the highlight of this beautiful clock: the hourly procession of the Twelve Apostles; every hour on the hour, a small trap door opens and Christ marches out ahead of his disciples, while the skeleton of death tolls the bell to a defiant statue of a Turk.

We climbed the stairs of the tower and when we reached the top we discovered a wonderful view over the Old Town Square and the city of Prague.
We arrived at the National Museum at 10:50 AM.

The Museum (Founded in 1818) shelters almost 14 million of items (!) from the areas of natural history, history, arts, music and librarianship, located in various adjacent buildings. For the next couple of hours we strolled through the many rooms of the museum discovering many displays of art, rocks, gold, animals, geology, geography, Natural Science and many more including a room with huge diamonds, which was heavily secured.

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We exited the museum and landed in an expensive cafe‘ at the entrance of the Old Town, where we paid $10 (!) for 2 capuccino’s.

At 1:00 PM we met with Adam and headed to Chicago Grill Bar, a local pub with mainly Mexican food, for lunch. We ordered 3 beers, a salad, enchilada and a sausage sandwich for merely $10. the same price of 2 Capuccino's sitting in a tourist district you can buy lunch for three people in a local pub!!

After lunch Adam led us through a “Secret Garden”, not known to tourist, to the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter.

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We visited the Pinkas Synagogue, which is dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia; their names are inscribed on the walls of the main hall and adjoining areas. The interior of the synagogue comprises Memorial for approximately 80,000 victims of the Holocaust. The text of the inscriptions was compiled from card indexes, which were drawn up shortly after the war on the basis of extant transport papers, registration lists and survivor's accounts. The names of Holocaust victims, together with their dates of birth and death, are inscribed on all the interior walls. Where the precise date of death is not known - which is generally the case - the date of deportation to the ghettos and extermination camps in the east is stated instead - this is usually the last information we have on the victims.

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We continued on to The Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov, the Jewish Quarter, which was created in the 15th century when Jews were forbidden to bury their dead outside their own district. Space was scarce, so bodies were buried on top of each other in an estimated 12 layers. Over the centuries, lopsided tombstones formed unruly, poetic groupings.

The surrealist author Franz Kafka enjoyed moments of quiet reflection in the old cemetery. However, his own grave lies across town in the New Jewish Cemetery.

Once again we met with the USY group.

We headed toward the Old New Synagogue on Maiselova Street, which is the oldest synagogue in Europe that is still in use as a house of prayer. The Synagogue is used as the religious center for the Orthodox Jews in Prague, so it has no museum displays inside.

There are two other synagogues still in use in Prague - the High Synagogue just across the alley from the Old-New Synagogue and the Jerusalem Synagogue. This synagogue got its strange name, Altneuschul, which is German for old-new-school because at the time that it was completed in 1275, it was the Neuschul or New Synagogue, but by the 16th century when other new synagogues were built in Prague, it became the Altneuschul or Old-New Synagogue. Adam told us that this is the synagogue which Franz Kafka, the famous writer, attended when he lived in Prague; his bar mitzvah was held in there.

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Not far from there stands tall the Spanish Synagogue, which is by far the most spectacular of all the synagogues we have seen this trip. It was the last one to be built in the old Jewish quarter. In 1998, the 130th anniversary of its founding, it was reopened after over 20 years of being closed to the public.




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Adam said goodbyes as he and his wife Petra were scheduled to go to Shabbat Services, but before he left he pointed out his favorite restaurant in the area.

We sat down for dinner in this spectacular place. It can seat more than 200 people with live music and great atmosphere. We ordered beer (of course!) and some delicious plates all for less than $10.00. A group of about 100 local people sat in a separate room and sang along. It was a great experience. We walked back to Wenceslas Square to catch the train back home. On our way we stopped at a hill, where we had a spectacular view of the whole city.

We returned to our hotel at 10:00 PM

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Saturday, June 24th, 2006

We woke up at 8:00 AM and after breakfast we met with Adam next to the National Museum.

We arrived at Wallenstein Gardens. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but once we entered the gate, we found a large open garden. Geometrically designed, this garden was created in the 17th Century and features a small lake, a cave with artificial stalactites and stalagmites, and plenty of roses, magnolias, and Japanese cherry trees. There are fabulous statues in the garden, even peacocks and a huge cage with owls.

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We exited the garden and around the corner found a narrow street going up hill. The street is made of stairs, which led us to Prague Castle (Presidential Palace). Along the sides of the streets were many stalls, with souvenirs. Once we reached the top of the street we witnessed a fantastic panoramic view of the city.

We entered the castle, which was built originally around the 9th Century. Its history has been long and rich. From its very origin to present day it has been the seat of administration of the country.

Prague Castle is a sprawling complex situated atop a large hill on the left bank of the Vltava River, which runs through old town Prague. It is not exactly a "classic" castle, because portions of it were built in different styles, and it spreads out more horizontally than vertically.

Inside the castle, we visited some sights and attractions. The main feature was St. Vitus Cathedral, the interesting 14th century Gothic structure. There were hundreds of people in line waiting for their turns to enter the Cathedral so we opted to try our luck later in the day.

The changing of the palace guards was an entertaining affair. We were lucky to be there at 12:00 PM when the long version ceremony took place with about 36 soldiers including a drummer and 2 trumpet players.

