Itinerary

I have just set up our itinerary for the 12 day trip that my son Robert & I are taking around Central Europe from 31 May to 11 June

We'll be visiting 6 countries:
Poland
Hungary
Slovakia
Austria
Czech Republic
Germany

And staying at 5 capital cities & 1 former capital city:
Kraków
Budapest
Bratislava
Vienna
Prague
Berlin

Our trip will start with an early flight to Kraków from London-Stansted on 31 May.
To travel between each city we shall be taking trains.
On 11 June we have booked a late flight back from Berlin.

Friday 31 May 2013 - Auschwitz-Birkenau

Today we visited Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

I had pondered long and hard wether or not to include a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on this trip.

I mean to visit a place, the site of one of the biggest atrocities in European history where over a million people were imprisoned and murdered didn't seem to me to be normal for any holiday.

Anyhow, today we took a guided tour of Auschwitz and Auschwitz II Birkenau.

So the normal list of adjectives used to describe somewhere you have visited on holiday are certainly not appropriate.  Today we both felt that there was a haunting atmosphere and standing in the bleak surroundings, the reality of what happened hit home in a way that no history book, film or TV documentary ever has.

Walking the path that over a million poor souls had walked, we both agreed, is one of the most moving and emotional experiences.

Friday 31 May 2013 - Kraków, Poland

Smooth flight over but take off was delayed by 25 minutes however the pilot must have put his foot down as we landed only 10 minutes late at John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice, we were met by Sebastian and had a short drive to our accommodation in Kraków.

Monica greeted us at our hostel, a lovely lady and very funny, she suggested that we take our planned trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum a day early which we agreed to, this gave us 2 hours to kill and just time for lunch.

We walked into "smil'y bar and I asked f they did food, the lady behind the bar said "yes" "sausage or steak? And you cook yourself" we ordered two steaks and cooked them ourselves on the BBQ outside. Best meal we have had in Poland so far (first meal in Poland) 

Auschwitz-Birkenau in separate blog.

We arrived back from Auschwitz to Kraków at about 9.00pm and had a delicious meal in Kraków Old town. I have to say Kraków Rocks - beautiful city...