The last week in Europe...

So we are back in the US. Ahh, the comfort of my own pillow.... Anyhow, we spent the last week of our trip getting gifts for those back home and doing some touristy stuff in Berlin. The picture below is at Check Point Charlie. I usually am relagated to babysitting while the girls shop so I get to people watch. I bought an apple juice at "Snack Point Charlie" right across from Check Point Charlie. Heh.
Then I took the kids for some quality time at the Kinderspiel the evening before Silvia and I went to Poland.
The below photo is of a section of the main square in Cracow. The main square is the largest in Europe. Cracow is best known for the "camps" outside of town, but it was also largely spared by allied bombing and thus contains some of the best examples of early architecture in the world. The original seat of gov't, it contains amazing buildings and streets.
In direct contrast though, are many examples of 40 years of communist rule. It is amazing to see the contrast of pre-war buildings mixed with the soviet architecture (oxymoron) and the last 20 years of modern investment. There wasn't the huge investment of capital given to Poland after communism left that East Germany enjoyed. I think that Poland may be better off for it as the growth is more organic and without the huge debt to overcome. Cracow has a huge Gallaria Mall and is in many ways more accepting of Westernization.
The next morning we went to see the death camps. I could go on for hours describing the impact of the visit. The two biggest feelings you get are the efficiency in which things were done and the scale of the operation. The first picture is of Camp 1.This picture is of camp 2. It is 7x bigger than camp one. Truly a spooky place. The visitors do not give it the respect it deserves.

I have one point to make: It is important to not dehumanize those responsible for what took place here. Those reponsible were not aliens from another planet or souless monsters we see in movies. Those responsible were often family men and good soldiers. Those responsible were too much like ourselves for us to say, absolutely, that I would never have done such a thing. The true insidious evil of this place is that it could have easily been one of us on holding a rifle or holding a shovel. This place truly shows the depths to which our humanity can be lowered. A depth where only cruelty, pain, and dehumanization exists. 'Nuff said.
Ok now.. wow. Back to more mundane life.... We went to get the train to Warsaw the next day and I helped a guy carry his 50Kilo bags up the track. No good deed goes unpunished... I broke my camera doing it. So below is my last picture of our vacation... I missed about 4 days of photos. Bummer.

All in all, it was a fantastic time in Berlin and Poland. We went to Legoland in the Sony Center in Patsdamer Platz. We ate bad pizza and excellent schitzel and most excellent bier. I stole a couple beer steins...
The best part is that we were with family all the time. We shared the ups and downs. And we can laugh about it now because we're all ok.
School starts next week and I've got a ton of laundry to do....