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We walked outside the castle to look for some original Czech food. On our way we stopped at a church and waited for 1:00 PM to hear the sound of its beautiful bells. We ended up eating Indonesian food. Was pretty tasty!

We then returned to the castle, stood in line and finally were able to enter and admire this most beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral. Inside the cathedral we saw some very elaborate tombs.

We visited Golden Lane, a series of small, colorful shops that originally served as housing for the palace guards. There is an old prison at the end of the lane, which was kind of disappointing.

We exited the castle to its adjacent garden. As we strolled in this beautiful garden we saw a man and a lady holding owls. Right next to them were a pair of eagles (tied with a string to a chain). We donated some coins and were permitted to take picures with the posing owls.

Our next adventure was to climb Petrin Hill. We climbed a pretty steep hill and finally arrived to a small imitation of the Eiffel Tower, Petrin Tower. The tower is 60 meters tall, which doesn't sound particularly high but climbing the hill before using its 299 steps makes a big difference. Adam told us that on a clear day it is possible to see the highest peak in the Czech Republic, Snezka, which is 150 km (!) from the tower.

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Once we reached the top we found it hard to breathe and not only because of the hard work to get there but also because of the breath taking view. We saw the entire city and our cameras worked overtime…

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We went downhill and once we reached the streets level we saw the Memorial to the victims of Communism, erected in 2002.

We walked back to town, bought some music CD’s in a neighborhood music store, entered Tesco, the “Costco” of Europe, and bought some cloths (American brand names and very inexpensive), and then sat down for a delicious cappuccino and ice tea at the Café Louvre, which is a Parisian style café and a billiard hall, dating from 1902. They proudly declare that they are the crowning jewel of Prague café culture, and we agreed with them.
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We finally got to meet Petra, Adam’s wife and sat down with them for a delicious dinner at the same place we had eaten dinner yesterday.

We returned to the hotel at 11:15 PM and Emly changed her cloths took the metro and went out to a pub with Adam, to catch up on old times.

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Sunday, June 25th, 2006

After checking out of the hotel we started our drive to Salzburg, Austria – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Town!

We entered Austria without any hassle and as we needed to get some Euro currency, we stopped at a lake along the way just before Salzburg, used the “Bankomat” and sat down on the lake’s bank for a delicious cappuccino and an apple strudel.

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We entered Salzburg at around 2:00 PM and found a cute little hotel, 10 minutes walk from the Old Town. The temperature outside were in the mid 90’s (Fahrenheit) with an 88% humidity. The room did not have an air condition (what else is new?) but the front desk clerk provided us with a small, tiny fan.

We left the steamy room as soon as we could and walked toward the Old City (Altstadt). We entered a restaurant, on the bank of the River Salzach. The place was a favorite hangout for Mozart. (Note: we found out later that Mozart rules this city and that many places here associate themselves with this famous composer. Mozart is to Salzburg what Elvis once was to Vegas!) The food was excellent and consisted of wiener schnitzel, salads and a very good local beer. After the meal we started our tour.

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The Old City with its variety of building styles is a true architectural delight, also a result of the city's strict preservation laws. A walk through the countless narrow streets features buildings from the Middle Ages, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance periods as well as the elegant classical burghers' houses dating from the monarchy. Hardly any age failed to leave its architectural imprint on Salzburg.

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Through narrow streets we arrived at the main square to find Mozart Statue. The beloved son of Salzburg has been standing there since 1842. Not far from the statue, a crowd of more than 1,000 people were watching on a huge screen a live soccer game from Germany. Beer (cost of only 1 Euro per cup) was poured into large cups and in this humid and hot day was very welcome. We sat with the crowd for a while (just to get the feeling…) and continued our walk.

We entered Salzburg Cathedral, which is without a doubt the Old Town's main attraction. It is flanked by two squares, good places to see open-air concerts during summer.

The nearby Residenz, the Franciscan Church and the church of Saint Ruprecht are only a stone's throw away from each other.

Towering above all of these attractions is Hohensalzburg Fortress on the Monks' mountain (which we will explore tomorrow).


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In one of the square we saw a chess tournament played on the ground with huge pieces of Chess Set. Two players were at it as a crowd was watching and exchanged comments on the game with each other.

We walked the narrow streets and tried to get lost in the beauty of the city.

We reached St. Martin’s Church, founded in 799 AD and watched the beautiful views of the city and the surrounding mountains. Mount Untersberg (1972 meters)– is only a few kilometers from the city center and can bee seen with its white peak from this church.

We stopped for an ice café at one of the local café and headed back to our hotel at 10:30 PM.

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Monday, June 26th, 2006

Breakfast and then we boarded a charter bus, which took us on a “Sound Of Music” tour.

Before boarding the bus we visited Mirabell Gardens where “Do-Re-Me” was sung by the entire Von Trapp Family, guided by Maria. The garden was so beautiful, decorated with beds of flower arrangements.

Our tour guide told us many interesting facts and by the time the tour ended we had the whole story wrapped up:

1965 Salzburg was the scenery of a film, which would become famous: "The Sound of Music" starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film itself is based on a true story. Born in Vienna, Maria von Kutschera was living as a novice candidate at the Benedictine Convent on Nonnberg in Salzburg when she was sent by her Mother Superior as a governess to the household of Baron Georg Von Trapp to look after his seven children, left motherless after the death of his wife. Shortly afterwards Maria became the Baron's wife and in the early 30's she founded a family choir with which she undertook frequent public performances while they remained in Austria. After fleeing the country on Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938, the family had no income other than that drawn from their musical performances. They arrived in the USA and their success there proved sufficient to enable them to settle there and in 1941, they purchased a farm in Vermont, which ultimately became the Trapp Family Lodge.Our bus took us to the places where the movie took place and we also visited the original sites where the real story began. While driving between the attraction sights, the bus sound system played songs from the movie and everyone on the bus was singing along.

