Poland - Land Of My Mother - Part 1

We had visited Portugal back in April, and what a terrific place that was! I'm half Portuguese from my Father's side of the family, as my grandfather came to the United States around the turn of the 20th Century. My Mom's father came from Poland at about that same time. I drove to Portugal, and I drove to Poland. I left Amsterdam early in the morning at the end of August. I drove straight towards Krakow, as my first stop would be Auschwitz and Birkenau. My Navigation device did not have maps for Eastern Europe, so I used Google Maps to get around, and that worked pretty well. I also bought a map on my first refueling once inside Poland. I got an early start on my first full day, and as suggested by what I read online I went to Birkenau first, getting there by 10am. The size of the place is the first thing that impacted me, and many of the buildings have long crumbled away. The stories and information provided add to the experience and your understanding. I was there most of the day and for the first hours I didn't see many other visitors. Not until after noon did visitors in significant numbers come into the camp. All of my pictures are void of people, which I feel add a feeling of emptiness to them. I don't feel the need to go into detail, because I thought many things as I walked around, absorbed the place as it is today, imagining it full of people 70 years ago, and making images along the way. I have my thoughts and feelings about these types of places, and instead of trying to convey those here, I believe it's best for people to go to these places themselves, if they can, and cultivate their own thoughts and feelings. I got to Auschwitz at 4pm, having spent almost 6 hours at Birkenau, and I'm glad I saw these 2 places in this particular order. Auschwitz is small and compact...mostly a collection of brick buildings. The information, media presentations, and displays are much more numerous here, and reading all of this material can take more time than it takes to walk the entire grounds and see everything at Birkenau. I had limited time at Auschwitz and admit to being wiped out from my 6 hours at Birkenau, and could not read everything at Auschwitz. But there are interesting exhibits and displays, from daily life depictions, how new arrivals were processed, an entire building devoted to Dutch prisoners, etc. I left Auschwitz at 6pm a very tired man, and still had to drive to my next destination. By the time I got there, it was dark and the hotel didn't seem to be where the map said it should be. I stopped at a house near where I thought the hotel should be, and this nice, older Polish woman who spoke no English tried her best to gesture where I needed to go when I showed her the name of the hotel. I thanked her and backed out and onto the short stretch of road, making a left onto the main road I was on originally and after 50 meters saw lights on my right past some trees and then a big, nicely lit sign. I just turned in thinking I would ask for more directions, but then noticed the sign on the building and smiled, as it was my home for the night. I was in Zakopane, the southwestern part of Poland which is very mountainous and a big winter ski area. It was a matter of convenience concerning the geographical areas I would visit on this trip. Convenience concerning driving distances and most importantly I wanted to visit the area where it's thought my Mom's father had lived before coming to the United States. That area is around two very small towns named Bobowa and Jankowa, and they were due north between Zakopane and Warsaw where I would meet up with Radhika in two days. Zakopane is a really nice region and the people seemed friendly, although little English is spoken. There were many other tourists around, by my estimation mostly Poles, shopping and enjoying the atmosphere in the town. I had potato pancakes and pierogies...in Poland! For me, that was cool. And they were tasty!! From Zakopane, I wanted to find a location that was convenient for driving through the area where it's thought my grandfather came from, which I would drive through the next day. Looking at the map I chose a place to stay in a small town called Krynica-Zdrój. It was a brand new place, just opened, so it was a pleasant surprise and stay, as I didn't know it had just been built and opened. The town was small and charming, with hills and forests around it which made for great walks and some good photography. There wasn't a restaurant nearby the evening I arrived, so the man on duty asked if I like potato soup. I said I did, and he prepared a delicious bowl of it, along with a tasty dessert and ice-cold bottle of Polish beer! I ate in the dining area with 80's American music playing on the sound system (Europe loves the 80's!). The next morning I began my daylong drive north to Warsaw, stopping at the small towns Bobowa and Jankowa, which were less than an hour away. There was not much there to see - farmland, railroad tracks, a very small general store (they had Pepsi Twist though!), and what looked like a plumbing supply store. I brought considerable interest with my Dutch plates, dark complexion, and cameras slung off my shoulders. The kids on bicycles brought a smile, following me and being intensely curious about this outsider. It was nice to walk around, say hello to the people, breathe the air, see everything with my own eyes, but beyond that I can't say I accomplished much by going there, not that I had any real expectations in the first place. I drove on after a while, following the crude map I had drawn and using the purchased map. It wasn't long before I came upon a road construction site. I had seen road signs, indicating the towns that were up ahead, but there were X's of black tape crossing out the names, so I thought to myself there might be an issue waiting for me. And there surely was. The road upon which I was traveling was dug up and construction crews and heavy equipment were busily working. A man came out of a construction trailer and waved at me. I stopped as he came over and I rolled down my window. He said something in Polish and it was quickly determined the road was closed. It was looking like this could be a serious delay for me. I showed him my map and asked how I could get to the spot I was pointing at. He exchanged a few words with the guys near the site, and then they moved barricades and I understood them to tell me to keep going straight. After several thank you's for letting me go through, I saw where I was on the map and was good to go. I don't know how long it would've taken me to find alternate routes, but I can't imagine that I would've enjoyed the same outcome back in the states. But perhaps being delayed could've been a good thing, because another mess waited for me 30 kilometers south of Warsaw. I'll get to that in part 2. The album for Poland can be found at: http://www.photoshop.com/users/johndp/albums/5e1d1c58befd436e80f75b83c1fea334/slideshow