Poland has been an amazing surprise. Before this trip I thought that it would be cool to come here one day, almost as a novelty, and now that I've come I can say that I'm sure glad I did. The country is beautiful, full of history and tragedy, and has still managed to not be fully engulfed in western commercialization. This isn't to say that it's not here, but of all the places I've been in Europe Poland has so far resisted being fully converted. This is probably also a result of it only shedding communism 18 years ago... The people are friendly, the sites and people are beautiful, and there is a definite festivity in the air most of the time. There is also an abundance of young people, mostly here on school trips, learning the history and respecting the past.
After 4 or 5 nights of being up until 5 am we had a sobering day today. We went to Auschwitz, which is everything you imagine it to be, and worse. It is just not fathomable what humans do to humans, even in times of war. I can only hope that we've learned from our mistakes.
More touring is planned tomorrow, and then we're heading to Wroclaw to visit a friend of Mike's who is from Poland. Then we're not sure where exactly, probably Prague...
See you around, Ryan.
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