Along our tour we stopped at Schloss Hellbrun (site of the "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen" gazebo), Leopoldskron Castle (used as the Von Trapp family's home in the movie), Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria did her stint as a nun in training), and the "Wedding Church" in Mondsee, where Maria and Georg Von Trapp were married.

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At one point the tour had stopped at a bottom of a mountain where we had the option of using an uphill ski lift to look at the scenery from the top of the mountain or to walk around the beautiful, colorful grounds. Emly and I where the only people on the bus to chose the latter and we were so fortunate in doing so, as the beauty of the village laying in a green valley with horses, sheep, cows and a herd of reindeers made a great impression on us.

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At another stop we opted to sit in a seafood restaurant, situated on a bank of a lake and had a delicious lunch.

While driving around, we noticed that all the homes in Salzburg have flower plants next to their windows. Our tour guide explained to us that a city law enforces the residents to have flowers at their windows and that they are “competing” with each other who will have the nicest arrangement of flowers.

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We were back in town by 1:30 and headed our way to St. Peter Church (also called St. Peter’s Abbey.) We entered the main hall and admired the interior, which is high-Romanesque, but was decorated with Baroque elements in the early 17th century.

Outside the abbey we passed through a cemetery, where we saw beautiful ornamented graves, lots of flowers and small trees. It looked more like a garden than a cemetery. Some of the headstones were dated back to the 16th Century.

We headed up the hill toward Hohensalzburg Fortress. Built 900 years ago this fortress, the city's chief landmark, is the biggest and most fully-preserved fortification in Europe. it served to protect the clergy and the population from the many enemies throughout the years.

We opted to take the 10 minute tram ride and once we reached the top a stunning view was at the horizons. This is the highest spot of the city and we went around the fortress to view the 360 degrees panoramic view.

We entered the museum grounds and even though most of the rooms were already closed we managed to “sneak” into some of them.

We took the narrow path to climb down the hill and into the main square where a band and a choir were performing marching songs.

We managed to find our way to find the Horse Fountain. It is the largest and finest Baroque fountain this side of the Alps, the work of an Italian sculptor. It stands about 50 feet high, with figures of bold horses, Atlas figures bearing dishes, dolphins and, crowning the whole, a Triton with a conch shell.


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We strolled back to the Old Town square and found Mozart House only it was already closed.

Once again we tried to get lost in the narrow streets when we happened to hear sounds coming from a high school building. We entered the building and were introduced to the choir by one of the people in the crowd and then greeted by the choir: “Hello Orange County, California!”

We sat there for about 30 minutes, enjoying the beautiful arrangements of some English and German songs. It was so hard to leave this place as the music was so wonderful!

For dinner we chose a Balkan Restaurant, located in a corner of 3 narrow streets. We sat outside and enjoyed the delicious food while watching the locals go about their business.

We were back at the hotel around 10:30 PM

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Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

We checked out of the hotel and stored out luggage inside the car. We then joined a tour to Eagle Nest, Hitler’s summer house, in Bavaria, Germany.

The tour guide by the name of Eugene was very informative and pleasant. He told us about the site: The Eagle's Nest near the city of Berchtesgaden (Province of Bavaria, Germany) was commissioned by Martin Bormann and the National Socialist German Workers' Party before being presented to the fascist dictator Adolph Hitler as a gift on his fiftieth birthday. Since then, the idyllic setting and remarkable architecture of the Eagle's Nest on the Kehlstein have been overshadowed by its close connection with the Third Reich. Although Hitler rarely stayed in the building himself, his wicked tyrannical image still hangs over it today.
Our bus took us to a spot where we changed buses and using beautiful path we finally arrived to the bottom of the rock. There, an elevator lifted us up to the top of the mountain.

The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking as the entire valley and the surrounding mountains made the view as perfect as can be.

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From the building, which is now a restaurant, we climbed further more and as we reached the top we felt we are on the top of the world. I guess, this was the feeling of Hitler when he stood there at the height of the mountain during the “height” of his “success”, posing for propaganda pictures.

We spent about an hour touring the mountain and the building and then returned to the bottom of the mountain to our awaiting bus, which had taken us to Berchtesgaden, a summer and winter resort, noted for its scenic beauty. We were given an hour for lunch and sightseeing.


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The village is very touristy and very expensive. Emly bought some grapes, an apple and a pear for $6.00 and I bought a German sausage in a bun for $5.00. We toured the main square and saw house fronts around the market place, palace and elsewhere decorated by artistic painting featuring mountain motives and a very special house is painted with monkeys.

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When we returned to the spot to board the bus, Eugene had an announcement and that exactly what he said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have bad news: The bus is kapute.. engine is kapute!!” We were given an extra hour to tour the little village as engineers from the bus company were on their way to fix the bus. We spent our time sitting in a café sipping ice latte and enjoying a rich flavored ice-cream.

We finally returned to Salzburg and started our next journey to Vienna (Wien in German).

