Poland, Zielona Gora...

First Polish Beer with Jared
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Hello from Poland.  My first flight on Easy Jet was a success...The holes in the floor turned out to be a nice place to look through as you flew through the air....JK  Upon arrival Wally and Jared were there to pick me up.  It really was nice to see people that I knew. I actually flew into Berlin Germany and then we drove across the border to Zielona Gora which was only about 2 hours or so.  Getting to the house it was great site as there was Wally, Ivette, Chris, Magda, Jared, Stephanie and Wally's parents.  So much fun.  Well coming to a wedding most people dress up and I of course only have my back pack so we had to go shopping.  I bought a great suite with a shirt and tie and some shoes for a little more than $200.  Amazing.  The dollar is 3 times the Polish dollar which is great!  1 beer= 1 Dollar at the bar.  The first night was a success as I had now had Polish sausage and Piwo (Beer).  We went to a fun little place that had pool, darts, and a few other games and hung out with a few of wally's friends.  The next morning came rather quickly and found myself reaching for the advil.  :) Wally, Ivette, Jared, Stephanie and myself got into the car and took off for a two day adventure.  Our first stop brought us to Wieliczka which is a huge Salt Mine.  This place was amazing.  Imagine Lewis and Clark Caverns for those of you that have been and multiply it by 6 or 7.  Inside this is a church and many more beautiful works of art.  All the artwork was done my the minrers themselves and is all made of salt.  Pretty Amazing.  Next we drove to Krakow.  Krakow is beautiful with a lot of history behind it.  Krakow is Poland's third largest city and the medieval capital that dates back to the 7th century.  In Krakow we visted Wawel Castle which is a huge castle that dates back to the 7th century. Krakow was one of the few cities to escape WWII with no damage. We then had a great dinner in Rynek Glowny which is the oldes medieval town square in all of Europe.  We took a guided tour at night and learned about the Jewish history side of Krakow which was a nice side trip.  Then one of the great moments happened.  So here we are in Poland with Wally our guide who knows where nothing is so thanks to my travel book we are learning what all the sites are.  We now have to make our way to Oswiecim.  It is dark and here I am with a Polish Map that is about the size of the cars windshield trying to find our way of town.  I'll be honest with you....my polish isn't the best......ok really it doesn't exist.  Wally is driving like a madman and I am stuggling to keep up with him on the map as all the roads have names that are Zienloadlgiaveilv alierivlelvierre.  Yeah you try to pronounce that.  So I am telling him to turn right and left and we come to a sign that says Oswiecim.  I of course murder the pronunciation and have not been given this as my nick name.  Ivette is still laughing at me, but hey we got here with not having to make any U-turns.  Whatever.....We stayed in a really nice hotel in Oswiecim and had a great nights sleep.  Or at least I did.  There were no ghosts in my room.    The next day we headed for our tour of Oswiecim.  For those of you who don't recognize Oswiecim you might know it more by it's German name "Auschwitz".  Auschwitz was the Jewish concentration camp used by the Germans in WWII.  Walking through the grounds of this place is a very somber feeling.  1.2 million people died here.  We walked through the buildings were people slept, the crematories where people thought they were getting showers but instead were being gassed to death, then thrown into the fire and we walked along the tracks were millions of people stood awaiting their fate.  For those who believe that this never happened, see the pictures.  I will next write to all from Paris as the Wedding will take place over the course of the next few days and there will be no time for an update.  Hope all is well.  I miss you all.