Amazing mini-holiday! (English version)

Hey everyone,

As I promised I'll share my (our in this case, because I traveled with my boyfriend) story of Poland.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, our journey to Poland started. I have been looking forwards to it since the summer holidays. Well, at that time I wasn't completely sure if it would be possible, but +/- ten weeks before the wedding I booked my flight ticket.

In the afternoon we left home heading to Eindhoven Airport and at 6:30PM we departed. After we arrived in Katowice, we took the transfer to the trainstation to Katowice. When we arrived there, we found out that we didn't have to rush, because we had around two hours before the next train would head to Zywiec, the place where my grandmothers lives. Good luck for us, the station has been renovated completely. When I was there in summer, there was nothing there yet, but now it was all new. They even had Starbucks... and Mc Donalds... and Subway. Around 1:30AM we finally were in Zywiec, so we went straight on to our bed.

But, there was not so much time to sleep. At least not so much as I sleep back home. 9AM our alarm went off and we needed to get up and get ready, because we were going to visit Auschwitz & Birkenau this day. A big bummer was that we found out at arrival that most buildings were only open until 3PM. Because we were there pretty late, we also couldn't have a guided tour. At least there still was some time for us to walk around the museum. For me it was no big deal to be honest, because I have already been there two times before, but it was my boyfriend's first time visiting Auschwitz, so I felt really bad for him. I was tired from the journey the day before, so I could not remember in which buildings the most important things were. I couldn't find the place where all of the painful, interesting and emotional things were, like clothes, hair etc. But, we have found rooms where medical experiences were done by SS doctors, a room where a enormeous book was with all of the names of people who were prisoned and we have seen some small rooms where the men and women (seperately of course) slept. The wall. Most people who have been there, will remember that too. I think that there exist a lot of photos of that wall. You may wonder now; what's about that wall? It was easy to find. From the entrance, you already could see the holes. That wall, that killing, not-comfortable place, was the last thing a lot of people have seen. When they were too weak, didn't work fast enough or just come up with a reason, they were killed. The square where people were hung and tortured. Horrible. But, I have a confession to make. This part has not impressed me most. Because we were in a hurry, we quickly went to the well-known gas chambers. It's probably one of the most scariest things you will experience when you visit Auschwitz. With only opening the door you feel goosebumps over your body. You step into a small room where men, women and children were pushed in to and who thought they were only going to shower. People who SS doctors considered weak, ones who were handicaped and little precious creatures. Alltogether they stood in the gaschamber with the intention that everything was going to be alright. Not. But that was only a minute away for them to figure that out. Nazi's closed the doors and gassed all the prisoners. Not only they put five people in one oven (which were really small), but apperently they all were still alive while burned. This will never stop to make an impact on your emotions. Everyone who has been there, know what I'm talking about and I'm sure they feel and felt the same way.

It was pretty late after that, and Birkenau was only accessible until it was dark. And it's getting dark at 4PM. Not. Too. Good. We had to hurry, because we still wanted to see the other camp. Since I've never been there during the winter-time, I felt pretty... how do I say that? Strange? I mean, we had no guided tour so it doesn't get you the way it would, but it was só cold... all the poor people over there, with no clothes or proper shoes to work on. No warmth no anything. Next year during the summer holiday we will go back to Poland and then we will arrange an early guided tour so we can see and experience more. By then, I'll let you know more things into detail. It was time to go home anyway, because it was already dark outside. On our way back we stopped and ate something at a restaurant. In the evening we went for a beer to close the day positively.

Beautiful friday. Our alarm went off early again and I tickled my boyfriend out of bed, because he didn't want to get up. After a delicious breakfast we went for a walk and made some beautiful photo's. With snow and wind it's very hard to climb a small mountain, but the view was totally worth it. In the afternoon we went to Bielsko (shoppingtime!). Unfortunately I only bought pants, but surprisingly my boyfriend scored some nice clothers. A secret? It was the first time in over two years that we're together we went shopping without him whining (we only went shopping one time before, but ok, he was crying for milkshakes from Mc Donalds that day). But mission accomplished. In the evening we went for a beer again.

I felt bad about my failed shopping day on friday, so I went to the centre of Zywiec on Saturday morning again with my boyfriend to shop for something more. We couldn't stay too long because this day was wedding day! But, I succeed and came home with two new shirts and shoes for the wedding. After coming home we took a shower and made ourselves ready. Around 2PM there was a bus picking guests up and taking us to the church in Szczyrk. The bus was waiting for the guests (170 persons) to take them to the wooden house/chalet where the party would be. First we ate. And then we ate. Then there was more food, so we ate even more. In between everyone was having a good time drinking the thing Poland is known for: VODKA. And dancing. Those three things were in my opinion the main things for a wedding and if I have to believe the stories, every wedding is pretty much the same: Food, vodka, dancing. Polish cuisine is surely not my favorite, but this food was pretty, nice, delicious, beautiful and cute, everyone loved it. At one moment dancing, or even walking, was not possible anymore by the food that was there. There was a typical folk band-kind-of-thing, something Góralski. Plus, during their performance, there was even móre food. And don't forget our good friend Vodka. The party started at 4:30PM and some were already drunk and sleeping at 10PM, they were simply in coma, because there was no chance to wake them up. No, I know what you are thinking. Vodka is not for me, I only drank beer that night. Unfortunately, my boyfriend and me were tired at 3AM, so we went to the taxi who brought us home. We wish we could have stayed longer. And we could have. The last people left at 6:30AM, my mother included! If I ever get married, I want a wedding like that!

On sunday we haven't done anything much. We woke up somewhere in the afternoon and went for a little walk. Because we didn't feel like going home yet, we went for a beer in the cafe again. Haha, jep, we drank a lot of alcohol when I think about it now. I have to admit that this was the first time I felt bad by leaving Poland, wish I could've stayed longer. Polska, see you in summer!