The trip lasted 2.5 hours, driving through beautiful scenery.

We were at the gates of the city and stopped at a “Hotel Information”. The lady who greeted me was very helpful and resourceful. After finding out our budget and location preferation, she booked us at a rather new hotel in the heart of the Jewish Quarter in Vienna. We found Hotel Resonanz on Taborstrasse as we followed a taxi driver, who was more than happy to show us the way. The room was large and comfortable. The receptionsit, Berta, was charming and was willing to go out of her way to help us with maps, directions and advice.

We showered, changed our cloths and hit the streets of Vienna. As we exited the hotel,
we were so happy to see many Jewish men and women in our street speaking Hebrew, and stores and restaurants having Jewish names. Emly told me that she feels like she is in Jerusalem.

Our hotel was only a fifteen minute walk from the center. We strolled along the street, passing the Danube, which is the second longest river in Europe (behind the Volga) and the only major European river to flow from West to East. It takes its source in the Black Forest Mountains of Germany, and empties after 2850 km (1770 mi) in the Black Sea on the Romanian coast. Along its way, the Danube flows through nine countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine).

We passed a monument for Theodore Herzl, who was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist who became the founder of modern political Zionism. His Hebrew name was Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl.

We found Stefansplatz, the main street of the city. The street was busy with thousands of tourists and locals enjoying the wonderful afternoon.

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We arrived at Saint Stephen Cathedral (Stephansdom). St. Stephen's Cathedral defines the city center and has been the heart of Vienna for centuries. It is one of the most famous Viennese sights and was built in 1147 AD. For a long time it was uncontested as highest building in Europe measuring almost 137 meters. The cathedral has got two very impressive features: The gigantic roof, and the tall, lean tower.

In the square, surrounding the magnificent Gothic building we found many street performers, solicitors and many weird people…

We continued to tour the streets with no aim or destination in mind, just enjoying the busy streets and looking at the many people passing by. At one point we sat down for coffee and as soon as we finished the delicious drinks, rain started to drop. At the beginning only few drops but in a couple of minutes, a heavy rain covered the streets. We started to run back toward our hotel finding out that the once busy streets were now completely empty only few people were under the building covers. We were lucky to find a taxi and returned to our hotel.

Earlier we found out that the best kosher restaurant in town is right below our hotel. The name of the place is “Simcha”. This in Hebrew means “Happiness” but nevertheless is named after the owner with the same name. We entered the place and were delighted to speak and hear Hebrew. The food and service were great and the prices very reasonable. The cuisine was “Bukhary” (Russian descent) and as we sat down, the waiter (Moshe’) brought 10 different plates (complimentary) with assorted delicious salads. We then ordered soups along with humus and some meat dishes and I will never forget how Emly enjoyed eating meat for the first time in our trip, as she keeps kosher. We spoke to the owner, his son Ariel, to the person in charge of “Kashroot” by the name of Levi, and the waiter Moshe’. Simcha made us promise that we will visit him tomorrow as well. At the end of the dinner, Moshe’ brought assorted cakes to our table along with strong tea, also a complimentary dish.

We climbed to our beds at 11:30 PM

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Wednesday, June 28th, 2006

After breakfast we headed to the Ringstrasse, which is a wide avenue encircles the old city of Vienna.

We stopped at The Imperial Palace or Hofburg, which, is an immense and vast complex incorporating many buildings and courtyards as well as a number of museums and a chapel. Next to the palace we saw the Heldenplatz. It was on this very square where Adolph Hitler (who was born in Austria), announced the "Anschluss" (annexation) of Austria to the Third Reich to the cheering Austrians, in the year 1938. The square itself was huge, with grass areas and two dominating statues of riders: Prince Eugene of Savoy, the greatest General in Austrian history, and Archduke Karl, the famous commander and a reformer of Austria's army.

We crossed the “Strasse” (avenue) and arrived at The Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History, facing each other. We opted not to enter the museums as we already decided to visit the Mozart Collection later on today.

We continued our day, just wandering along the avenue and saw some of this city’s most beautiful buildings, including the Parlament (Parliament), where we stopped at the toilets and both agreed that it is an attraction by itself and one of the best we ever visited, the Rathaus (City Hall), which holds the office of the mayor of the city of Vienna and the governor of the state of Vienna, the Assembly and the City Council. Here we were looking for a famous chandelier (but never found it).

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We took a break for coffee and delicious strudel at a quiet café and then arrived at the Votive Church, which is one of the most beautiful churches in Vienna. This church is famous because it holds the tomb of Count Niklas Salm. Not far from the church we saw Sigmund Freud Statue, located in a park carrying the name of the famous Jewish psychoanalyst, who wrote the Theory of Sexuality.

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The next sight on our agenda was to visit the Holocaust Monument. The architect of the memorial, Rachel Whitehead, designed it like a stylized stack of books signifying strive towards education. The outer sides of the reinforced concrete cube take the form of library shelves. Around the base of the monument are engraved the names of the places in which Austrian Jews were put to death during the Nazi era.

After a light lunch we found the Vienna Synagogue (Stadtempel), which houses the community offices and chief rabbinate. The synagogue was damaged during the war and reopened in 1963 after extensive renovations. We entered the Synagogue through heavy security (due to a 1982 terrorist attack). The spectacular round sanctuary has the look and feel of a Reform temple, but it is an Orthodox congregation with a separate gallery for women.

