2 Engineers Retired

Vlkolinec, Slovakia On the way from Budapest to Krakow we stopped for a short visit in Slovakia in the adorable village of Vlkolinec.   This tiny gem is set in the mountains, with the surrounding area full of ski areas and stylish Bavarian looking lodges.    Vlkolinec is tiny, with somewhere between 19 and 50 people living there, depending on the source you check.   It is full of painted log homes, and is considered a traditional village for the area.    Since people are still resident it is sort of a living museum.   We were lucky enough to visit during the harvest festival with singing, dancing, national dress, and of course contests for vegetables much like a fair here. Zamosc, Poland   Zamosc is a World Heritage Site with a large square in the old town.   The buildings make one think of Wedgwood China, with the white moldings over deep full colours.    The Old square is lined wit...

Along with beauty and food the Krakow area is also host to some of the world’s greatest atrocities. We joined a day trip to visit the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camp sites.   The sites have been maintained at the request of the survivors.   Once seen, one is forever changed by knowing the depths of evil that can be done by humans. Many of these photos lined the halls reminding us that those that died were individuals.  This was from records before tattoos were used People were sent to Auschwitz from all over Europe The Auschwitz camp contains large red brick buildings in a street like setting.   On first view it could be a standard residential area, and at one time had been army barracks.    However the buildings can be entered and examples of the beds, photos, and personal belongings taken from the prisoners quickly dispels that premise. Room of Human Prosthetics Large quantities of personal i...

Krakow Also a UNESCO city (in fact one of the first so designated) Krakow is a beautiful jewel of historic architecture and a sad story of history.    The city was not damaged much in WW2 and the buildings you see there are pretty much original.    Krakow Castle The Nazis took over Krakow in 1939 and set to work to make it a German city.    A section of the city was walled off for the Jewish Ghetto (at that time some 200,000 Jews lived in the Krakow district, by the end they had all been deported to either concentration camps or labour camps, or killed outright).    On our walking tour of the Jewish area in Krakow Krakow was also the site of the enamelware factory made famous by the movie Schindlers List.    This factory is now a museum. Display in the museum currently housed in the Schindler Factory Products typical of Schindler Factory Beyond the WW2 historical settings there is a castle and a hal...