From Krakow it was a bus to Katowice.
I had a hotel booked and the bus whizzed past it, so had to hike back, turned out to be about 20 mins from the bus station. Still it was cheap! Beside the university and not too far from town, although first impression of some of the side streets looked like they might be condemned. The city centre was much better with a large pedestrianised area with pubs and restaurants, busy for a Monday. A couple of new shopping malls, one encasing the rail station. I had a quiet first day just nosing about and relaxing, museums were closed. I purchased a train ticket that night when I eventually worked out where I could buy the ticket.
Early the next day I boarded a train, an hour later I was at Oswiecim, 20 minutes walk later I was at the gates of Auschwitz.
1.1 million people died here.
Now converted into a memorial museum, each block houses exhibits on the camp.
Detailed records, photographs of the victims, their internment & death dates.
Other rooms simply show the scale of the camp, with a large room just filled with shoes.
40,000 pairs of shoes fill the room. Collected in just 4 days.
After a few hours, it was time to visit the other section of the camp, Birkenau, This has been left as is, and you can walk around it. Occasional information, such as this is the woods where people were queued up when the chambers were full.
A taxi got my back to the train station and the next day it was off to a new country.
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