Albertina Museum, was the next stop on our day. Inside the museum we saw an exhibition on Mozart’s life and work, his travels, and his ideas, which are still applicable to this day. We spent about two hours in this beautiful and educating place and after a coffee break continued to the Opera House (Staatsoper), which is one of the most famous opera theaters in the world.

Few minutes away from the Opera House was the Vienna Naschtmarkt. This market is on a central sidewalk between two streets called Linke (left) and Rechte (right) Wienzeile. In the market there were fruits and vegetables stalls along with some traditional Viennese products. There was a large selection of restaurants as well. The merchants were a mix of nations and we were able to hear Arabic, Hebrew, German, Indian, Chinese and more.

After a pleasant visit, where we also bought some Middle Eastern sweets (Rachat Lokum), we crossed the main street and arrived at the beautiful Saint Charles Church, one of the best samples of the Baroque architecture in Vienna; The church was constructed in the early 18th century and has a beautiful mini lake in front of it, populated with many ducks and with the reflection of the dome.

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We returned to Stefansplatz and watched a street performer throwing rings high into the air and catching them.

We walked back to the hotel and as Emly took a shower I calculated, looking at the city map, that overall we walked today for 12 miles!

After dinner at Simcha we walked back to the bridge over the Danube to breathe the fresh air and admire it once more at night and then returned to our hotel at 11:30 PM.

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Thursday, June 29th, 2006

Right after breakfast we took tram #21 and then the underground train to reach one of the most beautiful palaces in the world.

The Schönbrunn Palace is one of Vienna’s most beautiful buildings and Vienna’s answer to Versailles of France. Here is where the Empress Maria Theresa lived with her 16 children and her husband Emperor Francis I. Years later this was the place chosen by Napoleon as his headquarters during his Austrian campaigns. We took the classic tour with a professional tour guide.

We had a chance to admire the magnificent apartments of Maria Theresa, her sitting rooms, bedroom and the parlor in which 6 year old Mozart used to play for the Empress, as well as the parlors and apartments of Imperial couple Franz Joseph and his beautiful wife Sissi. The interior was a beautiful display of frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors and gilded ornaments. At the end of the tour we learned that after visiting 41 rooms we have seen less than 3% of the residence's 1441 rooms!

Hanz, our tour guide was a very enthusiastic person and we enjoyed his tour very much. He told us that almost 7 million people visit the park, which was opened to the public in 1965, each year! We also learned that in December1996 the Palace was put on the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites

When the tour was over we were “welcomed” by heavy rain. It did not stop us as we headed to the top of the hill to visit Maria Theresien Gloriette where a magnificent view of the palace and the city was in front of our naked eyes. We sat down at the café, at the top of the hill and enjoyed the delicious drinks, sitting next to the window, overlooking the grounds of the palace.

We continued to tour the palace, this time The Tirolian Garden with orchards of trees and flowers and with hundreds of statues all over the garden. There is also a full size zoo in the garden. We managed to find the Maze, which is a collection of high bushes with many paths. We entered the maze and in a matter of 11 minutes found the right path to climb a tree house.

We went back to the underground station and took the train toward Vienna Naschtmarkt, where we decided to have our lunch. Emly remembered one of the merchants, an Israeli guy, from yesterday and after she had found him we asked him to arrange for a sandwich. We bought Turkish bread in one stall, tomato at another, we purchased assorted olives and feta cheese in yet another stall and asked the Israeli vendor to slice the bread and the tomato and arrange the sandwich for us. We took the enormous sandwich to a pub, ordered a couple of beers and started the feast of eating. It was so delicious!

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After lunch we headed toward Belvedere Palace, which is a great building surrounded by a symmetric garden. The Belvedere Palace was built in the 18th Century, when Prince Eugene of Savoy --during the war against the Turks, Commander in Chief of the Imperial Army-- asked Johan Lukas von Hildebrandt to construct a Summer Palace. He actually never lived here. Inside the Palace there’s the Austrian Gallery, with 19th and 20th centuries Austrian and International works and some French impressionists too.

It was already 4:30 PM and as the gallery closes an half an hour later, we decided to walk the garden and enjoy the beautiful view.

An hour later we were once again on the Ringstrasse and walked toward our hotel.

We saw a monument for a Russian Soldier The monument was gift to Vienna from Russia in 1945. It is a memorial to the Red Army troops who helped to liberate Vienna

We rested in Stadtpark (City Park) where we heard a musician, standing on a bridge, and playing famous symphonies with his accordion.

We arrived at the hotel around 6:00 PM and after s short rest we took tram #21 to the center, hunting for a good restaurant. We managed to find a good Italian place and sat on the boulevard eating some great dishes, as raindrops fell into the street. We then walked along the boulevard licking a delicious ice cream.

Upon our return to the hotel, Mirna, one of the accommodating receptionists, helped us find a hotel in Budapest, Hungary and we booked it for the next couple of nights.

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Friday, June 30th, 2006

We picked up the car from the Parking Garage and after breakfast started our drive to Budapest, Hungary.

After 2.5 hours we arrived at Hungary’s Capital and checked into Hugo Apartments, where we got two separate rooms.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, called Europe. It was very tasty and very reasonable.

