Krakow

Dear deer

This one goes out to Joseph Avila because you may never be welcome in Poland

We arrived in Krakow late Wednesday night after a long day of travel from Budapest. In order to save a few bucks we had to avoid Slovakia and take a slight detour through Austria and the Czech Republic.

Thursday we took a day trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp. We are at a loss for words of the horrors we witnessed there which included two tons of human hair taken from the murdered victims. It was a powerful experience but we were relieved when the tour was finished.

We arrived back at our hostel in rather somber moods to find 6 English guys already a few beer deep and only just getting started. Before long a fight had errupted one guy flew out of the shower without an article of clothing on attepting to break it up. After nearly getting kicked out of the hostel, they ventured out for a night on the town agreeing to meet us later once we'd had the opportunity to catch up a little.

After meeting up with them, we all went to the 24 hour supermarket to grab a few beers before checking out some clubs. Apparently your not allowed to drink in the Polish streets and before long we were stopped by the police. To quote our new English drinking mate, "We've been with you Canadians 5 minutes, and Old Bill's already got us." When the police accosted Dave for his half full beer he decided to solve the problem by finishing it. They did not appreciate this and asked for his name and personal information. "Joseph Avila" he chanted proudly. With that we safely escaped our second encounter with European police in under a week.

After a day of recovery, they sucked us into another night out which included some new drinking games and a few English drinking songs.

After a few more days enjoying the city, we moved onto Prague, which is where we now reside.

"Works shall set you free"

Empty cans of Zyklon B

Memorial at the death wall

Where St. Maxamilian Kolbe died

The Gas chamber

Auschwitz-Birkenau

The train station at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz-Birkenau

The Barracks

Outside the Barracks

Our roommate wanted her hat back, I wanted to keep it.

Some of the English guys

Alcohol seems to deform his face

See what I mean?

Krakow Castle

John Paul II

The River

Nick, Greg and a flaming dragon