Trip back to US

Left Warsaw Poland yesterday at 10 am their time (got to airport at 6 am). Arrived at Frankfurt Germany -smooth time on catching connection at 1:20 their time. Flew 8 hours to arrive in Newark NJ at 3 EDT. Made it thro customs and caught flight to Chicago, landing at 10:00. Got car and drove to Ohio, getting in at 3 am. Wedding today at 4:30. Someday when my mind clears I'll figure out how long my day was yesterday. But it was worth it.  Home for my nephew Brett's wedding to Ashlie.    And now that I'm home for a few weeks before school begins and have rested-- I'm going to go back and go more in depth about the places we visited and the people we met. More to follow!!

Last night for me

We visited with some teachers from Poland and heard how they are teaching the Holocaust. Then toured the Warsaw Ghetto. We then all dressed up and were treated to a Chopin concert in the last king of Poland summer palace. A meal of salmon salad and roasted duck as we all talked about what fast food restaurant we were going to hit as soon as we get back to US. The group sang a belated Happy Birthday to me as my send off. They have one more day touring Treblinka so their wake up call was at 11. I'm catching an early plane to Chicago so was up at 3. Hoping to sleep on plane so I will be awake for my nephews birthday.

Last hotel of trip

We are Staying in the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw Poland to end our trip. It sits right next to the President's Palace.

Majdanek

This camp was left intact at the end of the war as the Russians moved in too fast and the Germans was not able to blow it up. While we were visiting, a large group of Israeli soldiers were touring it also. Apparently it's part of their training to visit all camps.

Krakow

Krakow was the old capital of Poland and wasn't destroyed like Warsaw during the war. After touring Auschwitz and Birkenau all day Saturday, we visited some museums in Krakow the next morning. One was the new Schindler Museum located next to where his factory was. Another was a institute where they are researching Jewish life in Krakow before the war, life in the ghetto and document their deaths in the various surrounding camps.

Pics from train trip.

Craving American food

The food on this trip has been fabulous and first class. I've eaten stuff I probably would not have otherwise: veal, cow's tongue, creamy pea soup, chicken wrapped in mushrooms and spinach, salmon among others. The thing I've hated the most was the gassy water, even after a British student showed me how to get most of the gas out of it. It still about made me gag. Bought chocolate in Germany (Milka-thanks to Sandra's advice) and Poland (Wedel) for the family and hope all the bars make it to Ohio. However we all are beginning to crave American food. When we flew from Israel to Frankfurt Germany on July 9, we had enough time at the airport most of us hit the American type food places. I went to Burger Ranch for a cheeseburger and fries, others hit the pizza place. Forget about trying something famous from that country -- I wanted junk. We've seen McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway and Burger King in all these countries, but have not stopped at one. So here are the things I haven't eaten since leaving Ohio on June 30-- potato chips, ice cold drinks with actual ice in them, milk, and cheddar cheese. I last had a Mountain Dew on July 3 and when I tried the one I bought in Poland this morning either I lost the taste for it or it tastes crappy here. So looking forward to junk food.