We walked to the main boulevard and took the metro to the Jewish Quarter. We planned to visit the Great Synagogue on Dohany Street. Unfortunately, the gates were locked for the Shabbat, even though the sign on the gate claim that they will be closed in 20 minutes. Unhappy about our misfortune we walked around the magnificent building and looked at the Holocaust Memorial, inside the gate. A gentleman approached us. He heard the guard telling us that the building was closed and saw our disappointment. He told us that this Synagogue is the second largest in the world and can accommodate almost 3,000 people at one time. He introduced himself as Peter and told us that even though he is not Jewish he does know a lot about the Jewish life in Budapest. He claimed to be an Architect and told us that today his first grandchild was born. He offered to take us to another Synagogue not far from the Great one. He took us through the streets of what once was the Jewish Ghetto of Budapest, and stopped many times to show us the different building, telling us all kind of architectural and historical facts about them.

Once we arrived at the Orthodox Synagogue, we found out it was closed for constructions. We took some pictures of the Ten Commandments tablets on top of the building then strolled the ghetto streets to arrive at another Synagogue. This was a Chabad House, which reminded me so much of “shteitels” in old Eastern Europe, where the Synagogue was surrounded by buildings, which accommodate the Jewish people who served in the “shul” (the Rabbi, the Cantor, etc.)

I offered to buy Peter a drink and we stopped at the “Bohemian Pub” for a cold beer. I then offered him to be our guide for the next couple of days and after many thoughts he finally agreed, telling us that he would use the money he will earn to give to his daughter to use for the new baby. Emly had the list of attractions we wanted to see in the city and Peter, after a long look, told us that it is an impossible task but if we plan it smart we should be able to cover everything.

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With no time left to waste, we started our tour with Peter. On the way, Peter told us a bit about the city: The Danube River splits the city in two: Buda and Pest (they used to be two different cities). On the west bank of the river sits Buda and on the east side Pest. Budapest (pronounced as Budapesht) is a cosmopolitan city and one of Europe’s most important capitals. It used to be the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After many decades of communism the city is recovering its lost splendor. There are almost 2 million people who live in the city.

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Peter took us through narrow and beautiful streets and we arrived at The Bank of Hungary a magnificent building and next to it we found the Stock Market and the U.S Embassy.

We continued to walk and found the Basilica of St. Stephen, which is Budapest's largest church holding more than 8000 (!) worshippers.

Not far from the basilica we found a small bridge with a bronze statue of a man on it watching towards the Parliament House. Peter told us that the man, presented in the statue is no other than Imre Nagy, who was the Hungarian Prime Minister just before the uprising in 1956. He tried to introduce a less strict form of communism in Hungary (pulling away from Soviet domination). After the crush of the uprising he was a refuge in the Yugoslavian Embassy, but later he was told to be given free passage, but on his way out he was arrested and executed 2 years later in 1958 by the communist regime. His body was exhumed and given a full state burial in 1989.

We walked the few meters from the bridge to get a full view of the magnificent Parliament House. Peter told us that the building was constructed between 1885 and 1905 in a mixture of styles: neo-Gothic facade, Renaissance and Baroque layout. It’s one of the biggest parliament buildings in the world with some 691 rooms.


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Peter told us about the riots: On 23 October 1956 hundreds of thousands of Hungarians rose up against the government. They marched toward the Parliament where Russian soldiers, on the roof tops shot and killed 450 of them. (Until today there are bullet holes in the adjacent buildings to the Parliament). Within days, millions of Hungarians were participating in or supporting the revolt. The revolt was suppressed by Soviet troops. 2500 Hungarian rebels were killed.
We returned to the “Bohemian Pub” for dinner. I finally started to feel better from the cold I was carrying since Krakow but the bad news were that Emly started to have the same symptoms as I had.

We said good night to Peter and crossed the Margit Hid Bridge to get to Buda and then returned to Pest. The view and the air were magnificent.

We were back at the hotel at 9:30 PM.

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Saturday, July 1st, 2006

After breakfast, which was served in our rooms, we met with Peter at the lobby of the hotel and then walked to the nearby metro station, where we had a “quick” cappuccino and then took the train to Hero Square, which is next to City Park and is the biggest square in Budapest. On the top of a column we saw, a bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel, part of the Millennium Monument, erected to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar settlement. At the base of the column there are some statues of some of the most remarkable personalities of Hungarian history. In front of the 36 meter high column there’s the Monument of National Heroes (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier). At both sides of the square there are two museums. On the left the Museum of Fine Arts, this has one of the best art collections in the world, with more than 120,000 works. On the right we saw the Art Gallery.

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We entered the adjacent park where we saw a castle (forgot its name) and then arrived to the Thermal Baths, where Hungarian can enjoy a day of relaxation in hot natural baths and enjoy the dependent hands, while having a message - all for approximately $25 for the day.

Emly told me in Warsaw that when we are in Budapest we must see the House of Terror (Terror Haza). This was our next item on our agenda.

The building was the headquarters of the Nazis between 1944 and 1945, then was taken over by the Communist secret police once Soviet troops liberated, then occupied, Hungary. At the entrance of the museum we saw a real size tank in a pool of oil with hundreds of pictures on the wall, surrounding him. This museum is dedicated to the patriots or prisoners of three eras: Fascism, Nazi, and Communism.

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We visited the many rooms, viewed some video footage, many items such as Nazi uniforms, Communist flags and more. We started the tour on the fifth floor and once we reached the bottom of the museum we entered the torture chambers in the basement. I had chills all over me when I realized how much of suffering the Hungarian people had experienced during those years.

