Although Columbus may have "discovered" America, it is widely known that others before him had gotten there first.  However, I am grateful that he "discovered" America because it gave me a day off from school, and the opportunity to go, for the first time, into Poland!

Ah, Poland...the motherland.  Where the people look like me!  Haha...and eat Polish food! (Not all of which I like.)

The long weekend enabled me, Diane, Darlene, Linda, Laura, Zack, and Kathy to have the opportunity to go into Poland.  At first, I was hesitant because I knew we were heading to Auschwicz and since I'd already been to the Dachau concentration camp, I wasn't really keen on seeing another one.  But I caved because I really wanted to go to Poland and see what it was like, and Diane, Darlene, and Linda had all been there before, so it was good to go with people who knew what they were doing.

We drove, and left as soon as we could on Friday (it was an institute day) and stopped for the night in Bautzen, which is still in Germany.  Our experienced travelers had a whole plan so we could stay in Germany as long as possible and use our gas cards, our VAT forms, etc.  (These are all to help us save money!)  Bautzen was a beautiful medieval town; at least what we saw of it was.  It was dark when we arrived and it would be dark when we left, so we had to make do as much as possible.  We went to dinner at a cute place where everyone was dressed in medieval fare; long brown robes for the men and wench costumes for the women.  The food was amazing...it's a place where monks used to brew beer.  The rooms were very low and the archways were very tiny, but it had a certain charm to it.  After dinner, Diane and Linda went back to the hotel to head to bed, but Kathy, Zack, Laura, and I wanted to explore what we could of this town.  It was soooo adorable!  THIS was the kind of German town I thought I'd be moving to; alas, I'm in Schweinfurt!

The next morning we headed into Poland and to the town of Boleslewicz (I'm sure I've butchered that).  There, we were exposed to the world of Polish pottery...what a site.  It was beautiful and SPOILER ALERT, most people will be getting Polish pottery for Christmas!  :)  However, after about 5 stores, it wasn't so beautiful anymore.  The colors and patterns started running together, and it was getting a bit absurd.  Our experienced travelers were all about the pottery, so I bought my few things and then went along for the ride.  I didn't know that Poland wasn't yet on the Euro, and it's one of the few places where the dollar is strong, so everything was pretty cheap.  We went strong all day, then met up with a Polish friend, Barbara.  She was married to a military man, but he passed away, and now she lives in Lodz (I think...could be totally wrong on that.)  She joined our little group and it was fun hanging out with her.

[caption id="attachment_126" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Zack, Kathy, Pawel (works at the hotel), Darlene, Me, Diane"][/caption]

When we were finally done with Polish pottery, we went to the little B & B where we'd be staying for the next two nights.  It was called the Blue Beetroot, and it was adorable.  It's owned by a British couple; the wife has Polish/Lithuanian roots...she told us an amazing story of her family and how they left right before WW2 because they recognized the signs from WW1.  They headed to England and that was where they remained!  Crazy.  This hotel has a very high American tourist population...in fact, we met some other Americans traveling there who were also teachers from Germany.  It's a very small place over here!

Sunday, we went to Auschwicz.  It's totally different from Dachau, so I'm grateful I went.  It was a terrible time in history and it needs to be shown how bad it was.  I think a lot of us don't fully grasp the gruesomeness of the situation until you see the incinerators and witness how people were burned and killed just because of their background.  Tragic!  I'm posting some photos from there, and you'll see how people were treated as dogs instead of humans.  It should be a lesson to all of us.

Sunday night we went to dinner at a local Polish place.  I had pierogis...yum.  I learned I know a lot of Polish words on this trip!  Way more than German!  Thank you, St. Andrew!  I knew how to say hello, and thank you, and, of course, cheers!  And I could read a menu because of the Polish foods!  I felt all special.  More than I know in German.

Monday, before heading back to Schweinfurt, we went Polish pottery shopping AGAIN!  I am Polish pottery-ed out!  And the sad thing is, I bought gifts for everyone, and only one tiny little thing for myself!  Our ride back was great, and I am definitely lucky for the people I've met thus far on the trip...(No, Mom, I haven't met any eligible men...and Aunt Lu, definitely, no German men!)  Haha.

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Leaving school for Poland!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_123" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rated R: In the ladies' bathroom!!!"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_124" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Bautzen, Germany"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_125" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The beginning of our Polish pottery excursion"][/caption]

























[caption id="attachment_128" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Look, it's everywhere!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_127" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Help! Too much pottery!"][/caption]























[caption id="attachment_129" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Headed to Auschwicz (this is it in Polish!)"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Entrance to Auschwicz: "Work will set you free""][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_131" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Main street in Auschwicz 1. It's actually very pretty."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_132" align="alignright" width="300" caption="People were sent from all over to Auschwicz."][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="All the shoes taken from prisoners"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_135" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Where people had to sleep...usually four or five per level!"][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_136" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Germans tried to destroy the ovens when they heard the Russians were coming"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_137" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Kathy, me, Laura, and Zack at our last Polish dinner."][/caption]