We exited the museum and took the tram to the Grand Market, built in 1890 – it is the largest and richest indoor market in Budapest. Here we found the so-called Hungaricums such as paprika, brandy (pálinka), goose-liver (libamáj) and a wide variety of sausages and salamis seasoned with paprika. The main goal of our visit was lunch, so we climbed the stairs to the second floor and bought delicious local dished such as goulash, cabbage, delightful strudel filled with apples and poppy seeds. Another dish consisted of dough filled with cheese (I think it named Gildosh..). We sat next to a tall table and enjoyed our lunch while overlooking at the stores below us.

We headed toward the Centrum and walked on a cobbled stones street. We then used the Chain Bridge, to cross over the Danube and arrived at Buda.

The Royal Palace was our next stop. We looked at the river and at the Pest side from the terrace. The most beautiful sight was the Parliament House, from this point. Peter told us that the Hapsburg monarchs actually never lived here in the Palace; they only stayed here when they visited Buda. The Palace was almost completely destroyed in the Second World War, and during its restoration parts of the original medieval palace were discovered. The palace is a home for few museums and galleries.

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We arrived at Matthias Church a few meters away from the palace. This Gothic Style church was constructed between the 13th and the 15th centuries. Its popular name comes from King Matthias, who got married here twice and was the main donor. During the Turkish invasion (1541) it became a Mosque and all its frescoes were destroyed. When the Turks were expelled, the temple became a Jesuits’ Church. In the second half of the 19th century the Church was rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. The church has excellent acoustics, so it’s not strange that many concerts take place here. 

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In the middle of the square we saw St. Stephen Statue, named after the great king and then walked down to Freedom Bridge where traffic was closed for vehicles as the bridge was visited by the weekend crowd. The bridge had tables and chairs and the Hungarian crowds, along with some tourists were enjoying the afternoon breeze, eating and drinking while listening to a live band.

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We used the tram to get back to Chain Bridge and to Gellért Hill, which is the perfect vantage point to view central Budapest. We saw the Liberation Monument and Citadella at the summit. As night arrived and out stomach announced that it is time for dinner, we walked with Peter to another pub in the city where we had once again a delicious dinner.

Peter promised to come tomorrow at 7:00 AM to the hotel and actually ride with us until we would be on the highway toward Poland. I paid him according to our arrangement and told Emly I am doubtful he will show up, especially after he got paid…

We walked about half a mile to the river and took a tram to Margit Hid Bridge and then walked to our hotel as rain was dropping rather heavily.

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When we settled into our rooms, I had a proposition to Emly: Let’s stay another day in Budapest. We will spend half a day in the Thermal Baths, then take a cruise around the city on the beautiful Danube and at night we will go to a concert. However, to do all this we must give up on Treblinka, our next destination in our schedule. Emly was firmed: “We are going to Treblinka”. This is when I realized how important this trip is for her.

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Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

We woke up at 6:30 AM in anticipation for the big drive to Poland (about 700 miles!). I just could not believe it, but Peter was waiting for us in the lobby! We drove to a neighborhood’s grocery store where we bought fresh made sandwiches and pastry along with fresh made coffee and orange juice (all for $3.00!) and headed outside of the city, after thanking and saying goodbye to Peter.

A couple of hours later we were already in Slovakia. After the checkpoint we stopped for breakfast, eating the food we had bought in Budapest and started a wonderful drive through the wine country and arrived to the ski resort area. We managed to miss an important highway (what else is new?) and arrived to Poprad with its beautiful mountains area, where many of visitors were hiking the beautiful reservoir.

We met a group of Italians, who told us that they are here for business and with their help we found an alternative route to Poland, driving on narrow roads in the country side of Slovakia. An hour later we crossed the border to Poland. The checkpoint between the two countries, in this area, is located on a remote road surrounded with green mountains and enormous tress.

Driving through the countryside of Poland we arrived at (the already familiar) Krakow and stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant, outside the city on highway 4 where chickens where running the grounds and an old lady, the proud restaurant owner, was also the cook and the waitress. I had the best Schnitzel of the trip at this place.

We arrived at Treblinka at 11:30 PM (about 13 hours of driving and 2 hours of breaks!)

As it was so late at night we had problems in finding a hotel. I pulled over to a service station and the attending lady, speaking in the unfamiliar Polish language, drew up a map on a napkin, instructing us to drive about 8 miles to Ostrow, where we found a motel for the night.

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Monday, July 3rd, 2006

We woke up at 8:00 and after breakfast drove to Treblinka.

Some history: The Treblinka concentration camp, located in an unpopulated area east of Warsaw, was the second largest murder factory during the Nazi period (after Auschwitz-Birkenau). 900,000 mostly Jews were murdered at Treblinka from May 1942 to August 1943 (15 months!). They came mainly from Poland, Germany, Greece, and Austria. One of the most famous among them was the Polish doctor and pedagogue Janusz Korszak who voluntarily accompanied the children of his Warsaw orphanage on their last journey. The camp burned down after a prisoners’ revolt in the summer of 1943. The SS left the camp for good in November. They destroyed all evidence, razed the terrain, and replanted it before they departed.

We arrived early to the site (9:15 AM) and found ourselves as the only visitors at the camp. We walked towards Treblinka I. At the entrance of the camp we saw a large memorial stone at the beginning of the cobblestone path which leads up to the site of the former Nazi death camp. After we passed through the two large stones set at an angle to form an entrance gate into the area where the Treblinka camp once stood, we came upon a series of stones, each represent a country from where Jews were sent into this camp, among them Poland, Germany, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Holland and Hungary,.

Located on a mound, at the top of the slope, on the site of the extermination camp is a large circular area with 17,000 stones of various sizes and colors set into concrete, which represents a symbolic cemetery. Up above it all there is a 26-foot granite memorial stone, which was designed to resemble a tombstone. It is located on the spot where the gas chambers once stood

As we passed the memorial stone we saw the area where the cremation pit stood. The 800,000 bodies which had been previously buried were dug up and then cremated on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, after he visited the camp in 1943. This project required three months of intense labor by 1,000 Jewish workers who were forced to perform this grisly task in an attempt to destroy the evidence of mass murder at Treblinka.

We returned to our car and drove to Treblinka II, where we saw a monument to commemorate the 10,000 Poles, who were murdered as well by the SS, as one of the “necessary steps” to eliminate witnesses to the horror that took place here in such a short time. We visited the museum where we saw documents, pictures and maps telling the story of Treblinka. One of the walls is dedicated to Janusz Korszak and his heroics. (We saw his memorial stone in the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery a couple of weeks ago!)

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We left the camp site and headed towards Tykocin, which once used to be a typical center for Jewish life in Europe.

During the first days of the German occupation, a pogrom was conducted by the Poles (with the encouragement of the Germans), and Jewish property was looted. The Jews in Tykocin were drafted for forced labor and freedom of movement was limited. On August 25, 1941, the Jews of the town were called to assemble in the market square. About 1,400 people were transported to large pits that had been prepared near the city, in the Lupochowo Forest and were murdered. Some of the Jews succeeded in hiding, but the next day they were caught and executed by the Polish police. About 150 people found temporary shelter in the Bialystok ghetto and in the surrounding towns, later perishing together with the members of those communities. After the war a few of the survivors returned to Tykocin, but they were subject to attacks by gangs of Polish nationalists that were active in the area; as a result, they left the city. Today there are no Jews who live in the city, which became a “Mecca” for visitors, who trace the Jewish roots in Eastern Europe.

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We saw the synagogue in Tykocin, an early Baroque masonry synagogue which was built in 1642 and restored between 1974 and 1978. The synagogue is now used as a museum and was closed unfortunately, on Mondays. We asked the guard (and even tried to bribe him) but for no avail. We did not have a chance to look inside the Synagogue.

Around the corner of the Synagogue we sat down for lunch at a “kosher style” (but not kosher) place named Tejsza Restaurant, which means “goat” and had a typical Jewish lunch (Kiegel, Kreplach, Goose liver salad with eggs.)


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On our way back to the car we saw a Swastika mark on one of the stores, in the center of town, which gave us the chills.

We headed back toward Warsaw and entered the City Centrum a couple of hours later. I had no problems finding the Felix Hotel, as Warsaw streets became familiar to me.

We checked in the hotel and then took tram #26 to the City Center where we boarded bus #116 to Wilanow Palace.

Together with its park and buildings this palace is one of the most precious monuments of Polish national culture. It survived the time of partitions and wars and preserved its authentic historical qualities. It was built for the Polish king in the last quarter of 17th century. The palace and park in Wilanow is not only a priceless testimony of the splendor of Poland in the past, but also a place for cultural events and concerts. In the eastern section there is a two-tier Baroque garden, with a terrace leading down to the lake. Statues of antique deities and decorative vases are scattered throughout the greenery. Numerous fountains and water jets supplement the setting. To the south and north of the Baroque section of the parks there are gardens arranged in the English style of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Decorative elements, such as sarcophaguses, columns and obelisks are meant to increase the mysterious charm of the palace. Another attraction of the park is the neo-Renaissance Rose Garden and geometrically shaped flower beds in mid 19th century style. The picturesque surroundings, natural water reservoirs and valuable free stand contribute to the composition of this exquisite location.

We spent a couple of hours (not enough!) and returned to the Centrum where, purely by accident, we entered to the same restaurant (name) with the Polish cuisine, where we feasted a couple of weeks ago.

We walked for about a mile until we reached the bridge and took the tram back to our hotel where we arrived at 10:00 PM

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Tuesday, July 4th, 2006

Wake up was at 4:45 AM as we needed to checkout our hotel, find our way to the airport, return our car and check in with the airlines.

We managed to find our way to the airport after getting lost in this big city with no road signs and non-English speaking people. When I drove my car up to the Rent-A-Car parking lot, there was a sign that they open only at 7:00 AM. I parked my car in one of the spots, took the keys with me and along with Emly stood in line to get the boarding pass. Since Emly’s plane was scheduled to leave a couple of hours after mine, she could not do a thing until the “Security to USA” booth would open at 9:00 AM. We had hope that Emly could join me on my flight but as it turned out, the connecting flight from Munich, Germany was over-booked.

We finally got through and I got my pass to my airline. I then returned to the Rent-A-Car area and an attendant took my keys. (No questions asked… just took them and told me that he will process the paperwork.)

Fifteen hours later I landed in LAX. Gary, Sharone and Ya’ara were waiting for me. Ya’ara was running towards me and gave me this huge hug. Oh! What a feeling that was!!

Emly showed up a couple of hours later.


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